MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
For a thicker back
- Thread starter DFM
- Start date
Deadlifts and wide grip pullups are #1 for back development IMO
That’s a fact. The pull up probably being the best. I grew up power lifting. I’m missing my middle finger now so chalk is a must for grip. I’m in my 40’s so dead’s can be pretty brutal on me. No offense to anyone reading this, but imo sumo dead’s are for ladies. Just my 2cents
DFM
malfeasance
Member
The biggest visual difference for me came after I added barbell rows. Just bend over, row low into the groin, start out light to get that squeeze when you pull your elbows back, and add weight as you can.
5 years later a dramatic visual difference that pulldowns and cable rows and other stuff could not produce for me.
5 years later a dramatic visual difference that pulldowns and cable rows and other stuff could not produce for me.
eery
Member
Find a vertical and horizontal pull variation you can feel the stretch and contraction well on and progressively overload it.
barbell rows and wide pulldowns never did much for me so now i stick to dumbbells, cables and machines and my back has gone from weakpoint to one of my stronger bodyparts. Feell the stretch and contract hard and get stronger by doing more reps and weight and you'll see gains come as long as you have your recovery variables in check.
barbell rows and wide pulldowns never did much for me so now i stick to dumbbells, cables and machines and my back has gone from weakpoint to one of my stronger bodyparts. Feell the stretch and contract hard and get stronger by doing more reps and weight and you'll see gains come as long as you have your recovery variables in check.
TSud
Member
Iv started doing my lat pull downs with handles, really stretching my lats out at the top and at the bottom slightly rotating my palms in, pulling thru my pinkie and ring fingers and really contracting my lats. John Meadows suggested using handles in one of his Youtube Videos and i can really fell it during the exercise.
eery
Member
how does the handle setup look? It sounds good. Do you do one and one arm?
When I do them, i use cable grips and use two hands. My setup allows for this. They are really amazing.
TSud
Member
I use cable grips and do both arms together. The machine at my gym allows me to do one arm at a time if I wanted to but I like the stretch i get from pulling with both arms simultaneously. One the thing I forgot to mention, as your pulling the weight down, don't collapse your chest. I used to be guilty of doing that and I see so many people doing that at the gym, trying to move more weight thru what they think is a full range of motion. But when you allow your chest to collapse at the bottom of the motion your taking some of the stress off your target muscle, your lats, and shifting more towards your shoulder/ rear dealt area. Forget about your ego, drop the weight if need be, and keep your chest up thru the whole range of motion, almost like when you try to puff your chest out to look bigger. At the contraction phase of the movement, envision trying to squeeze your sholder blades down and towards each other, like your trying to get them to meet at the middle of your back. Thats were rotating your palms in slightly and pulling thru your pinkie and ring fingers comes into play. Lastly, as your doing the exercise I think you need fill it in the muscle your targeting. If your not, again lower the weight your moving and really focus on your form, your stretch at the top and your contraction at the bottom. Leave your ego out of of your lifts. There’s so much more to it then just lifting a heavy weight up and down. But when it comes together and you can start to fill it in your lats, or whatever muscle your targeting really, its a good feeling knowing that you went in there and hit what you needed to hit and did your job for the day.
bob357sig
Member
Nothing has built more thickness and density in my back then good old T bar rows. In my younger days I tried to get by with just pull downs and low cable rows but I had no real depth to my back. Regular T bar rows- not supported, were and are what work for me. I use a V grip cable attachment on the bar “gives me a better feel then just gripping the bar hand over hand”. I pyramid the weight up for about 5 sets, then like to finish with half of what my max was for as many reps as possible “burnout set”. Throw in a few isolation exercises after that “stiff arm pressdowns are great” and your back will get thicker. Be very mindful of your form though, lot of pressure on your lower back with all the weight in front of you.
Do you as a landmine?
bob357sig
Member
Not a landmine as in landmine press, just a standard t-bar row, just when you are strateling the bar- all the weight on the bar is in front of you, leverage is working against you. Last 2 times I have done them my damn sciatic nerve has been bothering me, I will probably find a different exercise for a while.
weighted chinup
Member
Bent-over BB Rows probably were the biggest game changer for thickness for myself however I've also seen people do BB Rows and have very little to show for it, even rowing heavy weights.
I believe rotating grips (underhand + pronated) is important, you can even do this in the same session (2 sets underhand, 2 sets overhand). Because most people will almost always lie to themselves about how much body english they are using to row the weight, a good cue to use is: are you able to hold the weight and contract for at least half a second or a full second at the top of each rep? If so, you are probably going to get a lot out of them.
Underhand generally feels the smoothest when performed in a smith machine, not a fan of super heavy underhand BB Row outside of smith, think it's overrated for most when used vanilla.
Second to this would be Chest Supported Rows and Dumbbell Rows, the way these 2 lifts shine is they are much more conducive to high-intensity techniques than a conventional BB row. Doing drops on a chest supported row or dumbbell row is one of few high intensity techniques that feels super productive over straight sets for back work.
I have gotten excellent width from vertical pulls, but nothing compared to these when it came to thickness and density.
I believe rotating grips (underhand + pronated) is important, you can even do this in the same session (2 sets underhand, 2 sets overhand). Because most people will almost always lie to themselves about how much body english they are using to row the weight, a good cue to use is: are you able to hold the weight and contract for at least half a second or a full second at the top of each rep? If so, you are probably going to get a lot out of them.
Underhand generally feels the smoothest when performed in a smith machine, not a fan of super heavy underhand BB Row outside of smith, think it's overrated for most when used vanilla.
Second to this would be Chest Supported Rows and Dumbbell Rows, the way these 2 lifts shine is they are much more conducive to high-intensity techniques than a conventional BB row. Doing drops on a chest supported row or dumbbell row is one of few high intensity techniques that feels super productive over straight sets for back work.
I have gotten excellent width from vertical pulls, but nothing compared to these when it came to thickness and density.
weighted chinup
Member
Also, back can handle quite a high workload, and you should really take advantage of it to maximize back development in all areas (width, thickness, details). Yes there is a ton of carryover between back exercises (ie rows can hit your lats just as good as pulls), I understand that, but here we have a muscle group that [1] can handle high workload, [2] is fun to train, and [3] has a lot of small details to cover and improve on. Worth taking advantage of.
