Not for something stupid like forgetting to turn the stove off or forgetting to send in my quarterly taxes.
No, I’m mad at myself for slacking in the movie-watching department.
Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love watching movies, and how much I pride myself on being a movie snob.
Ever since I was a kid I’ve been a movie nut. I have vivid memories of seeing E.T, Return of the Jedi, and Back to the Future in the theater when I was younger, and immediately becoming hooked by the escapism those movies provided.
Sure, like everyone else I enjoy the big budget, popcorn movies like Captain America: Civil War. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy explosions, fists being thrown into other people’s faces, and Chris Evans’ pecs?
But I also love watching independent, artsy-fartsy movies too.
Foreign movies, movies that star Chloe Savigny, or movies that have some bohemian, artistic title like, I don’t know, I Stare at a Rock, Love is Blind.1
They’re all good in my book, and I’ll give everything a chance.
Regardless, I’ve been slacking this summer. I mean, I haven’t even seen X-Men: Apocalypse yet!
Putting things into perspective, however, it’s with good reason. Between all the traveling I’ve been doing for work in addition to taking over the lease for my own training studio here in Boston…I’ve been a little pre-occupied.
That said, what movies have YOU seen lately? Anything you recommend or made you want to drop kick the director in the neck for wasting two hours of your life?
I’m heading to my snobby theater tonight to go see The Lobster. I’ve heard good things.
Everyone has different body-types and leverages, which makes the deadlift different for everyone. However, Todd hits on some BIG ROCK cues and suggestions that pretty much have a universal connotation.
Remember those weighted shoes you used to wear to help with your vertical jump? Or, the crotchety basketball coach who used to run his athletes into the ground during every…single…practice?
Most still do.
In this article, Ty hits on where most coaches miss the mark with regards to conditioning for basketball. Awesome stuff.
In this article, Coach Nick hits on my favorite part of the body, the boobs the upper back. There’s plenty of info in this article to keep any meathead happy, but there’s also a fair bit of science for the nerds out there too.
What’s more impressive or baller than a muscular, strong-looking backside?2
Any Joe Schmo can walk around with decent sized biceps or a six-pack that would make Tyler Durden jealous. Walk into any commercial gym and you’ll see both.
However, it’s a bit of a rarer occurrence to see someone with an impressive upper back. Not JD Salinger making a public appearance rare or even unicorn rare; but rare nonetheless.
It’s a shame, too, because having a strong upper back provides many advantages.
1) It Makes You Look Yoked
Remember that opening scene from the movie Troy when Achilles (<— I know, second Brad Pitt reference in less than ten seconds. Last one I promise) “fights” Boagrius?
To help jog your memory, this is Boagrius:
You can’t technically see his upper back, but do really need to in order recognize he’s a ginormous human being?
Yeah, sure, the fight between him and Achilles was over in a blink of an eye, but we’re still talking about those traps.
And speaking of traps, who can forget Tom Hardy in the movie Warrior.
For starters, it’s a fantastic movie about brothers, fathers, and some of the best MMA fight scenes ever filmed – even my wife liked it.
Secondly, between his role as Tommy in Warrior (as well as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises), Hardy pretty much sealed the title for “Best Traps in Hollywood” and subsequently spawned a tsunami of “Get Traps Like Tom Hardy” workouts.
Traps, indeed, are the new abs.
2) Increased Overall Strength (DUH)
Having a bigger “anything” generally assumes increased strength. Trying really hard not to include a penis joke here.
A larger muscle can generate more force. More force equates to increased strength. Increased strength is never a bad thing.
To be more specific, though, having a bigger/stronger upper back can have huge carryover to improved performance in many lifts – especially as it relates to the “big 3.”
Squat
Having a bigger/stronger backside can translate very well to a better squat.
A bigger upper back makes it easier to allow the bar to rest on the “shelf.”
The back musculature must fire isometrically during a set to prevent falling forward and to prevent any excessive rounding.
Anyone who thinks the lats aren’t involved with squat performance is kidding themselves. The lats have attachment points in the intertubicular groove of the humerus, scapulae, portions of the vertebrae (T7-T12), the thoraco-lumbar fascia, as well as the iliac crest.
Activating the lats during squats provides significant more spinal stability and allowance of force transfer between the lower/upper halves of the body. This is partly the reason why people can back squat more than they can front squat.
Bench Press
Ask any powerlifter what’s more important for a big bench press – chest or upper back – and most will likely say “both!,” however default to the upper back (and technique) as being more of a limiting factor.
