Build Muscle – Strength Training for a Wide Back

Often times people will overlook their back muscles in a strength training routine.  Usually the majority of their focus is on their chest and arms because that’s what Hollywood portrays as being muscular.  While a strong chest and arms are important in the total body package, the back muscles are the ones that give a person that wide, ripped look.  Continue reading for more information on strength training for a wide back.

Another reason people often overlook their back muscles is because it’s not commonly visible when looking at yourself in a mirror.  “Out of sight, out of mind” applies to this situation.  Also, people find back exercises to be more strenuous and difficult than chest exercises, so they tend to shy away from them.

I’m sure you’re aware of the importance of the back muscles and they assist in every-day pulling action, and it’s critical to have well developed and strong back muscles to help prevent injuries from occuring.  It’s a safe assumption that everyone has had a sore back at some point in their life due to improperly lifting something, or try to lift some beyond their capability.  This type of injury is no fun, and can really put a damper on the other physical activities you perform in a day.  That’s why we want to train to make these muscles stronger, not only to build muscle and get us ripped and looking huge, but to also help in prevent common injuries to the back.

It’s important to point out that back exercises can be dangerous if not performed correctly.  The back is a fairly easy muscle to strain if you don’t have the correct posture while performing your strength training for your back.  This is especially true for exercises where you’re using heavy weights such as dead lifts.  Please keep a close eye on your exercise form and make any adjustments to ensure you’re not jeopardizing your back with the possibility of injury.

Now, back to the fun stuff!  Strength training for the back should consist of 4 types of movements: dead lifts, a vertical pull, a horizontal pull, and a shrug.  Let me explain:

• Dead Lifts
  Dead Lifts mainly workout your lower back, but are a great all around exercise that offer some emphasis on your legs, your core, and your shoulders.  Dead Lifts should be the part of anybody’s workout if you really want to get huge.
• Vertical Pull
  A vertical pull is a motion of starting with your hands above your head, and pulling down towards your chest.  An excellent example (as well as an excellent exercise) of this is a pull-up or chin-up.  In essence you’re pulling your arms down towards your chest, but in reality your actually not moving your arms, but instead lifting your body up.  The vertical pull works your lats, and assists in giving you that wide back look.
• Horizontal Pull
  A horizontal pull is a motion of starting with your hands in front of you, and pulling inwards towards your chest.  An example of this is your standard cable row.  While cable rows a great exercise, my personal favorite are bent over dumbbell rows.  This movement helps work the inner back muscles, those located around your spine and in between your shoulder blades.
• Shrug
  The shrug is exactly what it sounds like, shrugging your shoulders and working out your traps and give your neck the muscular look to match the rest of your body.  Nobody wants a huge, wide body with a skinny little neck, right?  When performing shrugs, I usually grab a barbell with a reverse grip to get the job done.

Hopefully you’ve gotten a better understand and appreciation for your back muscles and how building these muscles can help you achieve the look you’re going for.  There are tons and tons of variations on the above motions, so feel free to try a few out and develop your favorite for strength training.  Remember, keep pumping!

Tagged with: Back Muscles • muscle groups • muscle mass • muscle workout • strength training

Filed under: Back Muscles

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