[chrispghmuscle]

Training the back muscle to a decent size will give you a "Hulk" like appearance and give people the impression that you bodybuild. You are going to learn what the back muscle is, the two primary portions of the back, exercises for these two portions, and the best way to incorporate your back workout to your training routine. Don't expect to perfect your workout right away, but as you gain experience, you should have a good idea of what needs to be done with your back.

The upper back consists of twelve vertebral bodies in the spine. The upper back is not designed for motion and injuries to the thoracic spine are rare. The thoracic spine provides stability and structural support for the upper back, and allows very little motion. The lower
back is a complex structure of disks, vertebrae, nerves which include the spinal cord and nerves, small joints, six shock absorbers called disks, and five bones call lumbar vertebrae.

Training the upper back is the same as training any other muscle group. Low reps build mass and high reps to pump up. The following exercise are the best back exercises to achieve whatever goal you are aiming for:

Chins:
bodyweight
weighted if possible

Machine:
Smith Machine Bent Over Row
T-Bar Row
Lying T-Bar Row

Dumbbell:
Middle Back Shrug
One-Arm Dumbbell Row
Bent Over Two-Dumbbell Row
Palms In Bent Over Two-Dumbbell Row With

Cable:
Seated Cable Rows

Barbell:
Reverse Grip Bent-Over Rows
Bent Over Two-Arm Long Bar Row
Bent Over Barbell Row
Bent Over One-Arm Long Bar Row

The lower back is very small and simply cannot handle as much as that of the upper back. The following lower back exercises are useful in developing your lower back:

Stiff-Legged Dumbbell Deadlift
Hyperextensions
Stiff Leg Barbell Good Morning
Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift
Smith Machine Stiff Legged Deadlift

When choosing your upper back split, you need to take into consideration that the upper back is considered a large muscle group and should be separated from other large muscle groups such as the chest and quads. The lower back can either be trained alone or with your glutes and hamstrings. Most lower back exercises target portions of the hamstrings which is why it is best to train them on the same day. In fact, your first training split should use this sort of split and alter it a bit if you don't see the results that you are looking for.

Chris

[Tomaselli84]

I know what you mean but I find it hard to do deads on leg day because I feel it takes away my strength and intensity when its time to squat. At the same time somedays I feel that doing them on back day takes away from the amount of wieght I do on pulldowns and rows, I will do them first since they are the excersize that moves the most wieght. So therein lies the prediciment. I was thinking about getting in the gym an extra day of the week just for heavy deads, or do u think doing a 6 day week is too much?

[QuinnBW]

gotta have that back

[Kirk]

nice thread chris... insightful.