Chad Wesley-Smith of Juggernaut Training likes to use the analogy of the upper back serving as a “base of support” during the bench press. A thicker/wider upper back will:
Get you closer to the barbell (less distance the bar as to travel).
Assuming technique is on point, will act as a “springboard” to propel the barbell off the chest.
Deadlift
Similar to what was noted above with squats, a bigger/stronger backside will almost always equate to a better, less vomit-in-my-mouth looking deadlift.
Everything – traps, rhomboids, lats, erectors – work in concert, isometrically, to counteract both compressive and shear forces playing tug-of-war with your spine.
The stronger your back, the stronger your deadlift.
3) Illusion of a Bigger Chest
I work with a lot of men who’s #1 goal is to have more sex have a bigger chest. Common sense tells us that in order to have larger chest muscles (pecs) we need to train them.
And I agree.
Unfortunately, guys tend to be so enamored with training their chest that “chest day” becomes “chest week.”
52 weeks a year.
As a result, many are left with an overly kyphotic posture (rounded upper back and shoulders) because they’ve developed a muscular imbalance between their front and backside, which ends up “hiding” their chest development.
So what ends up happening?
More chest exercises.
Which only feeds into the problem.
Many are left flummoxed when I suggest the answer is to perform more BACK exercises. Often, the answer is to strengthen and focus more on their backside, which will then “open” things up and give the illusion of a larger chest.
It’s like being Gandalf. Except, you know, not.
Back Strategery
Which leads us to the obvious question: Tony, will you just STFU and tell me WTF do I do?
This is a blog post, not a dissertation on anything & everything back training…but I’d be remiss (and an a-hole) if I didn’t provide at least some actionable advice.
1) Horizontal Pulls vs. Vertical Pulls
It’s generally accepted that back training can (and should) be divided into two camps: horizontal pulls and vertical pulls.
According to lore – and every bodybuilder in the history of ever – horizontal pulling tends to target upper back thickness, while vertical pulling tends to target width.
Bodybuilders are jacked and know a thing or two about putting on muscle, so who are we to disagree?
Horizontal Pulls = deadlifts, bent over rows, Seal Row, Yates row, DB rows, chest supported rows, Batwing rows, inverted rows (which are more of a hybrid, but certainly fall into this category), etc.
Vertical Pulls = chin-ups, pull-ups, lat pulldowns.
This is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully gets the point across.
If you’re someone who follows more of an Upper/Lower split during the week (4x per week), it may help to divide your upper body pulling days into horizontal vs. vertical.
If you’re someone who follows more of a full-body split (say, 3x per week) you could approach your back training in an A/B fashion.
A = horizontal pulls.
B = vertical pulls.
Week 1 = A, B, A
Week 2 = B, A, B
So on and so forth.
2) Train Your Back More Often
I honestly feel back training is something most people could get away with doing every training session. This doesn’t mean, of course, you need to go heavy or balls-to-the-wall every time.
On days you squat or deadlift or both if you’re a badass (or Wolverine), your back is getting plenty of work, and it probably wouldn’t bode well to follow suit with some heavy Bent-Over Rows or Pendlay Rows.
You can, however, toss in some moderate to high(er) rep (not to failure) accessory work afterwards in the form of DB rows or maybe some Band Face Pulls.
In any given week I like to include at least ONE heavy (3-5 reps) horizontal pulling variation, in addition to a moderate (8-12) and high-rep (12+) variation.
The same goes for vertical pulling – although, options are a little more limited here.
It’s undulated periodization 101.
It may look something like this:
Day 1
A. Deadlift: 3×4-6
B1. Speed Squat: 6×2
B2. Speed Chin-up/Pull-Up: 6×3
C1. Flat Bench DB Press: 3×10
C2. 1-Legged Hip Thrust: 3×8-10/leg
D. Band Face Pulls 3×15-20
Day 2
A1. Front Squats: 3×4-6
A2. 1-Arm DB Row: 3×8-12/arm
B. Speed Bench Press 6×3 OR DB Bench Press 4×6-8
C1. 1-Arm Landmine Press 3×10/arm
C2. Hinge Row: 3×10
D1. DB Goblet Squat: 3×8
D2. Pallof Press 3×8/side
Day 3
A1. Bench Press: 4×5
A2. Weighted Chin-Up: 4×3-4
B. Speed Deadlift: 6×1
C1. Cable Pull-Through 3×10-12
C2. Ab Rollout 3×10-12
D1. Seated Cable Row: 2×10
D2. High Rep Band Tricep Pressdowns: 2×20
And then you can tinker with varying set/reps each week.
