Will you recommend me a back workout?

[mjf]

My back sort of lagged for a while but I've been trying to hit it harder recently. I feel like it's wider, fuller, and coming along, but then I took a gym selfie and was disappointed.
My gym is light on equipment, but I can get most things done with the exception of seated row, not enough weight.
I can do chin ups, but can only do about 6 pull ups due to a persistent pain in my forearm and being weak from not forcing myself to work through that pain.

 

[Sk8man101]

My back sort of lagged for a while but I've been trying to hit it harder recently. I feel like it's wider, fuller, and coming along, but then I took a gym selfie and was disappointed.
My gym is light on equipment, but I can get most things done with the exception of seated row, not enough weight.
I can do chin ups, but can only do about 6 pull ups due to a persistent pain in my forearm and being weak from not forcing myself to work through that pain.

Damn no seated row?
Pray for this man^

 

[mjf]

Damn no seated row?
Pray for this man^

I can do it one handed. The stack is too light. I can do 3x10 one handed with the whole stack.

 

[Sk8man101]

I can do it one handed. The stack is too light. I can do 3x10 one handed with the whole stack.

Yeah my buddy has a pretty good program for back, takes some time to get threw it with a partner but it works.
A lot of the lifts were on the seated row though.

I think the different grips make a huge difference in back day. Wide, close, nuetral.

Also I was having a little trouble cause during my lat pull downs I was going all the way up almost fully extending my arms, I would end up getting spent in my arms before my back could get a good workout. My buddy showed me how to keep it a little tighter and don't let your arms really extend out to far.
That helped a lot, cause I started focusing more on my back and less about the movement of the bar.

Idk that's about my only insight.

 

[Eman]

1. Don't force yourself to "work through the pain". Do look for the root cause of the pain so you can learn how to treat or eliminate it.
2. Opt for barbell and dumbbell movements, don't need machines.
3. Be honest with yourself in regards to your form when doing the whole stack of seated rows one handed... Sounds like it's very light but, make sure there's no ego lifting going on.

The core of a back workout should be rows. I like deadlifts but if hypertrophy is the goal I usually keep them on a separate day. Basic movements that should be done on a routine basis include:

Barbell Rows
Pullups
Dumbbell Rows
Shrugs
Reverse Flyes

 

[mjf]

The cause of my pain was/is from poor form with too heavy of a dumbbell and possibly over training in the beginning. I've only been serious about this for about 3 years. In that time, I've had to take several breaks, 2 weeks, at times a month, completely away from the gym to heal.
I've been doing alot better in the past year or so with one exception. Heavy dumbbell incline press and they got away from me causing an injury. Basically it was what people would describe as tennis AND golfers elbow when I pointed to the two spots that were painful.

When I had a real gym I went to, I could close grip row quite a bit with at least decent form. I had to use straps though as my grip wouldn't even come close to holding that much.

I don't do deads much. Lower back pain, but want to incorporate them. I just started doing a rack pull and really like them.

Barbell rows: should they be underhand or overhand? I usually do a bent over row, overhand, and high(bar around shoulders/neck). I also do a dumbbell row using a flat bench, one arm at a time.

But as of now, besides the two rows, most of my exercises are done on lat pulldown machine, varying grips and trying to lean back to simulate a row.

 

[mjf]

Right now I'm hitting every body part twice a week. One day heavy 5x5 and one day light 3-4x10. An example of what I do. Don't laugh too much.

Overhand barbell rows
Chinups(2 sets as many as I can)
Lat pulldowns close grip
Lat pulldowns underhand chinup grip
Lat pulldowns wide grip
Lat pulldowns behind neck-- light weight
Lean back on lat pulldown, close grip row

Flat bench bent over dumbbell row
Rack pulls

Incline bench shrugs
Smith machine close grip shrugs
Sometimes if time-- standing dumbbell shrugs

 

[Apexvallen]

Also I was having a little trouble cause during my lat pull downs I was going all the way up almost fully extending my arms, I would end up getting spent in my arms before my back could get a good workout. My buddy showed me how to keep it a little tighter and don't let your arms really extend out to far.
That helped a lot, cause I started focusing more on my back and less about the movement of the bar.

Idk that's about my only insight.

Interesting, thanks.

