Rising Men’s Open star Chinedu Andrew ‘Jacked’ Obiekea is leaving no stone unturned during his 2024 season. In a recent offering on YouTube, Jacked walked his audience through his favorite exercises for building a wide and thick back.
Since entering the IFBB Pro League, Andrew Jacked has aggressively pursued gold at every competition he has entered. Having laid claim to victories at the Arnold Classic UK (2022) and Texas Pro (2022, 2023), he continues to garner hype and momentum atop the Men’s Open class.
Jacked secured a fifth-place finish on the 2023 Mr. Olympia stage and recently made waves in Pittsburgh after guest posing alongside a star-studded lineup, including Nick Walker, Samson Dauda, and the reigning Mr. Olympia Derek Lunsford. With his eyes locked on the sport’s greatest title, Jacked pushed himself through a daunting back workout.
Andrew Jacked’s Best Exercises for a Wider Back
Check out the workout below:
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- Pull-Up
- Machine High Row
- Seated Chest-Supported Row
- Unilateral Machine Bent-Over Row
- Chest-Supported T-Bar Row
- Partial Deadlift
- Straight-Arm Pulldown
Pull-Up
Jacked kicked off the workout with wide neutral grip pull-ups because the first machine he was after was unavailable.
“That was the shittest pull-ups I’ve ever done. Why? Because there’s not available machines. I don’t get that stretch from my feet. I don’t feel it but I guess I have to do it, it’s in my program, so. It’s no need to skip.”
Machine High Row
During machine high rows, Jacked focused on slow and controlled reps of 154 pounds.
“Today, for back, I don’t know, you guys call it the load phase. I call it just maintaining the cruise phase. Nothing crazy. Just, nothing crazy and nothing too stupid. Just nice, easy weight to maintain. Like this [balanced]. This will be my maintenance week because I’ve got a lot of activities. I don’t want to drain myself, especially my muscle.”
Seated Chest-Supported Row
To effectively engage his lats and back, Jacked moved to seated chest-supported rows.
“I just want to do it because if I go for the regular old school t-bar, I know myself, I’m obsessed, I like to go crazy heavy which I don’t want to do today. So, I have to discipline myself and go for the chest-supported t-bar rows.”
Unilateral Machine Bent-Over Row
After another machine he wanted was taken, Jacked trained each side of his back carefully with unilateral machine bent-over rows
“What I’m supposed to do next is occupied but not just stay in the weight, I have to do something related to what I’m supposed to do. That’s why I’m doing this,” says Andrew Jacked.
Chest-Supported T-Bar Row
During sets of chest-supported t-bar rows, he took an old-school ‘Charles Glass-style’ approach.
“Everything is busy. Everyone is doing back so, just have to make due with what’s available. I’m going old school on this one because if I go here I can have that full stretch. Everything comes to my biceps here and forearms but here, I can have the full extend from my lats here that’s why I’m doing it the old-school Charles Glass style.”
Partial Deadlift
Jacked gradually increased the weight of his deadlift and supported himself with wrist wraps after his hands began to slip.
“My hand was hanging on for dear life,” says Jacked. “Had to use straps because my hands were slipping.”
Straight-Arm Pulldown
In what he has described as his maintenance phase, Jacked finished up the workout with sets of straight-arm pulldowns.
“That’s a wrap. Back day. Maintenance phase, this week only. Next week, we get back to the groove. So, yup.”
Given his elite genetics and impressive stature, many in the sport have high hopes for Jacked, and that includes judge Terrick El Guindy. While breaking down the guest posing lineup in Pittsburgh, El Guindy underscored Jacked’s newfound size and mentioned with enough conditioning, he could find himself contending for the Mr. Olympia title.
“Andrew Jacked is a statue, tall, beautiful, huge legs, he looks like he’s filling up. If this guy fills up and he’s conditioned, I don’t even know where we’re going with bodybuilding, we are just getting some guys from another planet. He is that good, but we need to see it at the Mr. Olympia.”
The future looks bright for Jacked as he sets his sights on the 2024 season. Although he has yet to reveal which show he is planning to participate in, many believe he will attempt to defend his Texas Pro title on August 9-10.
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Watch the full video from Andrew Jacked’s YouTube channel below:
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