Every person involved in sports, whether a beginner or an experienced athlete, dreams of pumping the broadest muscles of the back and is looking for various exercises. If we look at the golden era of bodybuilding, we can see how all the athletes of this time had a well developed back. Pumping back muscles is quite difficult. This will require a lot of effort. Although training for this group takes place in the same mode as for the rest of the parts.
There are many different techniques for pumping the latissimus dorsi. There are a lot of exercises for men and women. All of them can be divided into basic and isolating. It should be noted that exercise can have a big impact, but can be useless. It all depends on the execution technique. After studying this article, you will get a full bag of information about the muscles of the back, which will help to make them large and strong.
The structure of the back muscles
The back is divided into muscle groups. There are separate exercises for each of them. Knowing where which muscle is located, it will be easier to choose a training complex.
Latissimus dorsi
This muscle group is the largest and most basic. It is she who gives the back a width. Thanks to the broadest muscles of the back, such functions are performed: shoulder movements, body movements. This part of the body is universal, exercises can be done even at home.
Trapezoid
Trapeziums are located in the upper back, namely in the lower part of the neck and between the shoulder blades. This muscle group is responsible for motor function, raising the shoulders.
Extensor Muscles
This muscle group is responsible for flexion and extension of the back. They are located on the spine, in its upper part. These muscles also protect the spine. Well-developed extensors can be identified by the athlete’s even posture and back density.
Rhomboid muscles
This group (as well as the trapezoid) is responsible for the scapula, their movement, as well as fixation. It is important to note that due to the increase in the rhomboid muscles, the volumes of the back and its appearance as a whole increase.
Round muscle
This muscle has an elongated and flat appearance. It has a great connection with the widest. A feature of this muscle is that it does not require special training programs, as it is involved in all exercises on the back.
Lumbar muscles
The lumbar muscles play a very large role for a person. They prevent the risk of hernia. He takes a large part in posture, spinal health. This muscle group is rarely involved in other back exercises. Therefore, you need to perform special complexes for the lower back. Also, these muscles belong to the muscles of the cortex, which are responsible for holding the spine and even posture.
Hands or back?
Not everyone is given from the very first seconds in the hall to catch the correct technique for performing the exercises. It comes with experience. But when this understanding is delayed for a long time, not what you want is pumped. For example, instead of the width of the back, it thickens or vice versa.
Any traction for the back includes the work of the biceps. But you should understand what muscle group you are training. Although the biceps take a large part in the exercise, and seemingly do most of the work, you train your back muscles. This is the big mistake of beginners, who completely include hands in the work. When doing traction, you need to try to give a minimum of load on the biceps and pull the projectile toward yourself using the back muscles, bringing the shoulder blades. Also, do not forget to do stretching exercises for all parts of the body in order to avoid injuries.
When doing the exercises, you should generally forget about your hands and concentrate exclusively on the back. It will be hard to do approaches without straining your hands, especially if you are a beginner. But over time, this will become a habit. The main key to success in pumping back muscles is mental concentration, since a person has an amazing ability to reproduce what he thinks about. Therefore, this method will help you significantly increase the quality of your workout.
Proper use of exercises for the back
To build muscle, you need to use large weights in your workouts. Exercises should be used in this case only basic. For example, deadlifts or pull-ups on the bar with a wide grip. You need to take the weight so that you can do no more than 8-10 times.
Consider the recommendations for a good workout:
- To achieve the result, you need to train the desired muscle group twice a week. So, in our case, we will train the back muscles every 3-4 days. One workout should include exercises on the upper back, the second on the lower back. Exercises such as deadlift and pull-ups should be included in each workout, as they are basic and involve all the spinal muscles.
- It is necessary to properly distribute the load on each department so that it does not happen that you train one section of the back for the entire training session. In this case, the muscles will not have time to recover. Therefore, you need to monitor this and load each muscle evenly.
- On the day you exercise your upper back, it’s best to choose sipping from basic exercises. You can finish the workout by pulling the upper block. When you train the lower back, it is better to choose a deadlift.
- The back is one of the largest muscle groups. This means that you need more time to relax. Therefore, when pumping the back, you need to observe rest for up to 4 days.
