Best Back Exercises

What is your best back exercises?

Best Lat Exercise.
Best Overall.
Best Mass/Row/Size.
Wide grip lat pull down with a hard squeeze at the bottom and a 6 second negative.

Meadows rows are downright amazing.

V bar rows are also great.

I also really enjoy the EZ grip bar varieties.

Smith machine rows standing side ways and using one arm are a straight killer for the rhomboids. (Make sure to keep back straight and not use momentum; I only throw 5-10 Lbs. on each side)

Reps for size (12-20)

Less reps for strength. (2-6)
 
I forgot about something you've probably never done before....

40° on bench
Lay down on it like you're going to do flys for rear delts.
Bring the dumbbells back and upwards. Those motha fuckers are killer.
It's a very interesting range of motion and the it targets lats well.
 
What is your best back exercises?

Best Lat Exercise.
Best Overall.
Best Mass/Row/Size.

I always do these 3 in this order:

1) Pull ups (until failure) or v bar pull downs
2) Barbell Row (Pyramid the weight up to a heavy 5 rep set where cheating is needed, than I pyramid back down focusing on form)
3) Seated single arm cable row (finisher, working just on the squeeze. I’m normally very taxed and fatigued at this point)
 
I have said a few times before that I really don’t have a good feel for barbell rows so for me the king of back is T bar rows, standard- not with a chest pad. I use the close grip v bar cable attachment on the bar. I like the ones where you put your chest on a pad too but more for isolation then strength/ mass.
reverse grip cable pulldowns to chin really light my lats up
For a good finisher I like stiff arm cable pressdowns, nice and slow, good burn and pump. Like other body parts I do other things on and off but i listed my favorites.
 
Wide grip lat pull down with a hard squeeze at the bottom and a 6 second negative.

Meadows rows are downright amazing.

V bar rows are also great.

I also really enjoy the EZ grip bar varieties.

Smith machine rows standing side ways and using one arm are a straight killer for the rhomboids. (Make sure to keep back straight and not use momentum; I only throw 5-10 Lbs. on each side)

Reps for size (12-20)

Less reps for strength. (2-6)
Can you hit your chest with wide lat pulldowns?
 
V
Wide grip lat pull down with a hard squeeze at the bottom and a 6 second negative.

Meadows rows are downright amazing.

V bar rows are also great.

I also really enjoy the EZ grip bar varieties.

Smith machine rows standing side ways and using one arm are a straight killer for the rhomboids. (Make sure to keep back straight and not use momentum; I only throw 5-10 Lbs. on each side)

Reps for size (12-20)

Less reps for strength. (2-6)
V bar rows really add a thickness to the back they are great.

v bar lat pulldowns are also amazing.
 
I always do these 3 in this order:

1) Pull ups (until failure) or v bar pull downs
2) Barbell Row (Pyramid the weight up to a heavy 5 rep set where cheating is needed, than I pyramid back down focusing on form)
3) Seated single arm cable row (finisher, working just on the squeeze. I’m normally very taxed and fatigued at this point)
Do think pyramiding is a good stradegy for mass? How many sets? Like a pyramid of 5? Getting bored my self of just doing 3 sets of an amount raising weight.
 
I forgot about something you've probably never done before....

40° on bench
Lay down on it like you're going to do flys for rear delts.
Bring the dumbbells back and upwards. Those motha fuckers are killer.
It's a very interesting range of motion and the it targets lats well.
Like a Y-lift?
 
Do think pyramiding is a good stradegy for mass? How many sets? Like a pyramid of 5? Getting bored my self of just doing 3 sets of an amount raising weight.
I mainly use barbell rows for overall mass development so I do a lot of sets for these. I warm up with either pull ups or some type of pull down, than I walk over to start my main exercise (rows). I personally like pyramiding the weight because it helps me get ready for the heavy set. Some people can just walk in, throw 225 on the bar and row it. I can’t do that. That’s what I mean by pyramiding.

Ex:
Warm up pull ups x3
Barbell row set 1: just the bar (getting foot placement and stance correct)
Set 2: 135 x 10
Set 3: 185 x 5
Set 4: 225 x 5 (really warmed up by this point)
Set 5: 275 x 5
Set 6: 225 x 10 (focusing on form)
Set 7: 135 x failure (focusing on form)
Finisher cable row x3

It may seem like a lot of sets but I love barbell rows. Some people hate them so instead of me forcing them to do it, I just tell them to find there favorite back exercise and focus on it. To me this is the best mass builder but it may not be the same for others.
 
My back day routine looks like this:
1. Parallel grip lat pulldown
2. One-arm Hammer Pulldown
3. Incline bench one-arm db row, or T-bar row
4. Rack pull
 
Chin ups. Where you go down until your arms are locked out for the start of each rep. When going up i go until my chest pretty much touches the bar, later in the set as i fatigue i aim just to get my chin up to the bar, when i no longer can do that ive hit failure. Also i always hold my feet out infront of me not behind me, usually legs infront at like a 45 degree angle this creates a great abdominal static hold side benefit during the reps.

For traps i love Hise shrugs. This is where you load the fuck out of a bar, put it on your upper back/traps like you were going to squat, then just shrug it up trying to touch your shoulders to your ears. The beauty with this is you can overload the traps big time, it also thickens my neck really well infact almost too well that i sometimes skip it for a few weeks as my neck turns into a tree trunk.
 
Whenever I do hypertrophy work for back I always throw in something like heavy snatch grip rdls. Really lights the lats up and gets some additional work on the upper back and hamstrings at the same time. Then I'll usually do either pullups, lat pulldowns, or the iso lat pullover. Then I'll do either t-bar rows, bent over rows, iso low rows, or pendlay rows. Then I typically would move into either chest supported rows, seated cable rows, or seal rows. Typically finish it off with a reverse fly variation.
 
L
Whenever I do hypertrophy work for back I always throw in something like heavy snatch grip rdls. Really lights the lats up and gets some additional work on the upper back and hamstrings at the same time. Then I'll usually do either pullups, lat pulldowns, or the iso lat pullover. Then I'll do either t-bar rows, bent over rows, iso low rows, or pendlay rows. Then I typically would move into either chest supported rows, seated cable rows, or seal rows. Typically finish it off with a reverse fly variation.
Lol so basically everything. I do much of what you said.

as of now with no gym,

i do
1.cable lat pulldowns
2. v handle close grip lat pulldowns,
3.standing stright arm lat pushdowns,
4. v bar attatchment seated rows.
Then maybe a light bent over row. Being i just have home equipment.

The v bar or d bar, whatever you want to call it really bring a thickness to my back like nothing else, the contraction i get is amazing.

I have been working on lat pulldowns with a really good contraction no biceps invloved, wow! What a difference.
 

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