 

[SuperMaroid]

I've been making great back gains from this workout:

Deadlifts
T-bar Rows
Lat Pulldown
Dumbbell Pullovers

 

[tenpoundsleft]

1. Don't force yourself to "work through the pain". Do look for the root cause of the pain so you can learn how to treat or eliminate it.
2. Opt for barbell and dumbbell movements, don't need machines.
3. Be honest with yourself in regards to your form when doing the whole stack of seated rows one handed... Sounds like it's very light but, make sure there's no ego lifting going on.

The core of a back workout should be rows. I like deadlifts but if hypertrophy is the goal I usually keep them on a separate day. Basic movements that should be done on a routine basis include:

Barbell Rows
Pullups
Dumbbell Rows
Shrugs
Reverse Flyes

You're not into rack pulls? Deadlifts are more to your liking?

I'm doing those instead of DL - the gym isn't set up for DL - and I do 20 rep warmup sets with like a plate, then drop to 15, 12, 10 reps as I add weight. Definitely feel that in the back and hamstrings - all the way up to the traps.

I'm curious what the ideal set and rep count for max hypertrophy in this area should be. I eventually get to the point where the lower back starts to lock up, but can't say that I really "feel" the squeeze as I do with many other muscles.

 

[Eman]

You're not into rack pulls? Deadlifts are more to your liking?

I'm doing those instead of DL - the gym isn't set up for DL - and I do 20 rep warmup sets with like a plate, then drop to 15, 12, 10 reps as I add weight. Definitely feel that in the back and hamstrings - all the way up to the traps.

I'm curious what the ideal set and rep count for max hypertrophy in this area should be. I eventually get to the point where the lower back starts to lock up, but can't say that I really "feel" the squeeze as I do with many other muscles.

I do like rack pulls, deadlifts too, but I don't often do them on the same day as the rest of my back work. It's just how it works out for me right now. I used to include them though.

I'd alternate rack pulls one day and deadlifts the other. Rack pulls for volume, I'd never go past 12 reps.

Rack pulls are good for emphasizing the negative. I also like trying to work on speed with the initial pull.

For hypertrophy, I'd stick in the 4x8-12 range. About 70-80% of 1rm is a good sweet spot for me.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

You're not into rack pulls? Deadlifts are more to your liking?

I'm doing those instead of DL - the gym isn't set up for DL - and I do 20 rep warmup sets with like a plate, then drop to 15, 12, 10 reps as I add weight. Definitely feel that in the back and hamstrings - all the way up to the traps.

I'm curious what the ideal set and rep count for max hypertrophy in this area should be. I eventually get to the point where the lower back starts to lock up, but can't say that I really "feel" the squeeze as I do with many other muscles.

I'd say 8-12 would be ideal or even 6 with more sets. 12+ would be cardio.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

I'd say 8-12 would be ideal or even 6 with more sets. 12+ would be cardio.

I finish out the heaviest set as close to 10 as I can - I just like to pyramid down with the quantity to make sure everything is nice and warm before I get to the final peak effort set.

 

[FourOneDeuxFitt]

I’ve always been chest dominant for the most part. Over the last year my focus has been on building back width and density. Some things that have helped me personally was first of all working on perfecting my form and “feeling” my back work. Like someone said earlier with Pulldown work not fully extending seemed to hit my back a lot harder and take stress off of my arms. Body weight pull-ups, barbell Rows (supinate and pronated grips), deadlifts, One Arm barbell Rows, Meadows Rows, stretchers.. I know you said you can’t do much for seated rows but If you can single armed bang out 10 reps with perfect form I’d still throw that into the mix because they’re still huge for lat development. I do a similar program with a upper body power day 3-5 rep work and a hypertrophy day with more body building rep ranges and shorter rest period. On hypertrophy days focusing on using 85% of my max. First exercise is explosive 3-4 sets at 8-10(pull-ups, deadlifts, barbell Rows, t bar Rows), next compound exercise are 3 sets at 8-12, third compound exercise is two sets at 12-15, and last is two sets at 15-20 and I’m smoked. Stick to compound movements in different planes of motion and end with filling the muscle up with blood. Hard contractions and controlled eccentrics. That’s just what worked for me. Maybe some of this nonsense will help. Didn’t mean to go on a rant. Haha.

 

[beameupscotty]

Focused lat pulldowns are the best exercise for width. Followed by T-Bar or bent over row. Of course Pullovers, Rack-Pulls, and Chin-Ups are great, but for overall width, nothing beats wide-grip lat pulldowns.