How to Get a Muscular Back: A Comprehensive Guide thinkinglifter.com/ Lifting is a battle. A war to take your body and mind to new heights. And your enemy? The massive amounts of information and the spreading fuckarounditis epidemic. The battle is hard, and not for the lazy ones. There are crazy amounts of learning curves. Training principles you need to learn. Exercises you need to master. Workout schedules you need to try. And all of that stuff matters if you are to come out the victor. To that end, I decided to create this comprehensive and actionable guide on how to get a muscular back. In it, you’ll learn everything there is to growing a solid back as a natural lifter. Quick Navigation But First, We Need to Understand the Back Muscles Anatomy Your back muscle group is the biggest and most complex, training-wise, in your entire body. There are a lot of muscles that work together but the four main ones we are focusing on are: Latissimus dorsi Rhomboids Trapezius Erector spinae 1/17 A is Trapezius D is Latissimus dorsi F are the Rhomboid major & minor muscles The Erector spinae aren’t shown in the above chart but they lie in the lower grey area of the back. There are also a few smaller muscles pointed out in the above chart: B is the infraspinatus C is the teres major Where Most People Go Wrong With Their Back Training Back training is complex. A lot of people train theirs incorrectly and can’t make good progress for months, even years. Usually, people fall into one of two categories: They try to inflate their ego by pulling heavy weights that don’t do much for them; or: Focus on cookie-cutter programs that use gimmicks and ineffective strategies. In both cases, the results are pretty much the same: Back so flat that gets pancakes jealous. And since building a solid back is our goal, the first thing we need to do is check the ego at the door. Ego lifting is ugly, unproductive and even dangerous. Especially true for the back where mind-muscle connection plays a huge role. And if ego lifting is not your problem and you’re in the other category, you need to stop wasting time following dumbass programs designed to keep grandma and grandpa in shape. What you need is to learn what the most effective back exercises are, how to build your routine, how to progressively overload your back, and what mistakes to avoid. We’ll cover all that below. The Best Back Exercises for Mass and Strength Let’s lay down the fundamental part of training first: exercises. There are hundreds of them, but only a few we’ll go over. The Deadlift The deadlift is one of the best exercises that develops the entire body, including the back. It works a range of muscles, improves grip strength, and is a very safe movement. Some people consider it to be a very dangerous exercise, but that’s not true. As long as you do it with caution and avoid doing high repetition touch and go sets, you shouldn't ever have problems with the lift. If you do have a history of back issues and injuries, you might want to steer clear from heavy compound lifts for more 2/17 isolation work. Let’s take a look at the five most widely used deadlift variations: 1.Conventional Deadlift The deadlift is probably the most famous of all exercises, and it is great for developing not only your back but also your hamstrings, glutes, calves, quads, core and grip strength. Here is a great in-depth video by Alan Thrall. He goes over form, mental tricks to perform better and common mistakes. 2.Sumo Deadlift The second most popular deadlift variation, and it’s gained quite a bit of popularity in the last two decades. One of the reasons for that is because this is a great alternative for the conventional deadlift. Some people are better built to deadlift in a sumo style and find it much more comfortable than the conventional deadlift. You can read more about it in this article by Greg Nuckols. And here is an instructional video on how to perform the sumo deadlift. 3.Rack Pull Deadlift This variation has you pull the bar from an elevated position and essentially eliminates the initial part of the deadlift. While this variation might seem like cheating to some of you, it’s awesome for two things: If you’re having trouble locking out the bar at the top, rack pulls can improve your lockout strength. Rack pulls drastically reduce the involvement of your legs in the lift and instead put the biggest emphasis on your hips and back, making rack pulls an amazing exercise to overload your back. Here's a video demonstration. 4.Deficit Pull Deadlift The deficit deadlift, unlike the rack pull, emphasises the initial part of the movement to help you build more strength off the bottom. If you’re having trouble breaking the weight off the floor, but the lockout is no problem, then using this variation is a great way to fix that problem. Here’s a video demonstration. 5.Trap Bar Deadlift Unlike the barbell version, with this one, you stand inside and grab the handles on each side. It allows you to use a neutral grip for the lift and most people can pull a bit more weight compared to the barbell version. You can learn more about the trap bar deadlift in this post. Also, here is a video demonstration. The Most Frequently Asked Questions About the Deadlift 1.I’m having a hard time getting in the right starting position, what should I do? 3/17 Not being able to get in the right starting position is usually caused by not knowing what and how to do it. Check out this great post on the topic. Also, make sure to check out my resources on good mobility to make sure that it is not the issue. In any case, if you still find yourself feeling uncomfortable doing conventional deadlift, try the sumo stance and see if it feels more natural to you. There is no point sticking to conventional deadlift if sumo deadlift feels much better for your body. You can also hire a coach to help you nail the form down if you're dead set on lifting conventional. 2.The barbell slips off my fingers when the weight gets heavy and I constantly need to re-grip it during a set, what should I do? First off, make sure to use chalk on your hands before each set. Sweaty palms can weaken your grip considerably. Second, try using the hook grip. It will most likely feel very uncomfortable at first, but you’ll get used to it. Third, you can also use the mixed grip, for heavier pulls. And the final recommendation would be to use lifting straps. But, using chalk and the hook grip is going to be much better for your grip strength over the long term. 3.I heard deadlifts are bad for your back, is this true? No. Read this for a short summary and this monstrous guide on how to deadlift. 4.Should I always wear a belt during deadlifts? Also, what are good belts you recommend? First off, I recommend reading this post. By far the best one on lifting belts online. As for belt recommendations, I love the 10 mm Inzer Belt with a lever. You can also get the standard, slightly cheaper option if you don’t like levers. 5.The barbell scrapes my shins bloody, how can I avoid that? I recommend wearing long pants when deadlifting and long socks that go up to your knees. 6.What kind of shoes should I wear for the deadlift? The first and most important rule is that the shoes you deadlift in have a flat, non-compressing, sole with low height. If you deadlift in olympic, running or basketball shoes, your deadlift immediately turns into a deficit pull. If you pull conventional, I recommend a simple pair of deadlift slippers. But, if you pull sumo, you need more grip on the ground. A pair of Chuck Taylor’s or Sabo Deadlift shoes comes to play. 7.I’m having trouble locking out at the top. What can I do to improve that and is hinging a good idea? Rack pull and block pull deadlifts are great for building the lockout strength because they cut the initial part of the deadlift, and you can use more weight. I recommend adding either of those to your program as an assistance to your deadlift. You can also do rack pulls instead of deadlifting for 4-8 weeks. No, hinging is not something I recommend doing. Ever. 8.I’m having trouble breaking the bar off the floor but lockout is easy. What can I do? 4/17 In this case, your problem could be caused by lack of strength off the bottom. I recommend adding deficit deadlifts as a supplementary move to your regular deadlift or temporarily doing only deficit pulls for a few weeks. 9.How can I increase my deadlift? What repetition schemes should I use? Are there any programs you recommend? Periodizing your intensity and increasing the frequency of deadlifting are two important factors for strength building. If you start deadlifting twice a week, instead of once per week, you’ll likely get stronger, faster. Commonly referred as greasing the groove.