Friday, July 4, 2008

If You Want To Develop A Wide, Muscular Back...

By Ricardo Daryans

For most aspiring lifters, it's all about building a huge chest and arms. Week after week they slave away on endless sets of bench presses and barbell curls in search of the rippling muscle gains they want so badly. Not surprisingly, those gains never appear in any significant form.

A lot of guys in the gym neglect a really important group of muscles, Back. They maybe do that because it's a muscle you will hardly see it in the mirror or maybe because it's a more stressful training. Maybe just because the most of them don't even know how important is to have a wide, muscular back.

70% of your upper body muscle mass resides in the back area! Nothing can replace the upper body thickening effect of big, bulging lats and a set of wide, tall trapezius muscles. That's how important your back is. I am, of course, talking about the major muscles of the back: the lats, traps, spinal erectors, rhomboids and lower back.

If you want to succed and have a wide back, just follow these simple steps.

1) Deadlifts. I cannot possibly stress the importance of this lift enough. There is not a single exercise out there that can even come close to matching the effectiveness of a basic, bent-legged barbell deadlift. The deadlift will stimulate growth throughout the entire back complex and should be the cornerstone of your routine.

2) A vertical pulling movement. These exercises mainly target the lat muscles and will help you to attain that wide, v-tapered look from behind. You can try with lat pulldowns, v-bar pulldowns and chin-ups.

3) Horizontal pulling movement. For maximum results, stick to a basic freeweight rowing movement. I usually recommend bent over barbell rows, but bent over dumbbell rows are an acceptable choice as well.

4) A shrugging movement. It may not be the most important part of the routine, but it also plays an important role to succed. A basic barbell or dumbbell shrug will be enough for this part.

Okay, let's put it all together Deadlifts - 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Overhand Chin-Ups - 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Bent Over Barbell Rows - 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Barbell Shrugs - 2 Sets of 10 to 12 reps.

Make sure to keep a written record of every workout that you perform, and focus each week on increasing either the weight that you lift or the number of reps that you perform within the given rep range. For specific training information on each of these body parts make sure to visit my webpage below and find out how you can finally get the rock-solid muscle gains you deserve without spending endless hours in the gym.

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