Stealing From the Pros: Back Training

[Merc.]

This is a great read from Jimmy Smith ....




Stealing From the Pros: Back Training
by Jimmy Smith

I never believed the notion that natural athletes couldn't learn anything from professional bodybuilders. Sure, juice is involved, and I did hear from Congress that it tends to help people get bigger, stronger, and leaner. But, that doesn't mean we need to toss everything out with the needle and gauze.



"Everyone's juicin'. It's all the rage."

You could say that steroids tainted two of history's most beloved pastimes: baseball and weightlifting. Just like Barry Bonds' seven MVP's, Roger Clemons' seven Cy Young awards, and Jose Canseco's 40/40 season, success in bodybuilding leaves clues for anyone hungry enough to find them. These are the lessons missed by the blind because they're too busy looking for the syringe.

I mean, what do you do when your girlfriend tells you to do something? Do you do the entire thing or do you pick the most important parts to keep her happy? It's the same with training, you sly dog, you.


Understanding the Complexity of the Back

I'm an anatomy guy. I like knowing what the flexor hallucis longus does because it breaks the ice at parties. So, I get a little excited about the numerous muscles that make up the back. You have four traps, two rhomboids, and a big erector spinae, amongst many smaller muscles.

Today, back training tends to get lumped into vertical and horizontal pulling categories. It's a good beginning, but it doesn't apply all of the time. I've read interviews where the best of the best, including Jay Cutler and Franco Columbo, talked about how they believe you need to do multiple exercises and use numerous angles when training the back.



Mr. Olympia

I'm not advocating training every which way. But due to the intrinsic nature of the back, we need to train through multiple ranges of motion. I've come across research that describes the upper aspect of lats as having slow-twitch properties, while the upper traps are more fast-twitch, thus needing lower reps. Going as low as three reps and as high as fifteen is never a bad idea.

It's here that typical training knowledge becomes confused with steroid abusing training advice. To be practical and develop a topnotch back, we're going to have to realize that the guy online with the freaky back just might be doing some other stuff. Taking his blind advice about always training with fifteen reps is as bad as listening to the guy with the master's degree who says to ignore the bodybuilders. Take the best pieces of both worlds and use them to dominate.


Improve Your Foundation

This goes along with my point above: We can't just follow the advice of the biggest guy and train with every damn machine in the gym. Self-assessment is hard. That's why most people don't do it. But, looking at yourself in the mirror and taking pictures is the absolute best thing you can do to assess your level of progress. Be painfully honest with yourself. Pour some salt on those self-inflicted founds.

Pick any pro on stage and he'll tell you he built his back by having a chin-up bar as a kid and just going to town. A chin-up bar doesn't require a six-figure income, and there's certainly nothing fancy about 'em. But, if you haven't laid the basic foundation and can't do at least twelve bodyweight chin-ups in a row, then you have no business doing a high machine row.



He's a Governor now.

I've read over and over again about how many coaches say that the chin-up bar doesn't build big backs. And here's my beef. Their main issue is that people use too many assistance muscles and not enough prime movers. Yeah, I'll buy that. But, whom are we talking to here? I'm not saying that if you're 17-years-old you need to be doing pull-ups and if you're advanced you don't. Because I've seen many large fellas that have backs like your best friend's kid sister.

While we're on the topic of chin-ups, I have another bone to pick. Why do people think you can only do one form of chin-ups per four weeks of training? If we acknowledge that multiple grips work to bring up a weak muscle, and that chin-ups are the foundation of a bitchin' back, then why aren't we using them more? Off the top of my head, I can think of some very effective variations:

• Pull-ups (close, narrow, or wide grip)

• Neutral chin-ups (close, narrow, or wide grip)

• Chin-ups (close, narrow, or wide grip)

• Hockey grip (thank you, Mike Boyle)

• Fat grip pull-ups (close, narrow, or wide grip)

• Towel pull-ups

• Towel chin-ups

• Cable handle chin-ups

• Cable handle pull-ups


Don't be Afraid of a Supinated Grip

Dorian Yates, who in many eyes displayed the greatest back ever, was a fan of supinated grip rowing. Many people will knock this method by pointing out that Dorian's great career was ended due to his nagging injuries, which came from his training style. But, his supinated grip style of back training was the difference between that dense, thick, rugged back and, well, everyone else.



