What are the advantages of building up back muscle?

[Eternal_water]

I can't really find much information about this area of gym work on the internet anywhere although I am sure there must be benefits to it.

Am I right in thinking the important excercises for this would be chin ups, pull ups, deadlifts and squats? Have I missed any out?

 

[Purefilth]

Rows. Lots of them.
One handed rows. Ftw

 

[Krueg]

From a powerlifting stand point, building a bigger back means; Bigger Squat, Bigger Deadlift and a Bigger Bench Press.

Other advantages of having a strong back can improve your posture and prevent injury.

As far as exercises go.. Theres lots of stuff you can do and variations of the exercises.

Lats/Upper Back: Rows of all kinds, Lat Pulls, Pull-Ups, Shrugs, Rear Delts, Face Pulls...

Lower back: Good Mornings, Hyperextensions, Reverse Hypers (if your lucky) 45 degree back raises, Stiff Leg Dead Lifts..

Some exercises will be more isolated and others can hit multiple muscles at once. You'll just have to find what works best for you and your goals.

 

[marmel75]

The back is used in lots of exercises as a stabilizer/secondary muscle so working it hard will improve performance in these other exercises. It's also a larger muscle group so it will act to release for good hormones than say the bi's or tri's

Weighted wide grip pullups are one of my favorite back exercises along with heavy one arm barbell rows

 

[Ronaldo7]

Get a big thick back, to get the hoes in the sack.

 

[Eternal_water]

lol ok thx guys!

 

[Eternal_water]

Do you guys use 1 arm dumbell rows? And should they be done vertically or moved forwards and backwards during the motion? I have ssen videos saying both are wrong.

 

[Purefilth]

yes! do them to failure! back horizontal take them all the way down to the floor/ fully extend the arm - gets the full range in and engages the lats properly.

 

[Eternal_water]

ok thanks. Do you do the so called "lawn mower" motion or absolutely vertical?

 

[Purefilth]

its a pull action, don't swing it - never swing or use momentum on any excercises. Gravity pushes it down, you pull it back up.

 

[sharonblay]

There are several advantages like women will find you more attractive, Handling heavier objects will be easy for you, you will have a lot more energy, you will be in a better mood. Thankfully, my Forearm muscles are strong, so I could've hung on there all day.

 

[ArcBound]

Rows. Lots of them.
One handed rows. Ftw

I like one handed rows the best, better than regular rows imo. It takes the wind out of you, makes your head woozy by the time you are on your 3rd set, but yes it gives spectacular strength and muscle. It gives me that "high" feeling too, where when you walk away from the gym, you feel like you accomplished something hard. Many people like the feeling of squats but I love the feeling of one handed rows.

 

[Eternal_water]

Thanks Epsi, I am trying to build my pull ups more, they are pitiful atm.

Unfortunately I've caught a nasty virus that has had me off all excercise for over a week now and has completely drained me of all my energy.

Once I get rid though I will be back in that gym like 5 days a week.

 

[Ray S]

Check out Scott Herman Fitness on YouTube. His videos are really good and he has some great stuff covering the back.

 

[Eternal_water]

What is a good number of pull ups to be reaching?

When I first started I could only do 1 perfect from pull up. (I could do plenty of chin ups but only 1 pull up).

Now when I'm fresh I can get a set of 14 consecutive pull ups 13 with perfect form and the form just starting to go on the 14th. I don't then try and force out a 15th.

Also does anyone else find pull ups so much harder than chin ups?

 

[TheStig]

In my experience doing pullups with good form has ALWAYS been much harder than doing chin-ups. Also, the wider the grip, the harder they are for me.

Most I've ever done in one set is 17.

These days I aim to do 10-12 PU's in one set and then pyramid down from there on each subsequent set: 12, then 10, then 8, then 6, then 4, then 2. I do my pullups at the very beginning of my back workout or immediately following my set of deadlifts.

FYI the minimum pullups required to be a United States Marine is a mere 3.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/marines/l/blfitmale.htm

I agree, pronated pullups are much harder than supinated chin ups. A suggestion I have for whoever is interested is this: when doing sets of pull/chin ups, alternate each set between a pronated grip and a supinated grip. I find it helps me bang out more sets than I could sticking with one grip for all sets.

I also find it pathetic that the minimum is 3 for the marines. I hope that is only for brand new recruits, and that once in, the requirements go up. The minimum should be 10 IMO.