Friday, June 12, 2009

Muscle Building Tips to Develop a Wide, Muscular Back

By Ricardo d Argence

It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly misguided the vast majority of the population is in the gym. Everyone is desperate for that wide, powerful and muscular physique, yet very few understand how to properly channel their efforts to get there.

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.

Allow me to let you in on a little secretIf you want to appear as wide, thick and powerful as you possibly can, nothing will allow you to achieve this goal faster than a well developed back.

There are 4 major movements that you must perform to properly develop your back. And here they are:

1) Deadlifts. The deadlift will work you from finger to neck to toe and is irreplaceable in developing strong, thick back muscles. 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) A horizontal pulling movement. Otherwise referred to as "rows", horizontal pulling movements place their emphasis on the upper/middle portion of the back and also stimulate the lats.

4) A shrugging movement. While not quite as important as the above mentioned lifts, a shrugging movement should still be performed at the end of the workout to target the upper traps and develop that mountainous, diamond-shaped look from behind. A basic barbell or dumbbell shrug will do the trick.

Perform 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps of deadlifts, overhand chin-ups and bent over barbell rows and 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps of barbell shrugs. That's all.

It may not seem like a lot, but as long as you take every set to muscular failure and focus on quality rather than quantity, this routine provides more than enough stimulation for maximum back growth. I've used this same routine for many years and continue to see steady progress in both back size and strength.

If you want more routines for another parts of your body, don't worry, I will write about them in future articles. Or, you can visit my website. There, you will find a lot of articles and information about muscle building and the most effective ways to train your body.

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