Dorian knows a thing or two about back training.

While a very simple technique, turning your palms up allows for more total load to be used and provides a greater back contraction. Supination puts our shoulders into external rotation. I'm not going to go the corrective route here, but how effective is the back training of someone with a Neanderthal posture going to be? Not very. Training with the palms up will automatically help pull our scapula in the direction we want, thus recruiting more muscles. Basic, I know, but brutally effective.

Still, this isn't something that I see enough people doing. Is it because most people train their biceps on the same day that they train their back? I don't really know. Personally, I leave 48 hours between my back and arm training sessions, so that I don't experience the fatigue and can train my back heavier.

If you've never done a machine pull-over with your palms up, then you have no clue as to what sorts of lifting bliss you're missing. Both the stretch and contraction of the lat at the beginning and end of the movement are ridiculous.


Explosive Lifting

Another method left in the corner of badass bodybuilding gyms just might be the best kept secret to increasing trap thickness and size. Think back to anytime you've seen someone performing a power clean in the gym. Typically, they've been football players that just happen to wander in thinking there was free food. But Albert Beckles, whom many have said had the most detailed back of all time, was notorious for doing multiple sets of high-rep power cleans.



Albert Beckles and his high-rep back.

Now, I know that'll raise the eyebrow of my fellow T-Men, and I do advise against high-rep power cleans from both an execution and muscle failure perspective. There's just no way you can keep your form tight and speed right if you do multiple reps. That being said, this whole article is about taking certain techniques and placing them in your toolbox.

I bet every time you sit down and think about your training you never consider adding power cleans. Chad Waterbury has written extensively about the benefits of lifting fast for size, so I won't beat the horse. But, I'll remind everyone that explosive lifting is the best thing you can do for recruiting the fast-twitch muscle fibers, which have the most potential for growth. The upper traps are a body part that I've found to be primarily fast-twitch, thus thriving on heavy loads. Power cleans are the best recipe for meaty traps.


Get a Deep Stretch

We've all witnessed that boy wonder on the seated cable machine leaning so far forward that it looks like he's kissing the rack. Pretty funny, huh? While this person may have no clue what they're doing, you should pay attention.

This isn't backed by stacks of studies, but the lats grow better with a deep stretch at the end of the movement. Perform a seated cable row and round your shoulders (if you can pass a physical) at the end. Now go ahead, try to tell me that you didn't feel a greater contraction in your lats. A deeper stretch during most back movements would do people some good.



Gina's got the ill back.


Blood Volume Training

The great Sergio Oliva was a huge fan of supersetting a vertical pulling movement, like a pull-down, with a horizontal pull, like a bent-over barbell row. While this will certainly make you feel instantly bigger due to the "pump," there might be some truth to long-term growth associated with blood volume training.

Muscle is only about 30% protein. The rest is comprised of water, blood, mitochondrial density, and other factors. Keep in mind that blood also carries hormones, so why not attempt to force it into the muscle at a supercharged rate? This isn't to say that all pump training will result in growth, but it's worth a try.

Milos Sarcev, love him or hate him, often has his precontest bodybuilders perform multiple exercises, sometimes four or five in a row, before they rest. If the estimated 70 to 80% of blood flows to a contracting muscle, then why wouldn't we want to get the most out of it?

Now, of course there has to be a nutrition side to this. You can't just pump up a muscle, cross your fingers, and hope it'll grow. This is why I recommend taking Surge during your workout.

