Bodybuilding veteran Branch Warren hasn’t forgotten the workout techniques that helped shape his legendary physique. In a recent Instagram post shared on January 31, 2025, Warren revealed the two exercises he gave the most credit to for bringing up his back throughout his career.
While navigating the Men’s Open landscape in the 2000s, Branch Warren was a feared talent. He brought unprecedented muscle hardness and detail to the stage, having made a name for himself with hardcore training principles and an unrelenting will to be the best.
Warren came incredibly close to securing the Mr. Olympia title in his heyday. In 2009, he took second place behind an unbeatable Jay Cutler, who was hellbent on coming back better than ever after losing his Sandow trophy to Dexter Jackson. Warren later reached the height of his career in 2011-2012, having claimed two consecutive Arnold Classic titles.
Although Warren resides in retirement, he still lifts with the same intensity that turned him into a bodybuilding sensation. While he’s largely avoided injuries, he unfortunately tore his Achilles tendon during a recent deer hunting accident. In between his recovery, he offered up two critical exercises that shaped his monstrous back as a prime IFBB Pro.
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These 2 Exercises Helped Branch Warren Maximize His Potential from the Back During His Bodybuilding Career
In a recent Instagram post, Warren revealed why supported T-bar rows and deadlifts were critical to his back development.
- Supported T-Bar Rows
- Deadlifts
“Two exercises I give the most credit to for bringing my back up. Number one, supported T-bar rows. You put enough weight on there, it gets hard as fuck.”
As a Pro, he knew he’d have to bring up his shoulders and back. Both of these movements allowed him to max out his potential from the rear, empowering his back lat spread and back double biceps poses.
“When I turned Pro, the things I needed to bring up, my shoulders, and my back. This is one of the exercises along with deadlifts that played a huge part in bringing up the back development and really maxing out my potential from the rear.”
“It’s a T-bar row, but you got a chest pad on about a 45-degree angle, approximately. You pull the bar all the way up, squeezing those shoulder blades together, and get a good stretch. Get your feet stable down on the platform. Adjust the platform to where you don’t have the pad up to your chin” he explained.
He offered form cues for the supported t-bar row, advising lifters to get a full stretch and arch the back while squeezing the shoulder blades together.
“You don’t want it too low either. You want it right here at the top of the pad. Take it off the rack, get a full stretch, stretch the shoulder blades to come out apart, arch your back.
As you let your back pull back, squeeze your shoulder blades together, squeeze all those upper back muscles, come all the way up, stretch, back down.”
He did these two exercises for 20 years throughout his career and guaranteed that if you do them long and hard enough, it will bring your back up.
“I did these every workout for 20 years. It’s very hard because when you have a lot of weight on that bar, and it’s pulling down on that pad, it’s hard to breathe.
I keep the repetitions between 10-15 reps. If you do it long and hard enough, it will bring your back up, I guarantee it.’ “
Warren is also known for his sharp analytical takes on Open Bodybuilding. He predicted that taller athletes such as Andrew Jacked and Samson Dauda had all the tools needed to find success on the Mr. Olympia stage, which turned out to be true. Dauda managed to claim his first Sandow trophy at the 2024 Mr. Olympia against Derek Lunsford and Hadi Choopan.
Warren still serves as an exemplary ambassador for the sport of bodybuilding. Even though he’s retired from the sport, fans and athletes alike can still take valuable lessons away from the exercise selections he implemented throughout his tenure.
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