The wide and well developed back gives you an aesthetic and attractive look in bodybuilding. It is not just doing your back wider, but also makes your body look better and giving you a V-shape body. Back muscles are involved almost in all exercises. Back workout has a special place in the process of bodybuilding. It has its own specifics. So, to have big and powerful back muscles, it’s necessary not only to correctly organize your workout, but also to know how to protect yourself from getting injured.
How to Get Bigger Back Muscles?
The back muscles represent the largest muscle group in the upper part of your body. They perfectly perceive large loads, take on most of the hard work performed in your workout. To make your back muscles grow, it is better to forget exercises like pumping or drop sets. The required load can be obtained only when basic exercises are carried out with the use of large working weight.
The number of reps in each set, to increase the mass of your back ranges from six to eight. This range makes it possible to work with large weights and feel that the back muscles are really fully loaded. The main thing is to constantly take an impressive working weight. A properly designed workout program and working weights are important, but bring almost no result when the technique is bad. The bad technique will not give you the right effect and also you can get injured, so be careful with it.
To achieve the desired result, you must stay honest to your training principles. Loads should be progressive. It is necessary to increase working weights, do one or two rep more than in the last workout, and reduce rest between separate sets. The main thing is to constantly increase the load. Do not immediately take on an excessively heavy weight that can traumatise it.
Back muscle anatomy
The anatomical structure of the back is a pair of grouped muscles surrounding the back of your body. They are conditionally divided into two large groups:
- External – Formed by the broadest, jagged, trapezius muscles and extensors. They form the surface of the back, therefore, require increased attention.
- Internal – They are located deep beneath the outer ones, they are a kind of diamond-shaped. If you give these muscles proper attention and develop them, they become visible outside, also giving the back some relief.
Building back muscles, first of all, involves the concentration on the widest back muscles. This is due to size, because they are the largest and give your body V-shape silhouette. When you are planning a workout program, the main must be done on them.
In order to pump your back muscles to the maximum, you need to have a clear idea of what functions they perform for the your body. So, they are involved when the upper limbs lead to the body from up to down, side and front, when performing a pull towards yourself. These exercises should be the main basis for training the latissimus dorsi.
Back Exercises
Wide grip pull-ups
Hang on the bar, holding it with a grip slightly wider than the shoulders (A). Bring your chest forward, scratch your ankles and look at the crossbar. Bringing the shoulder blades, pull yourself up and try to touch the horizontal bar with the upper part of the chest (B). Without a pause, smoothly return to the starting position and repeat. Ideally is to do about 10-12 reps, when you will be able to do that, you can hang extra weight on your body.
Incline dumbbell pulls
Put your left knee and left hand on the bench, take a dumbbell in your right hand, straighten and slightly bend your back (A). Bringing the shoulder blades, pull the dumbbell toward yourself in an ascending arc (B). After a clear pause at the top, return to the starting position. Execute exercise slow, with nice technique, don’t try to take a huge weight. This, exercise is also a good isolation, so you can do about 15 reps.
Inclined barbell pulls
Take the barbell with a grip of a slightly more familiar grip in the bench press. Take your pelvis back and lean forward so that the bar drops to the middle of the legs (A). Pull the bar toward you and try to touch the lower abdomen (B). Without a pause, return to the starting position and repeat. This exercise is risky, and if the technique and weights will be too heavy, there’s a big probability to injure. Ideally, it should be to take lighter weight, but to execute about 12-15 reps.
Wide grip block pull
Settle down on the weight machine, putting your legs slightly bent on a support, and grasp the long handle (A) in your hands. Bend your back and raise your head. Bringing the shoulder blades, pull the handle to the middle of the abdomen (B). Hold a clear pause and return to starting position. Also, 10-12 heavy but quality reps will be ideal.
Hyperextension
Lie belly on the ball or hyperextension bench, straighten your legs and cross your arms in front of your chest (A). Go down as far as the flexibility of the lower back allows you, and return to your starting position, trying not to lose balance (B). If the exercise seems too complicated for you, fix your legs under a fixed support. This back exercise is very important for your low part of the back. Don’t be afraid to make more reps than usual 10-15, if you will feel that it is too easy for you, then you can take some weight.
Narrow grip block pulls
Attach the V-shaped handle to the weights machine, grasp it, put your feet on the support and straighten your back (A). Starting with a strong reduction of the shoulder blades, pull the handle to the stomach (B). Gently return to the starting position and repeat the exercise the desired number of times. Try to feel the middle muscles of your back, but doing it slowly. 10-12 reps will be good amount for this exercise.
Vertical machine pulls up
Sit on the simulator for vertical pull ups and grasp the handle at its folds. Bring the chest forward and shoulders up (A). Straining your back muscles, lower the entire shoulder girdle down, then bend your arms at the elbows and pull the handle to the collarbones (B). Slowly, return to starting position. 10-15 reps depending on weight you are performing it with.
Diet
Diet is one of the main things in bodybuilding, it is even more important than exercises. Of course, one can’t live without other. So, this is the only one correct way to do grow your muscles and increase your strength. Also, it is much more challenging to stick to the diet than to the gym regime. So, we want to give you at least minimal knowledge about the diet, to make you understand how to organise it.
You need to know is that your body needs fuel (all nutrients) and building material to work properly and to be able to regenerate new muscles. So, 3 main nutrients you need are Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fats.
Proteins: with protein your body is building muscle it is a kind of construction material and the proper amount for building muscles is about 1.5 g of protein per 1 kg of your body weight, or 0.7 g for 1 lb.
Carbohydrates: Carbs, are giving you energy, this is what basically allows you to raise heavier weights. We can call it a fuel for your body. For muscle growth, you need about 5g of carbohydrates per 1 kg or about 2.3 g per 1 lb of your body weight.
Fats: Don’t avoid the fats, they are responsible for a lot of valuable processes in your body (1), just limit the intake of fats per day. Also, fats are quite high in calories so, be careful. We recommend you to try to stay in the range of 1 g for 1 kg, or 0.5 g for 1 lb of your body weight when you are trying to gain muscle. Here you can find more details about the diet for muscle gain here.
Supplements for Muscle Gain
So, supplements is not a substitution for your nutrition, but they definitely can be a good support and help you to progress faster. As you know, you have to eat a proper amount of food to make your body grow. Also, supplements will make things easier for you, and you will not have to eat so much.
Check out our article about Diet, here you will figure out all necessary details about how to eat properly to grow your muscles. Whey protein is a really good supplement if you are eating enough amount of carbohydrates, but if you can’t, mass gainer is a better solution for you.
So, to increase your working weight faster and to get stronger, creatine monohydrate is a perfect one to see the progress faster. It’s the the most effective supplement for increasing your strength and stamina.
Bottom Line
So, these are the main details about how to make your back muscle bigger. Also, remember that back workout can have even bigger different exercises, but these are the main and the most effective one. Remember to stay consistent on your workouts, diet, sleep and supplements. Progress with weights slow to avoid injuries, and you will definitely will see the progress soon.
