Flipping On the Muscle Building Switch – Back Training

May 18, 2011 · Posted in Muscle Building

In a previous post, I talked about the importance of the indirect effect leg training has on overall muscle growth. To a great extent back training is important for the same reason. It’s demanding because the back is the second largest muscle group in the body but also because back training has an overlap effect bringing in the hamstrings, glutes, traps, forearms, biceps, lat’s, and several other smaller muscles.

Your entire upper body will grow bigger and stronger from hard work on heavy barbell rows, t-bar rows, dumbbell rows, chin up variations and heavy, heavy pull downs.

There is a technique that is vital to developing a good back that I originally learned from Vince Gironda. Larry Scott also wrote about it when I trained with Samir Bannout (who was known for his extraordinary back development).

Here’s how it works… In the extended arm position of your rowing and pull-down movements you want to protract your shoulders (giving you a ‘caved in’ chest appearance) and as you pull the bar down or towards you, protract the shoulders back and down (giving you a ‘puffed out’ chest appearance). This motion strongly engages the back muscles and without it, the biceps take the brunt of the workload leaving the back underworked.

That means you’ll also be doing something counter-intuitive with your breathing. You’ll be breathing IN when pulling the weight and breathing OUT when releasing the weight. This breathing facilitates the movement and is the opposite of what you do on almost every other exercise. In MOST exercises you exhale during the positive part of the rep and inhale during the negative part. That is just the opposite of what you need to do in order to protract the shoulders and ‘puff you chest out’ during rows, pull-down and chins.

Remember these big muscle movements put the body in an alarm state. The body attempts to adapt by secreting its own supply of natural testosterone and growth hormone.

There’s nothing pretty or fancy about working these exercises. It’s just hard work for 2 to 5 sets 2 times every 9 days. Do that and watch your entire back get more muscular.

Try this…

Workout #1

T-Bar Rows 4 sets 4-6 reps
Close grip overhand chins touching your chest to the bar 4 sets 6-10 reps (add weight if you can do more than 10)
Dumbbell Pullovers 3 sets of 15-25 reps
Barbell shrugs 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Workout # 2

V handle pull downs to chest 4 sets 4-6 reps
Barbell Rows – nothing pretty load the bar up and row 4 sets 6-10 reps
Dumbbell Rows 5 sets 5 reps

-->

Tags: back, build, building, fast, growth hormone, Iron Man Magazine, Larry Scott, muscle, Samir Bannout, testosterone, tip, Vince Gironda

Comments Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Email Notifications

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Feed ToolsCategoriesFat Loss (29)Motivation (17)Muscle Building (63)Positions of Flexion (3)Uncategorized (2)X-Rep (11)SectionsAboutArchivesJune 2011May 2011April 2011March 2011February 2011January 2011December 2010November 2010October 2010September 2010.dmcontent_container {margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;width:158px;height:93px;border:1px solid #e8e8e8;background-color:#f8f8f8;}.dmcontent_title {text-align:left;line-height:18px;width:158px;height:20px;font-size:14px;font-weight:bold;color:#000000;font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Verdana;}.dmcontent_body {line-height:16px;float:left;overflow-y: auto; text-align: left;margin-right: auto;width: 154px;height: 70px;//height:68px;}.dmcontent_body a:hover {text-decoration:none; color:#aa1313;}.dmcontent_link {text-decoration:none;font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Verdana;color:#2255aa;font-size:12px;} Local Guides All Local Guides
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
DC
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
SubscribeEntries RSSComments RSSFavorite SitesIron Man MagazineX-Rep.comBlogsJohn BalikRoland BalikJerry BrainumDoug BrignoleSean Zilla KatterleJerry FredrickDave GoodinSteve HolmanTad InoueBrent KutlesaRuth SilvermanLonnie TeperJoe WheatleyDavid YoungTagsArnoldArthur JonesBill Pearlbodybuildersbodybuildingbuildingbuild musclecarbohydratesCasey ViatorCharles PoliquinDanny PadillaDaveDavidDavid YoungEric Broserfastfast muscle building tipfat lossfreegaining muscle massGold’s Gym Venicegrowth hormoneHITIron ManIron Man MagazineLarry ScottLean Mass Gainslean muscleMike Mentzermotivationmusclemuscle buildingmuscle growthmuscle massproteinRay MentzerROC BoxingSamir BannoutSteve HolmanstrongertestosteronetiptipsVince GirondaYoung  In This Issue | Training | Nutrition | Lifestyle | Products Reviews | News | Photos | Videos | Contests | Blogs | Forum | Search | Subscribe | Shop Top Searches: X-Reps | Home Gym | Lose Fat | Ab Exercises | Success Stories | Beginning Bodybuilding | Dumbbell Workout | Rachel McLish | Hardbody | Creatine Loading Copyright © 2010 Iron Man Magazine | www.ironmanmagazine.com · About Us | Advertising | Privacy | Contact Us | Site Index

View the Original article