Middle back question

[sinfulimages]

I have been taking progress pictures of myself over the last 2 years and this morning I noticed my mid back rhomboid/middle trap area is lacking. What free weight exercises can I do to bring up this body part? I usually do pull ups, close grip pull downs, tbar rows, bb rows or db rows and deads. Am I missing something?

 

[Rory33]

Are you working out in a gym or at home? Curious why you are only looking for free weight exercises when theres machines that target these areas

 

[718si]

Try seated cable rows with a wide grip. Start the movement by shrugging your shoulders back prior to pulling the bar to the bottom of your sternum and pinching your shoulder blades together. Hope it helps!

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[lewism6]

i think i have the same problem as you. i found a close grip pulley row and really concentrating on the mind to muscle connection thing helped mine.

really concentrating on the area you want to hit. slow reps, full stretch, slight static hold etc just to get the muscle firing first and stop other stronger muscles taking over.

 

[ajpt]

T-Bar rows are good. I was watching a video of Brandon Ray training back and he had some good input. He was saying that a lot of people lack in there back because it's a body part we don't see when we train it. His advice was to lighten up the weight and develop a mind/muscle connection, as opposed to doing barbell rows with 405 that look more like shrugs.

I think were all guilty of going to heavy on back sometimes (well, I am any ways) and this might help bring up your back if you focus on more of a mind/muscle connection and not just heaving the weight up (im not saying you heave the weight up- I have never seen you train...I just know its a common mistake people make).

 

[lilhawk1]

Deadlifts, and more deadlifts. Try snatch grip deadlifts as well, along with everything else you mentioned.

 

[Knight9]

718si has the idea!

 

[ErnieTaylor]

T-Bar rows for sure.

Some gyms do not have them. In that case put a focus on close grip rows.

The gym I belong to has some good equipment, however it lacks a T-bar row and it drives me insane...

 

[718si]

Personally, on cable rows I find a close grip works my lats more, as I tend to pull to my belly-button with elbows close to the body. The wide grip allows me to pull with my elbows away from my body towards my sternum letting me contract my mid & upper back more forcefully.

I also found using slightly less weight and focusing on the movement to produce better results than "jerking" heavier weights and using momentum.

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[maldorf]

For me I really feel it the most when I do barbell bentover rows and make sure that I bend over far enough. I find that if I try to maintain about a 90 degree angle between the my torso and my legs that it really hits the middle of my back hard. WHen you do it that way really strict and dont use any momentum to bring the bar up youll will have to drop at least 10% of the weight you normally use or more. If you hold the bar at the top of the motion in full contraction a count of 5 or so it really hits it hard. When you start coming up more at a higher angle it seems to move the tension more to the lats and even the traps. Go too high and its a glorified version of shrugs.

 

[cm]

all good ideas so far brothers.
one more for the till
pick a movement you are already doing for back thickness, and when finished get some partials until fatigue
another way to work it in is to do the 1 rep / 1/2 rep scheme, meaning one full rom + 1 partial = 1 rep

 

[Pericles]

Odds are you mid and lower traps are not firing off correctly.

Prone t-s
prone extension
prone y-s
with LIGHT weight and getting a feel for the muscle working. If you can't hold it for an ISO of 1-2 sec you are using momentum

 

[premedmonster]

pre exhaust w reverse pec flys, bring em all the way back squeeze the hell out of it and do sets of 20ish....maybe 4 or 5 sets.... then do some barbell rows your mid back will be sorer then shit

 

[thatbloke]

heavy t bar rows,

heavy dumbell rows

trap bar deadlifts

simple , and effective

 

[bbg420]

reverse grip bent over barbell rows trust me

 

[sinfulimages]

Thanks everyone. Looks like I will be adding some wide grip seated cable rows to my training.

Rory33 I train at a gym. Its a gym more suited for powerlifting and strongman. We dont have a lot of machines.