What’s the difference between doing chest pullovers and lat pullovers? Should the exercise be modified depending on which bodypart you’re trying to work?

A:

You may have noticed that some bodybuilders do pullovers in their chest routines while some do them for their backs. What gives? Well, both the pecs and lats, not to mention the long heads of the triceps, are involved in pullovers. (One muscle that’s often thought to be involved but isn’t is the serratus anterior.)

Which muscle you’re stressing the most depends on the range of motion (ROM) you use. The chest and triceps’ long heads are maximally involved when you move from the overhead position (or beyond) to perpendicular to the body. The pecs span from the sternum and collarbone all the way to a tendon on the front of the humerus (upper arm bone). Because they’re located on the front of the body, they have the strongest line of pull from this position. Once the arms are perpendicular to the body, the pecs aren’t able to pull the arms farther.

The long head of the triceps is maximally involved because it’s stretched in this overhead position, allowing it to contract with the utmost force. The closer the arms come toward perpendicular to the body and beyond, the less the stretch in the triceps’ long heads and the less help they provide.

The lats are also involved to assist the pecs in bringing the arms from overhead to perpendicular, but they don’t get the most emphasis in this ROM. Because they’re attached to the spine, they’re at a biomechanical disadvantage here. The ROM in which the lats are maximally involved is moving the arms from perpendicular to the body to the sides. Since the chest can’t provide much pull in this ROM, the lats take over to complete the move.

Of course, if you’re performing pullovers on a flat bench, the ROM stops when your arms are perpendicular to your body. After that point, if you continue to extend your arms, the weight will just fall toward your hips. One way to overcome this and emphasize the lats is to use a decline bench, which allows you to increase the ROM. By declining your head, your hips are higher and the point at which your arms are perpendicular to the floor is no longer where they’re perpendicular to yourbody, as they’re now closer to your hips.

Final thought

The pullover does involve both the pecs and lats, as well as the triceps’ long heads. Yet you can place greater emphasis on the chest or back depending on which ROM you use.

For chest, perform pullovers lying crosswise on a flat bench and maintain a slight bend in your elbows, emphasizing the stretch as you drop the weight behind your head. We suggest using a dumbbell.

For lats, do your pullovers on as much of a decline as possible, maintaining a slight bend in the elbows to protect them from strain. We suggest using a barbell. Another way to increase the ROM at the bottom of the pullover is to use a decline bench and a low-pulley cable. This lets you bring the bar all the way to your hips for the greatest lat involvement. This version mimics the straight-arm pulldown, which is simply a pullover done standing up.

Done correctly, the pullover can seriously develop chest and lats

It’s complicated. Combining ball-and-socket joints that allow maximum arm mobility, a ribbon of snaking bones and nerves that divide the region down the middle, and a phalanx of big and small muscles spread from your butt to your neck, your back is your most complex bodypart. So it’s little wonder that many bodybuilders earn failing grades for training it. A lot of things can go wrong, but we’ve simplified the list to a top five. This month, we examine the most frequent back blunders and lay out easy solutions for getting your back on course. Class is in session.

Mistake #1 – Missing the target

Explanation
Because your back is such a vast and complicated muscle group, there is much confusion about how to best train various areas. Many believe you simply need to pull your hands to the area you want to stimulate–low for lower lats, high for upper lats, etc.–but it’s not that easy to hit the target.

Solutions

• For lat width, focus on chins and pulldowns with a grip wider than shoulder width.
• For lat thickness, focus on freeweight rows: barbell, T-bar and dumbbell.
• The key to lower lat activation is keeping your elbows close to your sides and pulling them as far back as possible. Two good exercises are underhand, shoulder-width pull-downs and one-arm low-cable rows, both performed with maximum ranges of motion at the contractions.
• To hit your middle, upper-back muscles–especially the rhomboids, and lower and middle trapezius–do wide-grip rows pulled to your chest. Using a Smith machine or a low cable while seated, instead of a barbell, can make balancing easier when rowing to your chest.

Mistake #2 – Neglecting the lower back

Explanation
One area not mentioned in our preceding rundown is spinal erectors. That’s because the most common problem here is not in missing the target, it’s in failing to even try. It is true that your lower back is stimulated during virtually any standing exercise, but to maximize the size and strength of your lower erector set, you need some isolation time, too.

