4 Directions to a Kick-Ass Back
by Robert "Fortress" Fortney

If there's one truth in bodybuilding, it's that you'll never rise
through the amateur ranks if you don't have adequate back development.
Have you ever stopped to ponder what physical trait all Mr.
Olympia winners have in common (and think of the varied bodies that
have won the Sandow trophy)? You guessed it, Skippy, a great back.
Dorian's Olympian back A terrifically-built back isn't just wide, or just thick, or just separated, or just detailed. It's all
of these things. And while eating correctly and implementing aerobic
exercise can help take care of the final attribute listed, the previous
three characteristics can only be achieved through brutal, consistent
and well-constructed workouts. The problem is, most trainers
put little or no thought into how best to work their back, and
consequently don't achieve balanced and award-winning development. It
doesn't matter if you're into collecting shiny trophies or not, either.
If you train in a gym to build your body, you should build the best
body that you can build. Otherwise you're just wasting your time. Fortress
believes there are four fundamental directions a resistance must be
pulled or lifted regularly in order to build a kick-ass back. We'll
call this the Directional Back Training Principle. The four directions
are:
1. Into the Body
2. Down From Overhead
3. Shoulders Up Towards the Ears
4. Low-Back Extension It's
annoying how few weight trainers these days actually care enough to
give their back the same beating they give their chest and arms. Pecs
and biceps are a dime a dozen. Tell me: are you proud of those little
14-inch "guns" with the bulging veins, that you're always showing off
in your little T-shirt and tank top? Fortress is not impressed. Powerful legs and a strong back make you a real athlete.
Fortress is not impressed. With
the exception of your core, hips, and thighs, no other bodypart is as
essential to intense and explosive physical performance as your back.
Heck, it's the body's largest muscle complex: neglect it at your own
peril. You only need suffer one back injury to realize how it's
involved in almost all movements.

1. Into The Body This
movement is expressed in the gym using the common row-type exercises.
Bent barbell row, dumbbell row (one arm or two), T-bar row, machine
row, cable / pulley row, it's all good. The point is
to pull heavy resistance in such a way that your elbow joints
articulate as your upper arm gets almost perpendicular to the floor,
regardless of whether the tips of the elbows are flared out to the
sides or pointing in the opposite direction to which you're facing. A
mandatory ingredient in effective back training is the maintenance of
an arched (or at the very least, flat) back position when performing
any exercise. While this is good advice for weight training in general
to help prevent injury, it's fundamentally important when doing
upper-back work to ensure the proper muscles do the majority of the
lifting. Your biceps will be called too much into play with a rounded
back.
We'll give him a 9.5 for form, 3.5 for color sense. Perhaps
this explains why you get a wicked biceps pump when you train your
back. It's all too easy to allow the arch to disappear when you use too
much resistance for your strength levels (ego lifting) or arrive at the
final, and hardest, repetitions, and become fatigued. One of
the greatest tips that can be offered to a novice is to always use
considerably less weight on upper-back movements than what one has in
mind. It's amazing how drastic the improvement in back development can
be when young and inexperienced bodybuilders drop the weight and focus
on correct technique. It's been said that back training is more
difficult to "feel" because we cannot see it during our sets and, thus,
it is harder to form a mind-muscle link. Not overdoing resistance can
help to facilitate better concentration. As well, we spend our entire
lives seeing the fronts of our bodies, so that reinforced visual of how
various muscles look when flexed aid us in determining proper lifting
form. Maybe Fortress' Directional Back Training Principle seems
obvious. Maybe you've never really considered such a thing. Either way,
it's worth looking into a little more thoroughly, wouldn't you say?
(Just nod your head in the affirmative and Fortress won't have to kill
you.)

2. Down From Overhead Or pulling yourself up.
However you wanna think about it, Bucky. Most bodybuilders who want
that much-desired V-taper these days are just plain lazy and opt to use
a pulley system when they train their backs. Performing chins with an overhand orunderhand
grip is a tough job for most, true. However, it's always worth the time
to seek improvement (more reps and sets). If you can already perform
reps and sets, great; if not, do your best for one or two sets at the
start of your Down From Overhead training. Remaining sets can be done
with an overhead pulley. But I digress.
Chins are more demanding than cable pulldowns, but the results are worth it. Don't
spend too much time racking your brain over whether an overhand grip,
an underhand grip, or a neutral (palms facing each other) grip is best
for pulldown exercises. Instead, vary your grip from workout to
workout. For overhand, ensure that you're bringing the bar
down to a point just in front of and below your chin. As stated,
maintain an arched back. Think of it as keeping your chest as high as
possible throughout the repetitions. This action will ensure you are
keeping the right posture. When using an underhand grip, keep
your hand spacing slightly narrower than shoulder width, and keep the
elbows tucked in tight to the sides of the body as the resistance is
pulled. Finish each rep at a point high on the chest. This version of
the pulldown can produce a unique feeling in the lower lats. The
neutral-grip handle, both narrow and wide versions, is a great, but
overlooked, piece of apparatus that can often allow the use of
additional weight. If your gym has one, make use of it. Your
touch-point at the finish of each rep is the same as on
overhand-gripped pulldowns, just in front of and below your chin.

