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Do you dream of adding some serious mass to your back, but are unsure of the best route to achieve this goal? Well look no further, as we provide you with some of the most effective exercises that should be a staple of any truly great back workout. A big back is something to be proud of, so here are our chosen five back exercises to help you along the way.

#1 The Deadlift

If you're serious about your training program, and your goal is to gain impressive amounts of muscle, you'll definitely want to include deadlifts in your routine. Although this exercise can be daunting to first timers, if performed correctly, the deadlift is one of the greatest back exercises available.

Not only does the deadlift target the back muscles, it also directly trains the lower body too. In fact, this wonderful exercise works the hamstrings, thighs, core, lower back, upper back and traps, so you'll be utilising a huge amount of muscle stimulation in one simple exercise!

#2 Bent Over Barbell Rows

This fantastic exercise is another that provides you with a great deal of muscle stimulation over a large area. Not only will bent over barbell rows target your upper back, they'll also work your lats, traps, lower back and hamstrings. A further advantage of the bent over barbell row is that it requires little in terms of equipment, keeping you away from those pesky machines. Ensure that the weight you use is heavy enough to fully stimulate your muscles, but also allows for correct form and full range of motion.

#3 T-Bar Rows

Continuing with our theme of exercises requiring little in terms of equipment, we present the T-Bar row. Commonly found within the routine of old school bodybuilders, this lift is both functional and effective. The T-Bar row should be included within your training program to add thickness to your lats, whilst also adding mass to your upper back, traps, rhomboids and deltoids. As with all free weight exercises, ensure that the weight you add to the bar is heavy enough to stimulate your back without limiting your range of movement.

#4 Single Arm Dumbbell Rows

The single arm dumbbell row is a great addition to any program, providing stimulation to the middle and upper back, whilst also targeting the lats, shoulders, traps and biceps. Unlike the barbell row, the single arm dumbbell row allows for isolation of each side of the back, which is useful as back training covers such a large area of muscle. To really get the most out of single arm dumbbell rows, remember to focus on pulling the weight with your back muscles, not the biceps.

#5 Pull Ups and Chin Ups

For the most part, we believe that the most useful back exercises involve free weights. When choosing our top five back exercises, however, it was an easy decision to include pull ups and chin ups. Both of these exercises are highly effective within back training programs, and again require very little equipment. Beginners should first attempt to perform chin ups, with the palms facing towards the body, as they utilize more of the bicep than the pull up, making the exercise a little easier to perform. Once the chin up and pull up have been mastered, resistance can also be added in the form of a weight belt to increase the difficulty of the exercise

Posted in Back Exercises, Build Muscle, Workouts

The back can be a tough area to train. The back also has three different muscle groups that are important to train. The upper back muscles are called the rhomboids and trapezius muscles. The sides are called the latissimus dorsi and the lower back muscles are called the erector spinae. They each have an important role in the strength of your back so work them all. Many chest exercises work the back muscles as well but in order to really grow the back muscles it is important to do exercises that really isolate the back muscles. Here are a few good exercises that will give you a powerful back with rippling, bulging muscles.

Traps

Dumbbell Shrug- This exercise is the most effective exercise for the trapezius muscle. The dumbbell shrug is very self explanatory. You stand with a dumbbell in each hand with your feet about shoulder width apart. Then shrug your shoulders up and down.

Upright Rows- These can be done with a barbell or dumbbells. Hold the weight with your palms facing your body resting on your thighs. Pull the weight up under your chin with your elbows bent out.

Wide Grip Pull Ups- This exercise is done with a pull up bar. Grab the bar as wide as you can and pull the weight of your body off the floor as high as you can.

Lats

Lat pulldowns- Any exercise that has the body part in the name is a sure way to tell that it effectively works that muscle. The lat pulldown is done on a machine designed for this. You should be facing the wall and gripping the bar with your palms facing the wall. Pull it straight down in front of you until the bar reaches your middle chest. The lat pulldown can also be done behind the head for a variation.

Rows- There are so many different types of rows. They all work the lat. The movement is basically the same. For a basic dumbbell row, you bend over with the weights in your hands, palms facing the knees. Bring the weight straight up toward the chest and bend your elbows out to the sides. Variations: Barbell row, T bar rows, Seated Cable rows

Lower Back

Hyperextension- This exercise is done on a roman chair. Cross your arms over your chest and bend over. Use the muscles of your lower back to bring you back up to standing position.

Barbell Deadlifts- With the barbell on the floor directly in front of your toes, bend over keeping your legs straight. Don't bend your knees. Pull the weight up with you as you return to standing position.

