In fact, 70% of your upper body muscle mass resides in this area! Nothing can replace the upper body thickening effect of big, bulging lats and a set of wide, tall trapezius muscles.
There are 4 major movements that you must perform to properly develop your back:
1. Deadlifts
I cannot possibly stress the importance of this lift enough. There is not a single exercise out there that can even come close to matching the effectiveness of a basic, bent-legged barbell deadlift.
The deadlift will work you from finger to neck to toe and is irreplaceable in developing strong, thick back muscles. The deadlift will stimulate growth throughout the entire back complex and should be the cornerstone of your routine.
2. A vertical pulling movement
These exercises mainly target the lat muscles and will help you to attain that wide, v-tapered look from behind. Examples of vertical pulling movements are chin-ups (overhand or underhand), lat pulldowns and v-bar pulldowns.
To get the most bang for your buck I recommend a basic overhand chin-up. This is the bread and butter of vertical pulling movements and will stimulate growth in the lats like no other exercise.
3. A horizontal pulling movement
Otherwise referred to as “rows”, horizontal pulling movements place their emphasis on the upper/middle portion of the back and also stimulate the lats. There are a ton of different rowing movements to choose from: bent over barbell rows, dumbbell rows, seated machine rows and cable rows just to name a few.
For maximum results, stick to a basic freeweight rowing movement. I usually recommend bent over barbell rows, but bent over dumbbell rows are an acceptable choice as well.
4. A shrugging movement
While not quite as important as the above mentioned lifts, a shrugging movement should still be performed at the end of the workout to target the upper traps and develop that mountainous, diamond-shaped look from behind. A basic barbell or dumbbell shrug will do the trick.
The routine
The following routine is ideal for optimal gains in back size en strength:
Deadlifts – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Overhand Chin-Ups – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Bent Over Barbell Rows – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps
Barbell Shrugs – 2 Sets of 10 to 12 reps
It may not seem like a lot, but as long as you take every set to muscular failure and focus on quality rather than quantity, this routine provides more than enough stimulation for maximum back growth.
Make sure to keep a written record of every workout that you perform, and focus each week on increasing either the weight that you lift or the number of reps that you perform within the given rep range. Perform this workout once per week with full effort.
