How to thicken your back to get that bodybuilder look. The phrase “developing back thickness” refers to the act of adding knots of dense muscle throughout the rear of your torso. Sometimes a back that appears wide lacks the depth that ultimately gives it a 3-D illusion. To develop an overpowering back, you need thickness in abundance, and I’ll tell you how to do that. There are four key points to building back […]
Construct a billboard-sized back that will get you noticed and keep you healthy. 1. Pullups When you see someone walking around the gym with a big back, you can guarantee they can jump up and kill 15-20 pull-ups without even breaking a sweat. See the connection? Pull-ups and chin-ups are two of the best mass builders for the back. Targeting the lats, shoulders, biceps and grip, these exercises have so […]
Train like one of the strongest bodybuilders of all time. Johnnie Jackson is a true hybrid. Lots of guys claim to be bodybuilders and powerlifters, but no one’s had more success at the former while excelling at the latter than JJ. During his 12-year pro bodybuilding career, this 42-year-old Gulf War veteran has perpetually finished near the top. Meanwhile, pursuing his powerlifting “hobby,” he’s a human forklift. […]
The workouts that built a back worthy of 8 Sandows. The moments just before Ronnie Coleman hit his rear lat spread and rear double biceps were contest highlights, as ridges and knots roamed and stripes and crevices emerged, morphing his back into a new and spectacular landscape each time he moved his arms. At his […]
Flex Lewis combined Golden Age techniques and old-school workouts with his own modern innovations. The result? An unbeatable back, in any era. Sometimes you have to look back before you can move forward. So when IFBB pro Flex Lewis put together his blueprint for a bigger back, he reflected on the workouts of Olympia greats […]
Here is a back workout for encouraging improvements to lagging backs recommended by six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates. The back is the biggest and most powerful muscle group of the upper body. It is better to focus on the interaction of all the muscles in the back, rather than trying to compartmentalize and develop the […]
A wide, v-tapered back starts with time spent at the pull-up bar. Here’s how Arnold beefed up his lats with this bodyweight move. It’s rare when it happens but it’s always something of a spectacle to see someone heaving around a quarter-ton of clanking iron on barbell rows. Big weight, bro. More common but in […]
