A strong back can have a massive impact on your gym performance and your overall look.
Whether it is your beach holiday season or just time to add some quality mass the focus for most people is the big push sessions of chest and shoulders.
Row to grow
The back holds some serious muscle building potential. Build overall size and strength with a solid back plan. With a strong back you will see your big lifts grow, from squats and deadlifts to bench and shoulder press.
Posture for big gains
If you press more than you pull chances are your posture could be hiding your gains. Evening out your posture with rows will improve the appearance of muscle. Shoulders back, chest proud and head up high for the improved appearance of muscle, boosted confidence and better body language.
Help prevent injury
The shoulder is a very mobile joint and imbalance of pressing and pulling muscles will increase your risk of injury when you are pressing, especially if form is out. The back is the base of shoulder stability so keep your shoulders healthy will quality pulling work from multiple angles as part of your session.
Let’s look at the session
Go big
Rack pulls will fire up some serious muscle building stimulus.
This is the heaviest part of the session and will help increase your back strength and ability for all back movements.
Pull it
Pull ups are one of the best upper back builders and the ultimate tried and tested pulling movement. But make sure also focus on your rows for the best results.
Row
The horizontal pull will build a solid mid back and best help even out those pressing movements and boost posture.
Rear delt
Working specifically on the rear delt is often overlooked, but it shouldn’t be! Not only will these movements help with posture and shoulder stability they will also help improve the overall look of the shoulder. Think full bowling ball, not half of one.
Biceps
It would be rude not to!
Rack pulls 4×6
Pull ups 5×8
Barbell single arm rows 4×15 each side
Rear delt row 3×12
Straight into
Band pull apart 3×12
Narrow chin 3×8
Straight into
Cable curls 3×15
Muscle building essentials
This is a muscle building session but it will only actually build muscle if you have the basics right.
Calories
In order to build serious muscle you need to be in a calorie surplus consistently. Aim got 10-20% increase of maintenance calories depending on how much and how quickly you want to build.
Macros
You need adequate protein to build muscle. Carbs will also help increase muscle development. A good starter macro breakdown would be 40% calories from carbs, 40% cals from protein and 20% of cals from fats.
Rest
You develop and get stronger when you rest. Building muscle is about the quality of your sessions. Get organised and focussed on your training. This will buy you more time to rest up, recover and grow between them.
Progression
Believe it or not muscle building requires hard work. But not just hard work for a week. You have to consistently work hard to build muscle. Week after week. Month after month. If your sessions become easy and you stop increasing the weight you are lifting your results will suffer.
