Forget the Booty and Focus on Your Back (Part 2)
When it comes to building strong and defined muscles, the view from behind is not all about the glutes. Having a strong back and shoulders is not only attractive it is an essential part of feeling and performing at your best.
Brock Armstrong
Listen
Forget the Booty and Focus on Your Back (Part 2)
In part one of building a stronger back, we talked about the importance of having a strong and mobile back and how we can take steps to protect it by doing things like not walking like a duck, doing more twisting, avoiding shoes with heels, working on our calf flexibility, and strengthening our glutes. In part two, we’ll put it all together with a killer back-strengthening workout that you can start doing at the gym right away.
A Back Building (Not Breaking) Workout
If you have been following me and reading my posts for a while now, you will know that I am a fan of building functional strength first and then muscle mass second. So with that in mind, here are six exercises that will help you build a functionally strong and toned back.
- Narrow Grip Chin-ups
- Subscapular Pull-ups
- Seated Rope Rows
- Bent-Over Barbell Row
- One-Arm Arc Dumbbell Row
- Standing T-Bar Row
Let’s go through each exercise one by one.
1. Narrow Grip Chin-ups
The close-grip chin-up is a classic bodyweight exercise that increases strength in the back and biceps. The narrow grip is also the grip where you will feel the strongest elbow flexion while simultaneously targeting the middle of the back. That means that this grip will allow you to lift the heaviest loads and recruit the inferior fibers of the lats. The underhand grip creates increased resistance on the biceps and forearms which isn’t what we are focused on but is a nice added bonus!
Keep your hands about 6-8 inches apart and focus on getting your lower sternum all the way up to the bar or handles at the top of the movement. It’s OK to lean back a little as you near the top of the concentric pull.
2. Subscapular Pull-ups
Start with an overhand grip, just a little wider than shoulder-width apart (you can increase the width as you get stronger). Pull yourself all the way up so your upper pecs touch the bar. Once you reach the top, push yourself slightly away before you lower yourself slowly back down. This is how we get the subscapularis muscles involved.
Also, don’t think of the pull-up as simply an up and down movement. To also get the rhomboids (muscles in the middle of your back) involved, make sure to retract your shoulder blades more and more as you get close the top of the movement.
3. Seated Rope Rows
For this one, we want to counter all the chest work you may (or may not) have been doing, so position the pulley in front of your pecs (the center of your chest). Use a rope instead of the straight bar so you can minimize the involvement of your forearms and wrists.
Grab on to the ends of the rope and start the movement by retracting your shoulder blades, then bending your elbows until your forearms make contact with your upper arms. Keep your back nice and straight so you don’t let your lower back get involved. Pause for a few seconds, with the shoulder blades fully retracted before you relax your arms and lower the weight.
4. Bent-Over Barbell Row
This is a heck of a good movement in terms of the sheer weight that you will be able to lift. According to Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research/National Strength & Conditioning research, the bent-over barbell row exercise will work the larger muscle groups of the upper and lower back equally, which makes this a great overall back builder. This exercise has a significant lumbar load, so get it done early in your workout while your lower back is ready for it.
To do this exercise, bend your knees a little and bend at the waist to bring your torso slightly forward, hold the barbell with a pronated grip (palms facing down), and keep your back straight. Bring the weight up to your chest and at the top of the contracted position, squeeze your back muscles and hold for a pause. Then slowly lower the weight back down.
5. One-Arm Arc Dumbbell Row
You probably know how to do a regular dumbbell row. Well, this version of the exercise is different due to the trajectory of the weight. Instead of bringing the dumbbell to the chest, bring the dumbbell to the hip. At the top of the movement, your elbow can come up as high above your hip bone as possible.
Because of the trajectory used in this variation, the lats will perform more of a shoulder extension movement. So don’t be alarmed if the weight you can lift is drastically lower than what you use for a regular row.
6. Standing T-Bar Row
You should probably search for some videos of all of these exercises but if you aren’t familiar with this one in particular, definitely look it up.
Keep in mind when you are doing this one that you won’t want to fling the weight around. Instead, you really want to focus on the stretch and the contraction of your back.
Before you start, make sure the end of the bar is in a corner (or into what is called a landmine) to keep it from getting away from you. Stand over the bar (basically straddling it), and using your hips and legs, lift the bar until you are in a standing position. Get into a wide and stable stance, with your hips back, chest up, and arms extended. Then pull the weight to your upper abdomen by retracting the shoulder blades and flexing the elbows. Pause and return to the starting position.
Putting It Together
OK, now that we understand the movements and exercises, let’s make a workout out of them, including a good warm-up and cool-down.
Warm-up
Check out the article called What is the Best Way to Warm-up for some good advice on this. Since we are focused on the shoulders, back, and arms, make double sure that you focus on mobilizing and preparing those areas.
Main-sets
Since we want to maximize our time in the gym, let’s make a “superset circuit” out of these exercises. That means you will do three sets, with each set containing two exercises that you will go back and forth between three times before moving on to the next set.
Set 1: Bent-Over Barbell Row to Subscapular Pull-ups
Set 2: One-Arm Arc Dumbbell Row to Seated Rope Rows
Set 3: Standing T-Bar Row to Narrow Grip Chin-ups
The amount of reps you choose is up to you. I prefer to lift heavier weights for fewer reps (5-6) but science says that you can get approximately the same gains from listing a lower weight with higher reps (12-15), as long as you are lifting to failure. Failure is when you can barely complete the last one or two reps and they require maximum effort.
The first time you do this workout, be conservative with the weights you choose. Write down what weights you used and whether or not you feel like you should or could have chosen heavier or lighter. This takes the guesswork out of it in the future and minimizes the chances of you overdoing it and needing to take a few rest days to recover.
Cool-down
Make sure you check out the article called Cooling Down After Exercise: 6+ Helpful Tips, but after the workout is over, you ideally would continue some general movement but begin to perform it at a slower and slower pace, until you are moving at a normal non-workout pace. This can often take at least five minutes, but can definitely last a lot longer. Since you worked your back so specifically, I would spend some time on the foam roller at the end of the cool-down. And then make sure you write some detailed notes that you can refer to next time you want to blast your back.
Since you worked your back so specifically, I would spend some time on the foam roller at the end of the cool-down.
There are of course myriad more exercises that are effective for the back and shoulders than these six listed here, and by making any of them a regular part of your training regimen you’ll ensure that you fully develop these muscles to not only look good at the beach but to stave off back pain in the future.
For more back info, lat tips, and to join the shoulder conversation, head over to Facebook.com/GetFitGuy or twitter.com/getfitguy. Also don’t forget to subscribe to the Get-Fit Guy podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play or via RSSopens XML file .
About the Author
Brock Armstrong was the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast between 2017 and 2021. He is a certified AFLCA Group Fitness Leader with a designation in Portable Equipment, NCCP and CAC Triathlon Coach, and a TnT certified run coach. He is also on the board of advisors for the Primal Health Coach Institute and a guest faculty member of the Human Potential Institute.