Supermans- For this exercise you lay face down on the floor with your arms out like superman resting on the floor. Bring your arms and feet up off the floor but keep them straight. It is a small movement but you can feel the muscles working.

Posted in Back Exercises, Bodybuilding training, Build Muscle

Both men AND women that are into fitness, desire to have a great looking back. There's nothing that completes your look better than having that "V" shape. I'm here to tell you, that you can definitely attain a bigger, stronger back, and get yourself started toward that "V" shape look! All you need are a few killer back exercises, patience, and consistency! So without wasting anymore time, let's dive into the back exercises.

This exercise MUST be included. To be honest with you,there really is no choice in the matter! Not only is this exercise great for building your back, but it's also great for your core, as well as your quads and calves.

The exercise that I'm referring to is the dead lift. The dead lift takes care of almost everything when it comes to your back. When I say "everything," I mean the upper, mid, and even some of the lower part of your back. This is really great for your lats as well, which will help give you those "wings!" It is VERY important to do dead lifts with proper form. Using proper form will allow you do use more weight, and well, it's just the safe thing to do. It is best to do dead lifts at your local gym. Grab a barbell, lay it on the ground where there is room, then start putting on weight that you think you'll be able to do for about 8-10 reps. When you grab the bar, make sure your hands are a little more than shoulder width apart. Your feet should be shoulder width apart. Bend at the knees to pick up the bar. As you're rising, the bar should be close to your shins. Keep your head looking up toward the ceiling, this will force your body to keep your back aligned. Breathing is key, so take a deep breath, then breath outward as you are picking up the weight. Flex and squeeze your back at the end of each rep. Using wrist straps is a great thing to do while doing dead lifts. Using wrist straps will exponentially increase your grip strength.

Cable Pull Downs are also a must! This exercise will work your lats more than anything else when it comes to your back. You'll be isolating your "wings." You will easily be able to spot a cable pull down machine at the gym. There are many different bars and grips that you could attach to the cable, Get the longest bar that is available, then attach it to the cable. Using the longest bar is important, because you will want to use the widest grip possible to maximize your results. If you have wrist straps, make sure to use them. Using wrist straps while doing cable pull downs will take the pressure off of your biceps, and will allow you to isolate your lats as much as possible. Lock yourself into the cable pull down machine, and pull down while focusing on your lats. Choose a weight that you will be able to do for about 8-10 reps.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Cable Row exercise. Doing this exercise will help you to build a thicker back. You will be isolating the middle part of your back. Just like with the cable pull downs, you could use many different bar and grip attachments with this exercise. Grab the smallest grip that you can find. The grip that I'm talking about has 2 handles on them. Sit down on the cable rowing machine, and pull back to the lower part of your stomach. Make sure to flex and squeeze at the end of each rep. When you pull back, don't go all the way back. You don't want to be laying down on the bench at the end of each rep!

Everything that I've mentioned above are the "big 3" for your back! These are definitely the best back exercises to do in order to get a bigger, thicker, and meaner looking back! Add these exercises to your routine for about 6-8 weeks, and watch your cobra back grow!

Posted in Back Exercises, Bodybuilding training, Build Muscle

After the squat, the deadlift is the most effective movement that you can do in the gym. Epitomizing the term "compound movement," it uses nearly every muscle in your entire body, from your traps all the way down to your calves. Bodybuilders, competitive lifters, and many other athletes have long used this movement to build brute strength, pack on muscle mass, and improve their overall athletic performance. Here are five reasons why every trainee, casual or competitive, should be deadlifting:

1. The Deadlift Promotes Full Body Muscular Development
While many trainers and trainees alike are quick to simply categorize the deadlift as a "back" movement, it is truly a full-body exercise. At the start, the deadlift brings the hamstrings and quads into play to break the weight from the floor. The lower back is also stimulated from the very beginning and remains tense and contracted to keep the weight moving upward and back. From the middle of the range of motion to lockout, the lats, traps, and rhomboids are heavily engaged to keep the weight in close to the body. Finally, the forearms, biceps, and overall grip strength are taxed to the limit to hold on to heavy weights.

2. Building the Biggest Back Possible
While the deadlift brings much more than the lower and upper backs into play, it is truly the best back-builder you can perform. It is indispensable for obtaining that thick look to your back and overall physique that simply screams "powerful." At powerlifting meets, the guys with the biggest deadlifts are almost always sporting the biggest, thickest lats and traps. In bodybuilding shows, the competitors with the most dominating back poses are also usually the ones known to be strong deadlifters. Pull-ups and rows are certainly important, but you will never build the most developed back possible without the deadlift.

