Exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel is back to offer younger bodybuilders some advice for crafting a better back. In a recent YouTube video shared on October 8, 2024, Israetel joined Classic Physique IFBB Pro Anton Ratushnyi to break down his top 3 ‘hardcore basic’ back movements for spurring growth.
As a physiologist and competitive bodybuilder, Dr. Israetel has continued to impart fitness knowledge to the masses. He runs a highly successful YouTube channel called Renaissance Periodization which houses more than 2.7 million subscribers.
Anton Ratushnyi, meanwhile, is one of the youngest IFBB Pros to emerge in the Classic Physique division. He earned his IFBB Pro card at just 19 years old and continues to make rapid improvements to his physique. Aiming to grow a bigger back, he joined Israetel inside the gym for a special lesson.
“The basics. Young people who really want to be jacked and probably train their backs twice a week each day should be hardcore basics that grow a ton of muscle, generate a ton of fatigue, because you’re young you can recover from the fatigue, and you’re not as big as strong as you’re going to be later,” shares Dr. Israetel.
Top Back Growth Exercises for Young Bodybuilders, Featuring Dr. Mike Israetel and Anton Ratushnyi
Find their exercise selections below:
- Pull Ups
- Bent Row
- Deficit Deadlifts
Pull Ups
Israetel and Jared Feather encouraged Ratushnyi to not ‘fall into’ the last of the eccentric, which will allow him to feel a deeper stretch during each repetition.
“Three exercises, four working sets, you signed up for this shit,” said Israetel. “So for pull-ups, it’s totally fine to do the same range of motion every time chin to bar and then all the way to the dead hang.
But [it’s] an interesting technique because now we know that lengthened partials work really well through scientific literature in theory, we can do is as soon as you’re done with your first set of pull-ups, real set, you go up about halfway and slowly release on the way down for that big full stretch.”
Bent Row (Barbell)
In between Ratushnyi’s sets of bent rows with a barbell, Dr. Israetel offered insight and tips for maximizing progress.
“We’re going to do a little bit more of an advanced row technique here. The barbell row is a great exercise but suffers from a little bit of a problem. You’re at a leverage disadvantage in the row as your muscles for pulling shorten, the movement gets more difficult.”
“We want to bias the lengthened,” he adds.
Deficit Deadlift
Israetel broke down deficit deadlifting from a leveraging perspective, shedding light on how it can help build the back.
“So you guys will notice that there is a lot of backgrounding in the deadlift. When you’re going for max poundage it’s probably a good idea from a leveraging perspective and a little bit from a safety perspective to have a relatively tight lower back, no rounding, straight core.”
He also revealed the benefits of controlling the eccentric while not rounding the back.
“For hypertrophy for the back, it’s the back that does the rounding and the back that does the surrounding, the flexion and extension,” he adds. “With that slow controlled eccentric and that rounding, this turns the deadlift into something like a flexion row and it is absolutely categorically not just safe but will bulletproof the fuck out of your back.”
From working out with bodybuilders to critiquing them, Dr. Israetel’s deep dives into exercise mechanics can be a huge help for anyone eager to increase their fitness levels. He has examined the workouts of legendary bodybuilders such as Lee Priest, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, and Phil Heath.
Since we can’t see the back while we’re training it, sculpting this area involves significant challenges. However, with these three exercises, Dr. Israetel is confident you can improve the body part with consistent effort and training.
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