Chris Shugart spoke all about the advantages of using Surge in his Double Surge Challenge article. What he didn't mention was the impressive glycogen replenishment that comes from using Surge. If I'm drinking Surge and poppin' some additional branched chain amino acids (BCAA's), then I'm going to quickly deliver those nutrients to the working muscle.



Surge and BCAA's: Delivering the goods to your muscles.

What's the whole point of post-workout nutrition, anyway? To get the nutrients to your muscles as fast as possible! And when is our blood flow, which pushes nutrients into the muscle, at its greatest? Post-workout, for sure, but also intra-workout! Supersetting back exercises and forcing nutrients into those same muscles will do nothing but increase our size gains.


Class Dismissed

I treat physique transformation like any other field: Pick the best parts and ignore the rest. Just because Larry Bird had a God-awful looking jump shot, it doesn't mean we can't pick up a few shooting tips. Take these proven tips and apply them today to get jacked, baby!


About the Author

Jimmy Smith, CSCS, is rapidly establishing himself in the physique and strength communities. His ********** and unique nutrition and training strategies have helped countless fitness enthusiast and physique competitors. In addition, Jimmy is currently advancing his education as a master's degree student. Visit Jimmy's website for his explosive blueprint for building size, The Muscle Bible. While you're there, don't forget to sign up for his free newsletter.

[Merc.]

Jimmy also wrote for the steroid.com newsletter ( back when there was one ).. He was featured in the newsletter that had my article ( from Esquire mag in it).. he has a lot of other great reads also ..



Merc.

[peteroy01]

good post!!!

[Critical Mass]

Great post!!

[F4iGuy]

Time to turn the palms around

[stack_it]

Awesome post. Gonna try to get a deeper stretch on my rows

[xnotoriousx]

I love my chin and pulls best back exercise in my book, dead lift is right behind it imo

[Merc.]

Here's another decent read from Jimmy...


Natural Male Enhancement

Building the Rear Delts, Forearms, Traps, and Calves

by Jimmy Smith

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, bodybuilders and physique enthusiasts were in proportion with no undeveloped muscles. These men were relegated to county fairs, circuses, and small, windowless gyms.

All that changed in the early '70s when the public's collective eye started focusing on bodybuilding and gyms began popping up. People went in droves to workout and increase their muscular size, in particular their arms, chest, and shoulders.

With increased crowds, new ideas, machines, exercises, and drugs became popular ways to develop these areas. What most natural lifters were left with was an out-of-portion body that looked like a rejected cartoon.


What We Forgot About

This isn't one of those articles that'll tell you not to use machines. That's not the point here. Try telling any NPC or national level amateur bodybuilder that machines and isolation movements don't build muscle and you'll be laughed out of the gym.

Rather, this is about "natural male enhancement training," or in other words, building up the body parts that are often ignored by natural lifters, yet when developed, can greatly increase a physique.

That's what we're focusing on. We're going to bring up these weak areas. I'm sure you've seen something from some of these pre-contest gurus where they talk about giving a muscle a certain look. Well, there you go, but their terms don't usually cross over to the natural lifter.

Let's break it down.

Popular Guru Term Natural Trainer Definition
Capping the delts Build noticeable trap and rear delt size so the medial delt looks bigger
Building the lower part of the bicep Developing the forearm muscles so the overall arm is bigger
Giving the back some thickness Increasing the size of your rear delts
Making the calves look like diamonds Actually trying to build calf muscles

They aren't big muscles, and the chances of them causing the opposite sex to take notice aren't great, but it's the same difference between the girl you look at in the bar and the girl you take home to mom. Which one do you think is better for you long term? (Yes, I'm talking training.)

Is it an accident that those areas are also the ones that come at the end of your session when you're tired and you just want to have your Surge and head home?

Enough talk. Let's get to the strategy.


Traps to Your Ears

I'll start with traps since it's usually a 50/50 split in terms of people that do or don't do them. In reality, though, most people usually do a few sets of dumbbell shrugs or a few sets of the Hammer shrug and call it a day.

