Four Ways to Maximize your Back Potential
One of the most coveted features in a physique is getting a nice wide back to make the V-taper pop out. The back is a vital part of any regime and your overall health. No matter what your end goal is, you should train your back not just for show but also for strength. With this in mind, it is important to focus on your back and know what you need to maximize your results. Here are four simple ways to increase your results.
- Increase your range of motion
When training your back using the full extent of your range is essential to engaging your entire back. For example when doing rows make sure that you extend all the way down then squeeze at the top to increase blood flow across the whole back. Not only will this help increase blood flow but it will build details and separations in the back that might be missed.
- Utilize your mind-muscle connection
One of the hardest parts of working on your back is visualizing the contractions. The back is not like your other muscles which are readily visible. Knowing this, it is important to take every rep slowly and focus on every individual fiber of your back when performing an exercise. Think about every rep and where you are targeting to get the most out of your workout.
- Increase Frequency
The key to increasing muscle mass in any way is to increase the frequency of training and focusing on progressive overload. Increase your frequency to training back twice a week to see more results. You can even split up the two workouts into two different focuses. One can be focused on power and strength with big lifts while the other can be focused on the minutiae of the back with isolated lifts. This way you can get the best of both worlds and encompass any lag in your development.
- Make your weaknesses your priority
Everybody wants to work on their strengths and not look soft lifting light weights or doing something they are not comfortable with. Suck it up. If your back is lagging you cannot circumvent anything just because you don’t want to or you are scared. This means that if you cannot do many pull-ups don’t focus on lat pulldowns, focus on doing more pull-ups! Utilize negatives, or assisted pull-ups but regardless still do the pull-ups. You will not be the best sprinter if all you do is swim. You need to focus on these big pulls and make your weaknesses your priority as they will show you the most results. Odds are that if you are weak in a particular area, it is for a reason and that is what is making your back lag in development.
The back is one of the most essential parts of the body, incorporate these four tips to maximize your training and see those wings grow like never before! These tips can be used across other muscle groups as well that you would like to focus on. Not only will you see growth but better stability and strength throughout your body.