3. Developing an Iron Grip
Unless you are using lifting straps, the deadlift will develop enormous crushing and pinching grip strength. Your forearms and hands grow in strength and size to accommodate the weights that the rest of your body is handling. This improved grip strength is valuable not only for other weight-training exercises, but for any sport in which you grab, hold, or throw objects or other competitors. Because your hands are the tools for transferring power from the rest of your body to another object, your grip can make or break your overall strength.

4. The Deadlift Mimics Real-Life and Sport Situations
While people are quick to toss around the term "functional strength" with little real meaning, it surely applies to the deadlift. The foremost example of this application to real-life scenarios is in picking things up off the ground, especially heavy objects that require a strong back and grip. Furthermore, nearly every contact sport contains situations such as checking, tackling, and jumping that involve a large, quick transference of energy from the lower body to the upper body or another object.

5. A Great Workout for Your Abs
Just as with any exercise that strongly involves the lower back, the deadlift heavily taxes the abdominals and obliques, as well. These muscles tense and tighten during the movement to help keep the lower back contracted in an arched position. If you have never deadlifted before, your first few sessions may very well leave your abs more sore than any targeted abdominal workout you have ever done.

To conclude, every weight trainee should be performing the deadlift regularly. It is one of the best movements for building overall strength and muscle mass, as well as for improving everyday and sport-specific performance. If you are not performing this movement, you are not realizing your full muscle building potential.

Posted in Back Exercises, Build Muscle, Workouts

Most of the muscles located in the upper and lower back are actually part of your core muscle group. The core muscle group is naturally the most important muscle group for strength training hence the reason they are called the "core" muscle group. If they weren't the most important muscle group they would probably be called something like the "supporting" or "secondary" muscle group. Anyway, your back muscles are incredibly intertwined with many of the other muscles on your body. For example, the back muscles allow you to stand upright and move your arms and shoulders.

Therefore, it's important that you develop a solid routine to develop your upper and lower back muscles. While by no means a glamorous muscle group, strong back muscles will naturally make you stronger in several of your other muscle groups and stabilize your core.

Here are 4 muscle building back muscles that you absolutely must have in your back workout routine:

1. Dead Lift - This exercise targets your lats, erector spinae, gluts and traps. Interestingly, this exercise actually works nearly 70% of all the muscles in your body at one time. Needless to say, this is a fairly intense exercise. With this exercise you will need to place weight on a bench press bar directly in front of you. Then, with knees arched slightly back, you will raise the weight to about knee level and drop it back down. A word of caution: this exercise has the potential to cause very serious injury and you should never under in circumstances attempt to do more weight than you can handle.

2. Pull-Ups - This is a tried and true back exercise that is probably about as old as time itself. There are actually 2 types of pull-ups: long grip and short grip. When doing this exercise you can either place your hands shoulder length apart (long grip) or right alongside each other (short grip). A mix of both is essential for a great back workout. Pull-ups also work your shoulder and triceps muscles.

3. Bent Over Rows - With this exercise you grasp the bar and flex your torso forward with both arms extended. The bar is then pulled up to your lower chest and back down again.

For all three exercises you want to shoot for about 6 sets and about 6 reps per set.

Because the spine is located in your back you must always exercise caution when doing heavy weight back exercises. This means wearing a weight belt at all times and never attempting to show off by lifting more weight than you can handle.

Posted in Back Exercises, Build Muscle, Workouts

There are several crucial elements to be knowledgeable of when trying to build muscle. For anyone to build lean muscle they must be able to follow a workout program and stick to a nutritional diet. These go hand in hand, if you are lacking to follow the program or diet you will not see any progress. When you workout hard in the gym your muscles have little tears and are fatigued, without proper nutrition you will not garner any results and your muscle will not grow. On the other hand you can eat as healthy and as proper as possible, but if you do not take the time to go to the gym, your muscle will not grow.

In order to build a strong back you must do compound exercises that include the whole body. Deadlifts are essential in order to build a strong sturdy lower back. The lower back takes a lot of strain and tension during daily tasks, building up a strong lower back will help to prevent back pain. Chin ups are known as a mandatory exercise in order to get a ripped back. When doing chin ups you are resisting your entire body weight, resulting in fast gains of muscle in the upper and mid back.

A nutritional diet will consist of at least 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight, and lots of fruits and veggies. You will need to take in a 3/1 carbs to protein ratio in order to store energy for working out without adding unwanted fat.

In order to gain muscle you must have a sufficient workout program as well as a nutritional guide. Without this you will not gain muscle. Make a change in your life today and get started with a workout plan that will get you a ripped back in less than 6 weeks.

Posted in Back Exercises, Bodybuilding training, Build Muscle, Workouts