back exercises

FEELthePUMP

New member
Looking to add a couple more back exercises to my routine, i really wanna get my back ripped. does anyone have any ideas?
 
I was thinking this in your leg thread...

Make sure you're not doing too much each session you train. It's best to spread your volume out over a number of days per week. It sounds like you're trying to blast each body part with numerous exercises and angles each session and that's suboptimal for a vast majority of trainees.

That said, back exercises I like:

Deadlifts
Good mornings
Rack pull
Rows
Pullups
Pulldowns
 
thanks steve. yeah i pretty much am. my workouts are probably too long. close to and hour and a half. i should probably move to a 4 day split but i dunno.
 
Either that or a full body routine 3 times per week.

My favorite split is:

Monday: Upper - heavy horizontal/light vertical

Tuesday: Lower - quad dominant

Thursday: Upper - heavy vertical/light horizontal

Friday: Lower - ham dominant
 
I've never seen that split before (and I never would have thought of doing a split like that, either).

It sounds quite effective. Do you see good strength gains doing that split?
 
Sure, depending on how it's set up. Strength gains come more from manipulations in volume and intensity than any one program itself. But I've used a split like this in connection with peaking for strength and it worked well.
 
isn't what i'm doing now a 3 day full body routine? I have been looking at splits and i think i found one i like. here it is. lemme know what you think.
Monday&Thursday- chest, shoulders, triceps, calves.
Tuesday&Friday- thighs, hams, back, biceps, abs
 
isn't what i'm doing now a 3 day full body routine?

I can't remember exactly what you were doing.

But if you're doing full body routines, there's no way you can optimally do a multitude of exercises per body part b/c there's simply 'too much ground to cover.'

I have been looking at splits and i think i found one i like. here it is. lemme know what you think.
Monday&Thursday- chest, shoulders, triceps, calves.
Tuesday&Friday- thighs, hams, back, biceps, abs

Splits really aren't important as long as you're hitting each major muscle group 2-3 times per week, balancing out your 'attack' and controlling volume.

As long as you fit that model, it doesn't really matter what you're doing.

That said, if you'd like to give that split a try, have at it. I personally would prefer something like I outlined. Hitting quads, hams and back would be too much for me.
 
Here's what i had in mind. Please let me know if there's anything you would change.

Monday&thursday-
Incline bench, dumbells
decline bench, dumbells
flat bench
military press
Laying tricept extensions
skull crushers
alternating cable extensions
standing calve raise
sitting calve raise
dumbell flys
dumbell side extensions
dumbell front extensions
Tuesday&friday
incline dumbell curls
hammer curls
21's
hip abduction
leg extension
leg curls
squat
dumbell stiff deadlift
dead lift
lat pull down
reverse fly
crunches
dumbell rows.
I'd love the criticism. haha
 
well i like this one because it hits everything i want 2 times a week. I think i will try it. See how i like it. what do you think of the above set up?
 
well i like this one because it hits everything i want 2 times a week.

So does what I listed above.

I think i will try it.

Okay.

what do you think of the above set up?

It's difficult to say b/c you don't say anything about sets and reps, which as I stated above, the application of intensity and volume is the primary factor.

With that out of the way though, I think that's way too many damn exercises and I don't see much a point.

Just for the hell of it, here is what Monday would look like for the split I recommended above. Notice the difference?

Monday: Upper - heavy horizontal/light vertical

A1 - Flat Bench Press 4x5
A2 - Pendlay Row 4x5

B1 - DB Overhead Press (standing) 2-3 x 8-12
B2 - Cable Pulldowns 2-3 x 8-12

Some arms and abs at the end

So does what
 
yeah, that sounds pretty good. why do you think it is too many exercises though?? I can get each day done in an hour or less. Just wondering.
 
Well how many sets and reps are you suggesting?

And why?

Because you don't need all those different exercises for progress. Focus on one exercise per muscle group per training session. If you're doing a few sets of flat bench press, there really isn't much a need to do incline, decline AND flys too.

ESPECIALLY if you're currently dieting.
 
Monday&thursday-
Incline bench, dumbells 2x10
decline bench, dumbells 2x10
flat bench 3x10
military press 3x10
Laying tricept extensions 2x10
skull crushers 2x10
alternating cable extensions 3x10
standing calve raise3x10
sitting calve raise 3x10
dumbell flys 2x10
dumbell side extensions 2x10
dumbell front extensions 2x10

Tuesday&friday
incline dumbell curls 2x10
hammer curls 2x10
21's
hip abduction 3x10
leg extension 3x10
leg curls 3x10
squat 3x10
dumbell stiff deadlift 2x10
dead lift 3x10
lat pull down 3x10
reverse fly 3x10
crunches 3x20
dumbell rows.3x10

thats what i'm doing as far as reps, might be alot. Some of the lift that target the same muscles i do 2x10. What would you cut out or cut down on?
 
Monday&thursday-
Incline bench, dumbells 2x10
decline bench, dumbells 2x10
flat bench 3x10
military press 3x10
Laying tricept extensions 2x10
skull crushers 2x10
alternating cable extensions 3x10
standing calve raise3x10
sitting calve raise 3x10
dumbell flys 2x10
dumbell side extensions 2x10
dumbell front extensions 2x10

Assuming your goals are to cut fat and maintain muscle at the moment, this for me would be condensed drastically. I wouldn't set up a routine like this to start with so it's hard to say what I would change.

It's entirely too much, is all.

Put it this way: I don't know one client I ever trained that would optimally progress on something like that.

At the very least I'd cut out all the time wasted on isolation BS.

Tuesday&friday
incline dumbell curls 2x10
hammer curls 2x10
21's
hip abduction 3x10
leg extension 3x10
leg curls 3x10
squat 3x10
dumbell stiff deadlift 2x10
dead lift 3x10
lat pull down 3x10
reverse fly 3x10
crunches 3x20
dumbell rows.3x10

No offense, but this is even worse. Deadlifts should never be done in a fatigued state.

And wayyyy too much isolation BS.

Stick to the basics. I'm advanced... been training steady and hard for over a decade and have built up a decent physique and I don't even touch stuff like this.

My advice stands in the previous posts in this thread. You can do what you want with it. I don't know your body and if this is what you feel needs to be done for optimal progress, go ahead and do it. I would simply be very surprised.
 
yeah i think your right. I'm gonna slim this routine down. Just to clarify, this isn't the order i will do these lift. Obviously i will do the core exersises first. i wouldn't do leg curls before dead lift or squat. i think if i slim this down to 8 exercises it would be alot better. I'll post it when it's done to see what you think. thanks again steve.
 
just a question. i have seen guys that are gaining muscle on a 2600 calorie/day diet. Thats what i'm on. I know while i am not getting extreme amounts of protien and carbs that i would need to gain alot of muscle wouldn't i still be gaining muscle while dieting?
 
yeah i think your right. I'm gonna slim this routine down. Just to clarify, this isn't the order i will do these lift. Obviously i will do the core exersises first. i wouldn't do leg curls before dead lift or squat. i think if i slim this down to 8 exercises it would be alot better. I'll post it when it's done to see what you think. thanks again steve.

Just for clarity's sake, keep in mind that I haven't done more than 5-6 exercises in a given workout since I was a teenager following the pump and tone crap that's pushed in muscle magazines.

Nor has any of my clients.

It's just not required and if anything, IMO, doing more deemphasizes those things most important like form, progressive overload, etc.
 
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