- You need to explode well on every approach. How to explain this? It is proved that a greater effect in pumping muscles is achieved when the muscles are tensed with maximum effort in the first phase of repetition. There are also jerks with which explosive power is often confused. Jerks do not lead to results other than injuries. Performing the approach, when lifting it is necessary to apply maximum effort and speed, and lower the projectile to slowly.
- As described above, hands should be completely turned off when doing the exercise. If the proportion of the force exerted by the hands to lift the weight exceeds the proportion of the back, it will be difficult to achieve the desired result. To minimize the work of the hands, you need to use a wide grip in the exercises. In this position, the biceps will be minimally included in the work, and you can fully load the back.
- The recommended grip for back exercises is medium. But if you have not yet learned to remove the load from your hands and fully include your back in work, you need to use a wide grip.
Features of the technique
Although the correctness of the technique comes only with experience, you still need to know the rules of the exercise and try to comply with them. Inclined barbell pulling is one of the most difficult technical exercises, which is why we will consider it.
Before doing, of course, you should stretch well and stretch to minimize the risk of injury. Before performing the exercise itself, you need to correctly take the starting position. Put your feet shoulder-width apart, bend them slightly at the knees, tilt the body forward while keeping your back straight. The bar should be taken shoulder-width apart. It is necessary to perform the exercise with maximum concentration on the back. Pull the barbell to your waist while trying to flatten your shoulder blades and pull the barbell with your back, not your arms. Then lower the bar by opening the shoulder blades, while leaving the back straight. The repetition in the exercise should be from 8 to 10.
Though slowly but surely
When you first start exercising, do not chase a lot of weight. No need to look at how much friends or idols raise. The main thing that should excite you the first few months is the correct technique for doing the exercises. Only when achieving the correct technique can you achieve great results in pumping the back. Weight will go up anyway if you master the technique. But if you immediately take on a lot of weight, without observing the proper technique, nothing good will come of it. Experimenting with grip widths is also recommended. Watch your feelings and choose the grip width at which the back muscles are felt as much as possible.
Training preparation and system
Before any workout that you would not train, a warm-up is mandatory. Stretching and other gymnastic exercises should be the beginning of each of your workouts. You need to knead well every part of the body. If you train your back, this does not mean that you only need to knead it. When warming up the back, it is better to start with pull-ups. Two approaches for stretching will be enough. Below will be presented a workout that can be performed anywhere and with any more or less convenient shell at hand. This will pump the latissimus dorsi muscle exercises at home.
Main part of training
This training program will help you develop your back muscles, including the broadest ones. If you are a beginner and use light weight, which does not contribute to the full development of the back, it is advisable to do super-sets. Superset is an approach consisting of several approaches that are done sequentially and without rest breaks. There are supersets that include exercises on the lower latissimus dorsi. Having done 3-4 such super-sets, you can fully pump your back. The main thing is to remember the technique of the exercise.
It will take 6-8 weeks to complete this training system.
The main task of this system is for the person who is training on it to learn to feel their muscles and how this or that exercise acts on them, and whether they are strained with it. The training described below should take place once a week. These are the best exercises for the latissimus dorsi. All exercises that are invented and continue to be invented are just a complement to these basic exercises.
Exercises that will be included in the superset to build a big back:
- draft on a slope - 12;
- draft dumbbell in an incline - 10;
- thrust of the upper block - 12;
- T-bar thrust - 10;
All these exercises must be performed in one approach without rest between each approach. Exercises on the broadest back muscles with dumbbells need to be done with particular intensity, as they complete the part of the set that is in conjunction with the draft in a slope. Only after completing the whole approach should you rest for 2-3 minutes. Next, we perform the following approach. There should be three such approaches. Remember that your arms should be relaxed as much as possible, and your back muscles should be as tense as possible.
The exercises discussed above are the basic and most effective exercises for the latissimus dorsi muscles. They are very effective and will quickly achieve results.
It should be noted that the exercises on the latissimus dorsi for girls are no different from the above. The only thing that will differ is the training weight. The main thing (for both men and women) is to observe the correct technique.
It is recommended that you also add abs workout to your back workout.