Back is one of the muscle groups guys have a hard time with for a few reasons:
Fixing the above bulleted issues all helped me. Here are some more things:
- Can't visually watch the muscles work during an exercise - like curls
- Poor execution - rowing by pulling arms all the way back instead of pulling back with elbows and a break in the wrist
- Poor ROM - the longer your arms are, the more you need to experiment with this
- Poor mind-muscle connection - lifting too heavy to satisfy ego
- Blindly following bodybuilding dogma with exercise selection - pullups, DB rows, floor deadlifts, etc.
Fixing the above bulleted issues all helped me. Here are some more things:
- Being 6' with long arms, I do everything for back unilaterally except rack deadlifts - I can feel the muscle work much better this way
- I don't do any traditional movements - no pullups, BB rows, DB rows, lat bar pulldowns, etc. - I only do what I can feel
- Thumbless grip on everything, including rack deadlifts - helps to minimize bicep involvement
- Rack deadlifts on a Smith machine - I get a better feel than with a barbell