Talking out of just pure experience here, the traps seem to grow better from more sets and lower reps. You can debate the topic all you want, but the next time you see the 160-pound high schooler who's shrugging 100's with decent form, you'll understand what I mean.

Also, factor in that the majority of people who do back work perform some form of heavy rowing, which develops their traps, and you'll see another reason why the traps need more sets.

No one factors in where the weight is placed with shrugs, though. Maybe it's because the majority of people just do barbell shrugs, which we all know must be in front of us, or maybe it's because the trap machines don't allow for different grips. Either way, you're just placing the stress in the same area time and time again. It seems like we all forgot about the bodybuilding brilliance known as Lee Haney. Lee often discussed how he got such amazing back development, and he often credited behind-the-back barbell shrugs.

From an anatomy perspective, it makes sense since you'll be able to recruit your very underdeveloped mid and low traps slightly more than when your arms are in front of you.

Remember, the body is a synergistic animal, so those unknown trap muscles that pull the shoulder blades down need to get some love in order for the upper traps to grow. Though, you need to know that if you have some "junk in the trunk," you'll need to use the Smith machine.

It should go without saying that you must deadlift as well. I could go deeper into it, but there are some other fabulous articles on this site about that topic. I also want to add that I think it's a dumb idea to train your traps when you train your back. Do your back work and let the traps get worked there, but give them a day or so to rest. Then train your traps when you hit your shoulders.

To jumpstart your trap developments in the next four weeks, do this:

Sets Reps Tempo Rest
A1) Seated dumbbell shoulder press 4 8 301 None
A2) Seated dumbbell shrug 4 4-6 221 60 seconds
B1) Standing side dumbbell raises 4 8-10 301 None
B2) Behind the back Smith machine shrugs 4 4-6 221 60 seconds
C1) Side lying side raises 3 12-15 211 None
C2) Close-grip barbell shrugs 3 12-15 311 60 seconds


Look at That Rear

Rear delts are the most enjoyable area of all the four areas to develop since it's the only one that'll contribute to the X or V-frame, whichever term is in.

My biggest beef with traditional rear delt training advice is twofold.

First, you have the pundits who tell you not to train them directly since they gets a ton of work in rows and pulldowns. That's true, but from a shoulder health standpoint, the rear delts are the only things that save most physique enthusiasts from developing serious rotator cuff issues. Yeah, I know that we're supposed to do our scapula, foam rolling, and rotator cuff work, but that's like telling someone not to smoke or drink and drive — only a few people will listen.

The second issue is that people will tell you some general assertion about only training them with three sets of twelve reps at the end of our workout. Well, no wonder that most people show zero development in that area. I usually disagree with the "out there" bodybuilding talk, but the rear delts are a muscle that you must feel.

It's at this point that you should have a training partner place their hands on your rear delts so you can "feel" them working. If not, then you need to get your law of attraction on and visualize the muscle working. It's way too easy to allow the bigger back muscles to take over.

I mean, just look at classic old-school bodybuilding logic that says to work the area that you want to develop first. It's why everyone does chest first thing on Monday. If nothing else, just throw your rear delt work at the beginning of your workout.

If that still doesn't work, then try this when you train shoulders:

Exercise Sets Reps Tempo Rest
A1) High cable reverse fly 4 12 311 None
A2) Seated neutral-grip press 4 6-8 211 60 seconds
B1) Leaning side raises 3 6-8 301 None
B2) Bent-over cable reverse fly (one arm) 3 15 301 60 seconds
C1) Side cable laterals 3 12-15 211 None
C2) Low-to-high cable reverse fly 3 30 311 60 seconds


Oh, You're Doing Extra Forearm Work

Usually, forearm training in the gym is limited to a few sets of ugly looking hammer curls, wrist curls, and reverse wrist curls. Ugh.