3) Sneak It In
You can also “sneak” more back exercises into the mix and increase volume.
Pair a light row exercise with all warm-up sets on bench press.
Every time you walk past a chin-up/pull-up bar during a workout, perform 1-3 reps. Or, perform 1-3 reps every time you go to get a drink of water.
One option I like is to combine a unilateral row exercise with any additional speed (or technique) work I have a client perform. So, if I have someone doing 8 sets of “technique” work on squats, I’ll pair that with 8 sets of 1-Arm DB Rows (albeit only 4 sets per side)
Set of Squats paired with 1-Arm DB Row – Right Arm Only
Set of Squats paired with 1-Arm DB Row – Left Arm Only
I hated P.E. class. I was a skinny, weird and uncoordinated kid.
I was the one who got picked on in the changing rooms about my lack of size, and we’re just not talking about muscles.
Whenever P.E. class was on my schedule, I dreaded it.I’d rather go to the dentist to get a tooth pulled or talk about my confused teenage feelings.
Our masochistic P.E teacher liked to put us through a series of fitness tests every few months to determine our grades. As far as I was concerned, showing up was an A.
One of the many tests was an isometric chin up hold for time. You were to hold the top position of a chin up for as long as possible.On this particular testing day, as soon as my name was called, the knives came out.
“You won’t last 10 seconds, McLean. You’re as weak as piss.”(That’s Australian for not strong and bad tasting beer.)
As I stepped up to the bar, I had a little extra incentive and was determined to prove my doubter wrong.I willed myself to a 40-second hold which was not bad for a weakling. I even got the nods of approval from the high school meatheads.
Ever since then I could always do a chin up.
In the gym, chin ups/pull ups are still great test of your relative body strength.You’ll never hear someone ask “How much to you row, dude?” However, you will hear in gyms around the world “How much do you bench?”
Not everyone can do a chin up (although it should be a goal), but everyone needs to build upper back strength because in today’s society we’re constantly looking down at our smart phones, tablets and computers.
Furthermore, we sit too much and move too little.
Over time this can wreak havoc on upper back strength, posture and spine. For instance, every inch our ears are forward from our shoulders (forward head posture) you increase the weight of the head on the spine by an additional 10 pounds. (Kapandji, Physiology of Joints, Vol. 3).
And while there’s no scientific correlation, forward head posture also increases one affinity for douchiness.
Upper back strength also plays a huge role in the big lifts such as squats, deadlifts and even the bench press, which is big deal for hardcore gym goers and for the everyday desk jockey who wants to look better naked.
That’s reason enough to include some old school and new age rows into your routine. Your back and biceps will thank you, and the chest will just have to wait its turn.
Old School Rows
1) Barbell Bent Over Row
This is the godfather of rows. Not only does this strengthen your upper back, shoulders, biceps and grip, it’s the perfect accessory exercise for improving your deadlift. Bent over row mimics the hip hinge, and holding this for time with help improve your lower/upper back endurance. More importantly, it will improve your ability to keep a neutral spine while pulling heavy.
The classic cues of shoulders down, chest up, grow tall or shoulders away from the ears work here. If you feel this movement in your lower back or upper traps, you’re missing something and should check your form.
Note From TG: Check out THIS baller post by Harold Gibbons dissecting a ingenious drill – the hamstring bridge hold – to help people learn to “feel” the hamstrings during a bent over row.
Programming – I’ve found doing this for strength (low reps 3-5 and more sets 5-6) will help improve your ability to pull from the floor and to keep a neutral spine under heavy loads.
If you’ve never done sets of 20 reps before, you don’t know what you’re missing.
2) Single Arm Dumbbell Rows
There’s a multitude of variations to choose from. From the classic single arm bench supported variety to this excellent variation from Eric Bach of Bach Performance.
Or this one from Tony himself:
Dumbbell rows in general are perfect for ironing out strength imbalances that often exist between sides and you’ll get some additional core work in the form of lateral stability.
Let’s face it, you cannot get enough core work.
Keeping the spine in neutral and not rowing with the upper traps is the key here. Please don’t go extremely heavy and short arm the weight because you’re not fooling anybody. It’s almost as bad as knee bend squats or poorly performed pushups.
Note From TG: Another point to consider is pinning or “glueing” the shoulder blade(s) in place. The scapulae should move around the ribcage, not stay in place. Read THIS for more information.