3. Shoulders Up Towards the Ears In
other words, shrugging-type exercises. And again, there are multitudes
of ways to perform the shrug: with a barbell, dumbbells, machine
apparatus, or low-pulley attachment. Forget raising your shoulders and
rolling them forwards or backwards. All this achieves is to grind your
shoulder joint. Simple raise your shoulders as high as you can, pause
very briefly, and then return to the starting position.
Asked why he has such a big gut, Ronnie simply shrugged. A
word of caution. Don't completely let your shoulders hang with zero
tension. Especially with very heavy weight, this can injure the joints.
Fortress doesn't know the data but has seen it happen a couple times. Total
volume seems to make a profound difference in building traps. Fortress
has always referred to the traps as "high redline" muscles. This
meaning they respond well to the maximal blood engorgement that happens
when lots of reps and sets are performed. Heavy weight, low reps; light
weight, high reps. Do it all. And lots.

4. Low-Back Extension In
Fortress-land, we achieve manly low-back extension with variations of
the deadlift movement. Bodybuilders of today, many who are living in
Girly-man-land, largely shy away from this exercise. Big mistake. This
powerhouse exercise can add a visual element to the physique that
cannot be built any other way. Forget the pussy back raise
(otherwise known as the hyperextension). Are you conditioning your low
back, recovering from an injury, or trying to build some fuckin' muscle?
The Pussy Back Raise I
mean, c'mon. Cottage cheese-ass chicks wearing far too little clothing
in public do this movement. Fuck 'em and the horses they rode in on. As
a matter of fact, fuck you!
...and the horse you rode in on. Oops...sorry. Fortress just experienced a Testosterone surge. Happens from time to time. Actually, it happens all the time. My apologies. Obviously
the deadlift in its purest expres​sion(as done in powerlifting
competition, both with a conventional or Sumo style) is the greatest
overall version to build maximal muscle. The problem for bodybuilders,
however, is the involvement of the hams and thighs when doing the
exercise in this "pure" manner. Why is it undesirable to tax
the hamstrings and quad muscles when training the deadlift? Well,
bodybuilders usually train groupings of bodyparts in split-type
programs. Because of this, the deadlift is very difficult to fit into a
regular routine without fatiguing and making sore these muscles the day
prior to a full-scale leg workout, or attempting deads on a day when
these muscles are already sore. To get around this, many
physique enthusiasts choose to modify the standard deadlift in a way
that lessens the involvement of the hams and quadriceps. Simply
shortening the stroke of the exercise by lifting the barbell from a
point just around the knees (in a rack) can make the difference.
This physique enthusiast lifts the barbell from just around the knees. So,
too, can performing a stiff-legged deadlift, provided it's only your
thigh muscles you wish not to involve. Stiff-legged deadlifts will
smash your hamstrings fully. Some bodybuilders do stiff-legged
deadlifts on their leg day, which is a great idea. Before youdo this, the question you should be asking yourself is, "Do I have the balls?"
Well, do ya... punk?

Back to the Gym! My
Directional Back Training Principle, utilized consistently, will go a
long way to ensure your back becomes something for which you can be
proud. Not only will it look wide, balanced and thick, but it will also
look functional, because it is! And the development and
functionality will help ensure many years of injury-free training to
afford you the opportunity to get those 14-inch "cannons" of yours
bigger than your sister's.
If this is your sister, however, Fortress may cut you some slack. Hey! Quit looking at that chick's ass and get back in the gym! Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Pee-Wee! You got a problem with that? Maybe Fortress will just have to stomp you like the pathetic little worm you are! Oops. Testosterone surge again. My apologies.

About the Author
Robert
"Fortress" Fortney is a former competitive bodybuilder and editor for
Peak Training Journal, Musclemag International and Virtualmuscle.com.
Fortney now focuses his efforts on powerlifting training and
competition. His goal is to be an even stronger son of a bitch than he
already is. You can reach him at robertfortney@hotmail.com, but don't expect him to be any more pleasant in an e-mail.
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