Solutions

• Do deadlifts at least every other back workout. Deads work your spinal erectors in conjunction with numerous other muscles.
• Do 4-6 sets of lowerback isolation exercises at the end of each back routine.
• Back extensions, stiff-leg deadlifts (note: these are different from Romanian deadlifts, which involve less flexion and extension of the spine, and more hip flexion and extension to focus on the hams and glutes) and good mornings are excellent erector isolators. Another exercise is the back crunch, which begins like a back extension, but is a much shorter movement. Instead of bending at your waist/hips, contract your abs and curl your torso down (as if doing an ab crunch), and then rise back up by contracting your erectors.

Mistake #3 – In attention to your grip

Explanation
You know the truism that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This applies to every bodybuilding exercise, but it’s especially true of back work, where several secondary muscles and muscle groups (hands, forearms, biceps, rear delts) work in conjunction with your lats and other posterior muscles. Typically, your hands are the weak link in this chain, and if your grip gives out first, you won’t be able to maximally stimulate your back, no matter how strong all the other links are.

Solutions

• An underhand grip involves the biceps more and can place you in a stronger position, allowing you to use more weight. Incorporate both underhand and overhand grips into your back routine.
• Whether overhand or underhand, always wear training straps for any row, chin or pulldown. In research performed by the Weider Research Group, trained bodybuilders using straps during a typical back workout increased the number of reps they were able to complete by one or two on every set of every exercise compared to when they did the same back workout with bare hands.
• We recommend bodybuilders use straps during deadlifts, but if you want to increase strapless dead strength for powerlifting or other sports, alternate your grip by using what is known as a staggered grip (one hand underhand, one hand overhand) to better secure the bar in your grasp. A study presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the National Strength and Conditioning Association by researchers from the Weider Research Group found that trained lifters using a staggered grip significantly increased their strength on the deadlift compared to an overhand grip with both hands.

Mistake #4 – Over-reliance on machines

Explanation
The back is complex and the elbows can travel a great multitude of paths when pulled backward, so most modern gyms offer several unique rowing machines: high rows, low rows, unilateral rows, row/pulldown combinations, etc. This has encouraged too many bodybuilders to forgo barbells, dumbbells and chinning bars on back day and instead rely primarily on levers, pulleys, cams and cables. Machines may be more comfortable and lock you into a safe position, but a freer range of motion is generally superior for muscle stimulation.

Solutions

• As mentioned previously, do deadlifts at least every other back workout–with free weights, of course.
• Do at least one type of free-weight row–barbell, T-bar or dumbbell–in each back workout.
• In place of or in addition to pulldowns, do chins at least every other back workout. If you’re not strong enough to get 8 reps on your own, lighten your bodyweight by either having a partner slightly lift up on your feet, lightly resting your feet on a bench beneath the bar or using a chin assist machine.

Mistake #5 – Overusing secondary muscles

Explanation
Bodybuilders who have trouble isolating their latissimus dorsi muscles tend to go either too heavy with sloppy form, thus overrelying on momentum and their spinal erectors, or pull too much with their biceps and/or rear delts, thus never fully stretching or contracting their lats. Because you cannot watch your back work while you are training it, it’s especially crucial to master proper form by feeling stretches and contractions during rows, pulldowns and other posterior lifts.

Solutions

• Work the weight, don’t let it work you. Use a weight you can comfortably handle with strict form for 8-12 reps.
• Pull with your elbows, bringing them back and/or down as far as possible.
• If your biceps are doing too much of the work, utilize only an overhand grip.
• Focus on the targeted area of your back. Don’t focus on the weight or the path of the movement.
• Do back isolation work, such as straight-arm pulldowns. Because rows and pulldowns/pullups involve movement at the elbows, they are multijoint exercises that use other muscle groups, such as the biceps, in addition to the back muscles. Therefore, these exercises do not isolate the lats. To isolate the lats, include one exercise that does not involve movement at the elbows, such as straight-arm pulldowns. Do these toward the end of training, after rows and pulldowns/pullups.

Lessons learned

• Target a specific area during every back exercise.
• At the end of each back workout, do isolation work for your spinal erectors.
• Use training straps to secure your grip.
• Include free-weight and bodyweight basics in every back workout.
• Minimize momentum and feel the targeted area working throughout every rep.
• Utilize lat isolation exercises, such as straight-arm pulldowns.

The only bodybuilder worthy of his profession is a power bodybuilder. He couldn’t care less about what he sees in a mirror. Rather, he feels the call to get into the gym every day for no other reason than to slam the heaviest weights he’s ever tried. You can spot these guys a mile away. They’re as big as bridge pilings and just as hard. Worse, you can spot the guys who don’t power bodybuild. They don’t have hard muscle; it’s beach muscle. That’s fine for the average Joe, but for me?