Programming – I prefer programming these for higher reps (8-15 range) and lower sets (2-4). Pairing these in a super set with any press variation or including these in a metabolic circuit works well.
Running the rack to murder the upper back is fantastic, if you’re a fan of pain.
New Age Rows
1) TRX Rows
Dan John sums up why we need to do TRX rows:
“TRX single arm and double arm rows target an area of the body that often gets missed or ignored. The whole upper back/rear shoulder area is probably the most underdeveloped area of people I’ve worked with.”
The beauty of the TRX is you can adjust the intensity simply by adjusting the foot position closer or further away from the anchor point. This makes this exercise accessible to almost everybody.
Here’s how to set up for a single arm row, one of my personal favorites.
Keeping your shoulders down and chest up and not shrugging your upper traps to pull yourself towards the handles is the key here, too.
Also, try the Hinge Row (which “nudges” a bit more upward rotation in the shoulders)
Or, if you’re really feeling fancy pants you can try this variation, which, technically, isn’t a TRX row, but uses the TRX so whateves:
Programming – TRX rows are a great change of pace from weighted rows and I’d recommend training these for higher reps (12-20) and fewer sets (2-4). The TRX makes exercise transition simple, so including rows in a superset or a circuit works like a charm.
If you’re looking to burn out the back and pump up the biceps, TRX mechanical drop sets are perfect.
2) Single Arm Landmine Row
Single arm landmine exercises such as the row will help reduce joint stress while maximizing shoulder tension and stabilization. In my experience you can use more weight than the traditional dumbbell/cable row set up without any undue stress.
The set-up and cues are similar to a barbell bent over row. A good hip hinge and a neutral spine are essential.
The landmine allows you to row from a variety of positions and grips which is great for hitting the upper back from different angles.
Programming – Holding the end of the barbell instead of the dumbbell will provide a greater grip challenge.
Use the same programming guidelines as for the dumbbell rows. Or if you’re hating life, include them in a landmine complex, like this one courtesy of Ben Bruno.
Wrapping Up
Just because you cannot see the upper back, shouldn’t mean the chest gets all the love. Keeping the upper back strong is necessity for good posture and healthy shoulders.Upper strength will help improve your deadlift, squat and bench numbers.
If that’s not reason enough, rows work the biceps. They’re always in need of extra attention.
Author’s Bio
Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Dallas, Texas.
No, Shane doesn’t wear a cowboy hat or boots. After being told that his posture blows by Eric Cressey, he has made it his mission to rid the world of desk jockeys and have fun while doing so.
After all exercise is fun and never a “work” out.
You can follow Shane on Twitter HERE, and Facebook HERE.
I love training the back. To me nothing sends the message of “I lift weights” more so than someone who has an impressive looking backside.
And one of my favorite exercises to train the back is the 1-arm DB Row.
That said, most people don’t perform it correctly. In fact, I’d bunch both the 1-arm DB row and push-up together as two exercises most people roll their eyes at and think are easy, but fall woefully short in terms of passing the eyeball test.
You know the saying: if it looks like crap….
I’m not going to belabor the obvious talking points here. Most people understand that a good DB Row is performed with:
An anatomically “neutral” spine position: the upper doesn’t round, and the head doesn’t protract forward.
The elbow not going too far back (to the point where there’s excessive glenohumeral extension, and subsequent anterior laxity of the shoulder).
To the point above, the arm should move in more of an “arc” movement (forward to back) rather than straight up and down. While there is scapular retraction happening (more on this below), I feel the 1-arm DB row is more of a lat exercise than it is an upper back exercise. I like to cue people to think about bringing their elbow toward their hip rather than straight up and down.
However, none of this matters if your name is Matt Kroczaleski and you’re a beast:
NOTE: don’t hate on me for the music. Chris Howard had control of the stereo during CSP after hours.
As noted above I do feel the 1-arm DB row is a fantastic upper back builder, but that it’s more suited for lat development than it is building superior scapular retractors. This isn’t to say it can’t (or shouldn’t be used) in that fashion, it can! But if we can appreciate the fiber orientation of the lats in conjunction with the actual arm (arc) action being performed with the exercise, we can then better appreciate why it shouldn’t be at the top of the exercise hierarchy with regards to training scapular retraction.
But lets discuss scapular retraction.
A common cue used with the 1-arm DB Row is to retract (adduct) the scapulae (shoulder blade) and then to “pin” it there throughout the duration of the set. Like this:
I believe this is wrong and goes against common shoulder joint mechanics. By pinning the shoulder blade in place you’re essentially forcing yourself to gain the brunt of motion through the glenohumeral joint, which can lead to more anterior (forward) translation of the joint itself; causing more anterior laxity.
