Are Deadlifts the answer . . .

BabyBeast05 · Dec 22, 2009

for upper/mid back thickness? I know people always say you have to ROW ROW ROW for back thickness but no matter if its rows or pulldowns my lats do all the work. I can never feel the muscle in my mid/upper back firing. I've just recently started doing shoulder retractions on certain exercises to see if that will help but still mostly I feel the lats doing the work and its very frustrating. Even more frustrating when my lats aren't balanced and I feel the right lat doing more work than the left, even on unilateral movements. I need some advice. My lats are thicker than my mid back. My right lat is thicker/bigger than the left. My left rear delt is bigger than the right. And my rear delts and thicker than my traps. Jeez I'm so unbalanced!

jdavid1139 · Dec 22, 2009

i like ronnie rows...

kscowboy · Dec 22, 2009

Yes dead lifts are great for your wants. I also have discovered that my back thickness and width have grown in the past year by lowering my weight, doing very slow reps and really feeling the muscle contract.

VTliftVT · Dec 22, 2009

I think the back is the hardest muscle to develop a strong mind muscle connection with. It took me until this year, after 7-8 years of training, to really feel the target muscle contract when performing back excercises.

One thing I did that really helped was before doing any heavy barbell work, I'd go to a cable machine and do a few warmup sets.

For example, if i were going to do heavy v-bar close grip rows, I would first go to the cable row machine and do some light sets to get my mind focusing on contracting the muscles I intended to hit.

From there I could carry that motion and feeling to the v-bar rows which really helped me in focusing the exercise to the target muscle.

To answer your question though, yea I really do think deadlifts are great to develop a thick back. I also think this is one of those exercises that you end up being forced to use the muscles you are intending to hit as well as any secondary movers due to the greater amount of weight being used.

I personally like rack deads done a couple of inches below the knee as I can really focus this on my back and not as much hits my hams and legs. Take a look at Shelby's back thickness and you can see what heavy deads can develop haha.

Flexican · Dec 22, 2009

T bar rows. Deads are king in my book, what a awesome exercise. Kai Greene had a video where he was closegrip pulldown backwards and that really gets it if you do it right.

kingpeon · Dec 22, 2009

Deadlifts are the answer to ANY lagging body part, as far as I'm concerned.

ericinbc · Dec 22, 2009

deadlifts will greatly improve your back thickness. they are my favourite exercise so i'm kinda biased but i do have a good back to prove my theory too

halflife · Dec 22, 2009

ask Phidias

rocco-x · Dec 22, 2009

kscowboy said:
Yes dead lifts are great for your wants. I also have discovered that my back thickness and width have grown in the past year by lowering my weight, doing very slow reps and really feeling the muscle contract.

x2.i found this year by lowering the wght on certain back movements i'm able to really concentrate just the back muscle and not all the other muscles invloved in the movements.deads are great if you keep at it.i hate them but no other back exercise has put on more size in the shortest amount of time than deads.

RazorCuts · Dec 22, 2009

Of course deadlifts or rack deadlifts are not going to hurt with your back development and should be incorporated. But remember a lot of your imbalances can be genetic. I would add some form of deadlift though and track your progress.

cmhdeadlift · Dec 22, 2009

i think rack deads would be the better pick for this

make sure to strap up and focus on trying to touch your elbows together behind your back
of course you wont, but this will make you feel it in the right spots

Johnny Smiles · Dec 22, 2009

we all have imbalances to some degree...

a couple of my favorite quotes from training over the years:

I told one of my training partners i had an imablance in my right and left lat, my right biceps is a fraction bigger than the left one... His reply was,"bro, thats just God letting you know you ain't in control."

before a workout i was talking with Flex Wheeler years back and asked him how he was so symmetrical. i tiold him my symmetry wasn't perfect and how did he accomplish that. Flex said,"man, my symmetry is NOT perfect. But i POSE PERFECTLY so i no one can tell."

what flex said meant alot. we all have imperfections and thats why this sport is about illusion.
anyway, as far as training you need to REALLY concentrate on different tweaks on every rowing exercise. try flaring out the elbows more or less, try different ranges of motion, etc. and find the exercises that work for YOU.
Deads cant hurt but your other exercise choices should prolly be basic and unilateral as to not let the imablances progress. i would concentrate on:
bent over dumbell rows
deads/smith machine deads (you can really sqeeze the back on these)
T bar rows (or ronnie rows, which is barbell made into a tbar movement)

your imbalance is most likely from your form. perfect your form and imbalances will fade. -JS

maldorf · Dec 22, 2009

Barbell bentover rows when done very strictly are what worked for me. Keep bent over as close to 90 degrees as you can and move the weight slow enough that you do not use any momentum. Too many guys you see doing bentover rows are doing them nearly standing straight up and if you watch them closely youll even see their heels leave the ground when they pull!!!
If you try that and you still dont feel it, then try it with dumbells. Phil Hernon seems to like doing it this way. I did it for awhile and it really did isolate the middle back better. Once again, make sure you are bent over as far as you can and really concentrate on controlling the movement of the weight rather than throwing it up.

db006 · Dec 22, 2009

dont forget T-bar rows and one arm DB rows. but deads and rack deads should be your staple.

dalvare1 · Dec 22, 2009

emeric let me in on some back tips... drop your weight and feel every inch of the ROM... cables can be a great tool too

penance · Dec 22, 2009

jdavid1139 said:
i like ronnie rows...

love ronnie, but IMO those t-bar rows in the corner suck compared to dumbell or barbell rows :

1. The V-bar does not provide optimal back stimulation since the ROM is restricted, you cannot pull your elbows all the way back.

2.The plates decreases the range of motion greatly

3.Form usually changes when the weights get really heavy.They are PITA to setup: space and spotter/dumbell to keep the barbell from boobing.

4. I dont feel like rowing something into my balls

peace

db006 · Dec 22, 2009

penance said:
love ronnie, but IMO those t-bar rows in the corner suck compared to dumbell or barbell rows :

1. The V-bar does not provide optimal back stimulation since the ROM is restricted, you cannot pull your elbows all the way back.

2.The plates decreases the range of motion greatly

3.Form usually changes when the weights get really heavy.They are PITA to setup: space and spotter/dumbell to keep the barbell from boobing.

4. I dont feel like rowing something into my balls

peace

just dont tell this to ronnies back

sakguy · Dec 22, 2009

penance said:
love ronnie, but IMO those t-bar rows in the corner suck compared to dumbell or barbell rows :

Im completely opposite, I just cannot get anything out of barbell rows. I dont know if it has to do with me being taller and having longer arms. However, I can attribute a lot of my back development to T-Bar rows. IMO, it is a great exercise