Combine that with the fact that very few people deadlift or do any type of chin-ups and you've got the reason why most guys have forearms smaller than women with thyroid problems.

So, nobody works them and the people that do work them do it with twenty-plus rep wrist curls.

Truth be told, there are only two ways that you can increase your forearm size apart from doing heavy deadlifts.

1. Reverse curls

Most lifters completely ignore reverse curls because they aren't openly discussed in bodybuilding magazines, and you never see a famous bodybuilder doing them in pictures. Therefore, they don't exist.

Fact is, due to the pronated grip, we maximize the tension on the brachialis, which runs from the humerus to the ulna. As a sidebar, it runs right underneath the biceps, so you should see some pretty interesting biceps growth.

2. Fatten the grip

Sadly, no commercial gyms offer any type of bars with thick grips. When you increase the diameter of the bar, you have no choice but to increase your grip strength and forearm size (side note: increased grip strength equals increased rotator cuff strength).

There are numerous types of implements that you can buy which increase the diameter of dumbbells and barbells, and I honestly couldn't tell you if one was better than the other. If they increase the diameter, then they work.

Forearm training is simple, really. If you do it, then you'll grow. Most people just don't take the time and effort. Try this at the end of your arm workout and grow:

Exercise Sets Reps Tempo Rest
A) Standing reverse EZ bar curls 3 6-8 311 45 seconds
B1) Close-grip reverse cable curls 3 6-8 301 None
B2) Seated Zottman curls 3 6-8 301 45 seconds
C) Heavy barbell shrug holds* 3 12-15 211 30 seconds

* Literally load up a barbell in a power rack and hold it like you would the top of a shrug.


Diamonds Are Forever

It might just be me, and I might be weird, but ever since I was a kid I always thought big calves were cool. Maybe having developed calves separates those who train from those who workout. Either way, developed calves completely change a physique.

Not only is calf development critical for leg strength in general simply because you aren't going to be able to squat 405 without having some type of decent calf development, but how good do you think you're going to look in the summer when you have shorts on? Yes, I know that most chicks aren't going to look at your calves and decide if they like you or not, but being brutally honest, most guys lift for everyone to notice how big they are. People take notice of muscle everywhere.

Going forward, three sets of seated calf raises and three sets of standing calf raises don't cut it. To not miss a beat, your soleus muscle is worked when your knees are bent, and your gastrocneimus is worked when your knees are locked.

Now that that's out of the way, let's look at some critical pieces that need to be in the puzzle.

1. You must pause at the bottom of each rep to dissipate the stretch shortening cycle and make sure the stress stays in your calves.

2. You must try to shift onto your big toe during the concentric (going up) portion of each lift to fully maximize the calf tension.

3. You must primarily train your gastroc with lower reps (3 to 6) and your soleus with higher (12 to 15), but don't be afraid to vary the rep ranges at times.

Do this calf workout twice a week for four weeks:

Exercise Sets Reps Tempo Rest
A1) Standing single-leg machine calf raise 5 5 311 None
A2) Seated single-leg calf raise (foot turned in) 5 15 211 30 seconds
B1) Standing single-leg machine calf raise (foot turned in) 3 6-8 301 None
B2) Seated single-leg calf raise 3 15 301 30 seconds


Results Guaranteed

Your traps, rear delts, forearms, and calves won't make you an Adonis, but they will contribute to the overall package. Go ahead and train your pecs, arms, and abs. I'm sure you'll look fine until someone asks you to bring your shoulders to your ears, flex your back, open a jar, or wear shorts.


About The Author

Jimmy Smith, MS, CSCS works with bodybuilders, figure athletes, and fitness enthusiasts alike in the Stamford, CT area. He offers a free bodybuilding DVD, newsletter, and podcast at his website.

[Merc.]

[Merc.]

BUMPER



Merc.

[PC650]

awesome read brotha!!! thanks! you have any good tips on the medial delts