In addition, keeping the shoulder blade retracted the entire time can lead to rhomboid dominance, which in turn can (not always) result in muscular imbalances such as downward rotation syndrome; a term popularized by physical therapist Shirley Sahrmann in her book Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes.
And as we all know, downward rotation syndrome kills kittens. True story.
You don’t want to kill kittens do you?
Instead I prefer to coach people to allow their shoulder blade to move; or breath. Like this:
The shoulder blade should move around the rib cage.
So instead of gluing it in place, the shoulder blade has room to breath – can move – and can work in a more synergistic fashion with GH joint. You work the scapula both concentrically and eccentrically.
NOTE: you still want to avoid end-range on the way down and control the load. You should feel a nice “stretch” in the bottom position – not to the point where you’re “hanging” on passive restraints – and then return back.
It’s a subtle tweak, but has a profound influence on the efficacy of the exercise and shoulder health in general.3 Give it a try the next time you perform the 1-arm DB row and notice if you feel a difference.
Point to someone with a monster bench press, deadlift, or squat and I’ll point to someone who has monster lats.
They’re a massive muscle with an expansive cross-sectional area spanning the entire (upper) backside. Don’t take my word for it, just peruse any anatomy book and notice all the attachment points: vertebral attachments (T6 to the sacrum), ribs, pelvis, scapula (<– not everyone), and humerus.
Aesthetically there’s no question having a big set of lats will win you a few bodybuilding shows and more than a few glances from onlookers.
However there’s very little talk on how having big lats – or, more to the point, having the ability to activate the lats to increase tension and stabilize the spine – can help improve performance in many of the big lifts.
One drill we’ve been using at Cressey Sports Performance recently to help in this regard is the 1-Arm Low Cable Row.
1-Arm Low Cable Row
Who Did I Steal It From: giving credit where it’s due, CSP coaches Greg Robins and Tony Bonvechio were the ones who started tinkering with the standard Standing Cable Row we use often at the facility and lowered the positioning of the (cable) arm to better increase activation of the lat.
What Does It Do: I just told you! It activates the lats to a higher degree. GOSH. It’s like you don’t even listen to me anymore.
You know what, stop. Don’t “babe, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it” me. You know what you did. You know I don’t like it. And…wait, what’s that? You found a kick-ass, fan made, fake Boba Fett movie trailer?
What were we talking about again? Right, the low cable row.
Key Coaching Cues: Set up as you would a normal standing cable row, albeit in this case you’ll set the “arm” at a lower angle in relation to the body.
From there all the same rules apply: athletic stance, feet shoulder width apart, chest up, don’t allow shoulder to “roll” forward, etc. Think about rowing/pulling your elbow to your hip (elbow still shouldn’t go past the midline) and pause for a 1-3s count. You should definitely feel a difference with the lat turning on to a higher degree.
If you don’t, you’re weird….;o)
NOTE: I also like to cue people to start with a pronated (overhand) grip and as they “row,” rotate the handle to a neutral position.
Return back to starting position, but be sure to allow the scapulae to protract forward around the ribcage. You don’t want to “glue” it down the entire time.
While I wouldn’t go out of my way to use this drill with overhead athletes (who are generally stuck in extension and overly lat dominate, which affects their ability to upwardly rotate the scapulae), this is an awesome drill to use to help people learn to “engage” their lats to a higher degree, which in turn translates very well to better performance with the “Big 3.”
It’s a subtle tweak, but something worth giving a try.
Six pack abs and biceps don’t really impress me that much. I can walk into any commercial gym in the country or peruse an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog and see plenty of dudes with both.
Not that I go out of my way to flip through an A&F catalog on a regular basis or anything – the chances I’d be able to fit into a pair of their jeans is about as high as me reading a Nicholas Sparks novel or washing all the dishes that are currently in the sink.
Which is to say, HAHAHAHAHAHA.
But not for nothing….cashmere sweaters are on sale this month. Holla!
Speaking candidly: Whenever I see someone with a thick, muscular back I know that they’ve put in their time in the weight room.
Likewise, it’s pretty rare for someone to have an impressive back and be weak. Chances are they’re stronger than a bulldozer.
In any case, in my latest article for T-Nation I dive into some of my favorite back-building exercises. Some you’ll undoubtedly be familiar with – albeit technique may leave a lot to be desired – while others may be a “new to you” variation.
