What is your current back workout like?

[desibaba]

I have been trying to be honest with myself and I can definitely say my back is my weakest body part. I know I dont compete and most likely I never will but I still want a good back. I mostly do around 9 sets for most muscles like Chest or Delts but I do think my current workout of 3 sets of rows, 3 sets of pull ups and 3 sets of deadlifts isnt enough to hit my back adequately. Most guys do at least 15 sets for back (which doesnt include any trap training). What do most of you do for your back? From the workouts I see in Flex or Muscular Development most Pros claim to do at least 25 sets or more for their backs.

 

[Capin]

Back is the toughest one for me to get a pump, for the most part I stick with the basics but right now its pull downs behind head 4 sets, hammer strength high rows 3 sets, standing shrugs 3 sets I do hammer strength pullovers on chest day.
But soon Ill go back to deadlifts and bent over rows

 

[Equalizer]

5 Reasons Great Backs Are Rare | Iron Man Magazine

Ever try lat pull ins?

The Best Lat Exercise | Doug Brignole - Exercise and Biomechanics

 

[heavyhitter]

my last back workout looked like this
1 arm barbell rows 3x12-8
smith machine rows with bands 4x10-6
hammer strength reverse pulldowns 3x10
wide grip cable rows 3x10
mountaindog stretchers 3x12
and rack deadlifts 3x10-6

 

[anarchocapitalist]

Monday Legs
Tuesday Chest/Biceps
Thursday Deads
Friday Shoulders & Triceps
Saturday Back

So my Thursday workout is usually deadlifts and some accessory work around the deadlift like shrugs, good mornings, and some abs and calves.

Saturday I usually start off with some kind of exercise that isolates the lats like a hammer strength pulldown. Then I do some kind of isolation row like a hammer strength row. During those two lifts I'm mostly focusing on a full range of motion and feeling/visualizing the muscle before moving on to a heavy Yates style barbell row and a heavy one arm db row. 2 sets of 6-8 reps and I also hold the fully contracted position for a brief 1/2 second like Yates always says on his back.

Some lifts that really brought up my back were heavy rows and sounds funny but some olympic lifting really brought up the 3D aspect of my back ... if that makes sense ... just look at some muscular oly lifter backs and you'll know what I mean.

 

[desibaba]

my last back workout looked like this
1 arm barbell rows 3x12-8
smith machine rows with bands 4x10-6
hammer strength reverse pulldowns 3x10
wide grip cable rows 3x10
mountaindog stretchers 3x12
and rack deadlifts 3x10-6

I looked at this month's Muscular Development and most of the Pros claim to have similar back routines. Makes sense cause its such a huge area with so many individual sections that need to be hit from different angles unlike Chest or Biceps.

 

[Wrecked]

Once I went reverse grip my back had some amazing changes.

 

[mikevegas]

last workout:

50 reps wide grip pull ups
30 reps reverse grip pull ups
bent over row reverse grip straight bar 4 sets
seated row 4 sets
pull overs 4 sets

i do deadlifts on leg day after squats

 

[heavyhitter]

I looked at this month's Muscular Development and most of the Pros claim to have similar back routines. Makes sense cause its such a huge area with so many individual sections that need to be hit from different angles unlike Chest or Biceps.

since i changed to starting with rowing movements while fresh, as well as changing up a few excercises, such as adding in meadows rows and 1 arm barbell rows(basically more single arm movements with a great stretch and contraction) my back has improved immensely

 

[CaliKid]

this is what my usual back day looks like-

Pull-ups: sets of 6-12 reps until I cant get anymore (usually around 6 sets for me)

Rack-Deads: sets of 2-8 reps until I cant get a set for 2, then immediately go into a drop set till failure

Reverse grip bent over rows: 4-5 sets, high reps, lighter weight, really slow focusing on the contraction and really stretching out the lats.

Stiff arm pull downs: don't really count the sets, lighter weight just really really focusing on the lats and trying to force as much blood in as possible

Then I hit the foam/rumble roller after all that and I'm done

All in all I'm somewhere around 20+ sets plus the foam/rumble roller

 

[GetYucked]

Today was


Lat pulldown - 1 and 2 arm until the pump was just there
Machine Row - sets of 10-20
HS Row - Sets of 12-15
Overhead Underhand Row - Sets of 10
DB bent over row - Sets of 15

I would usually do a heavy BB row today, but back felt a bit weird so I took the weight off it that would have been placed on it from stabilizing in the BB row.

 

[JCswoll]

All 5x12-15 and full contractions elbows as tight as possible.
No bull shit 1/2 pulls!
Wide lat pull down
Mid grip pull down
Close grip pull down
Bent over standing barbell rows
Reserve grip pull downs
Standing wide lat pulls
Seated close grip.
Feel The bump!!!

Start light 2 warmup sets , 3 working

 

[BigDM]

I currently train back and chest together. Here is the back portion:

Chin-Up - 4 sets to failure
Seated Cable Rows - 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8, 8 reps
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown - 3 sets of 15, 12, 10 reps

I'll be changing this up in 2 weeks. I'm following a 16 week 4-phase workout plan and in my 2nd phase which uses a pyramid system. Weight increases with each lower rep set.

 

[JR32]

5 Reasons Great Backs Are Rare | Iron Man Magazine

Ever try lat pull ins?

The Best Lat Exercise | Doug Brignole - Exercise and Biomechanics

Tried the Doug Brignole exercise this evening , great contraction thanks for posting the link

 

[Dens228]

Medium grip pulldowns for 5 sets to failure, I let let my scapula rotate out on the eccentric portion.

Barbell rows, 5 sets to failure.

When I get bored with that I'll switch to pull ups and t-bar rows

 

[AshopRep]

Lots of deadlifts for me today.

 

[waynaferd]

3 sets of all, 12-15 reps...

Pull ups or downs
Rack pulls
BB or cable rows
Pullovers
Curls

I do the cable machine every other workout, alternating each time.

Nuttin spectacular, but works for me!!

 

[myosaurus]

underhand chins 3 x 10(warm up)
underhand row 45 degree stance 4 x 15
1 arm db row 4 x 10
hammer row 4 x 15
med wide chins 4 x 10
db shrug 3 x 20

currently not deadlifting as i do hamstring on separate day and quads on day after back.

 

[Growman]

Had been doing 4 sets of:
Neutral Grip pull up
One arm dumbbell row
Reverse Grip pull down
Hammer Strength Row

Switched to this after years of doing a lot of wide grip pull ups/downs. Read some stuff about Dorian Yates saying he used mostly close/reverse grip so figured i would try it and liked the results. Just joined a new gym and they have the hammer strength pull over machine that Dorian swears by, so i will be pre-exausting the lats with that now.

 

[PitbullTank]

my workout now- 3-4 sets weighted pullups, 3-4 sets bent over DB rows...2x a week...

my old backworkout- 2x a week.... 1st day 3 sets of each heavy compound movement- deadlift, BB row, Ronnie row, or HS pulldown machines....id do these in the 5-8 rep range.... 2nd back training day was higher rep moves in the 12-15 rep range... id do cable behind neck pulldowns, sitting rows, 1 arm db, etc...

i like both routines...