No way. I’m not in this game to look at myself, but to lift–and the only way to lift is from the soul. That’s power bodybuilding. It’s doing whatever you can to magnify the resistance against your muscles, and I accomplish that with extreme overload and concussion reps. I pound away like a piston, as hard as I can, at the heaviest weight I can find, until one of us gives.

Explode

Concussion reps cannot be cautious reps, where I’m only concerned with the precise firing of each precious muscle fiber. Just the opposite. I want every last one of those precious muscle fibers ripped to shreds and smashed lifeless into charred, smoking, carboniferous debris. I lift very heavy weight, and the only way to rep it is to get a run for it and ram myself into the weight like a pile driver. I’m a fired cannonball, the weight is a concrete wall, and I’m going to hit it with such violence that it’ll disintegrate from the concussion.

Reps per minute (RPM)

I don’t care about the pace of my concussion reps, only their power. None of that “two seconds up, one second down” stuff for me. I go by feel. I don’t work at a rabbit’s pace, nor do I use those stupid slow reps. I make the weight dictate my rpm.

Think weight, not reps

I don’t concern myself with counting reps. Thinking in terms of “how many” can be seductive, because once you hit a certain number, you’re tempted to stop. Never stop! Repetitions are almost always psychologically, not physically, limited. If you find you can do three sets of an exercise for a given number of reps with good control and without struggling for the last life-or-death repetition, then you haven’t done a complete set. If, instead, you use all-out explosive full-power concussion reps, you’ll find that you can usually get one more than expected. At the very least, you’ll go further than if you hadn’t tried. I believe that every time you go into the gym, you can increase something in your workout by 10%, and it’s your duty to find that variable.

A concussion rep is approached with a different state of mind than that of other bodybuilding movements: it’s a record-busting detonation of strength. No matter what the weight, whether it’s one pound or 1,000 pounds, my goal is to break my personal record. Every time I go into the gym, the record for at least one exercise is going to fall. For that to happen, my goal must be fixed on the number of pounds I’m lifting, not on the number of reps. If I have a training partner, I let him take care of the rep counting.

Tight from the start

Freed from keeping track of the numbers, all of my concentration can be focused on keeping my entire body tight. That’s my practice, and it’s what I preach: flex everything, starting with your core. You don’t have to look like you’re doing a most-muscular pose, but practice tensing your entire body. It should feel pretty much the same for your warm-up as it does for your maximum set.

This sensation, though, necessitates the use of heavy weight and concussion reps. Lighter weights and slow reps allow you to be sloppy on your initial sets. Whereas, if you’re forced to tighten from the start, you not only have more control earlier, but you can take bigger pyramid steps, thereby reaching your heavy productive poundage earlier. Heavy weight forces you to use good form, light weight doesn’t. Get a little lackadaisical, and you pay for it.

Heavy first

I’ve always held to the philosophy that a person’s physique is a billboard of his training. Therefore, my workouts start with the biggest, most powerful exercises and low reps–that’s the only way to maximize comprehensive overall mass gains. Simultaneously involve as many muscles as possible. Then, once they’re fatigued as a system, you can individually fatigue them further with the remaining exercises in your workout.

Unfortunately, the current practice seems to be for bodybuilders to do their power movements last in their workouts. They rationalize that they are reducing the chance of cheating. I claim it’s so they don’t have to use so much weight.

There’s no way around it: if you want the greatest growth rate possible, you have to ram those explosive concussion reps against mighty weight, with powerful passion. Power bodybuilding is extreme bodybuilding.

Football Players. Wrestlers. Bouncers. When’s the last time you saw a huge, imposing dude with a chicken neck? Answer: Never. Because no matter how big the rest of you gets, a lacking traps and neck area will make you appear smaller and weaker. This specialized routine works the powerful trapezius muscle from top to bottom. For the first exercise, set the pins in a power rack just low enough so they don’t interfere with your shrug’s range of motion. Start with a warm-up weight, then do your second set a bit heavier before loading up with your 3-5-rep max for sets three and four. Your goal is to reach positive failure at about five reps but still do eight reps using the rest/pause technique--set the barbell on the rack for a few seconds of rest between reps--to reach the finish. Next, for the seated dumbbell shrug, start with your heaviest weight and pyramid down each set. Finally, incline barbell front raises hit your lower and mid-trap area. Two sets of 12 and you’re done.

1 Power-rack shrug

How many? 4 sets; 15, 12, 8, 8 reps

1. Start: Set the supports just below your range of motion, then set up a barbell and load it. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip and rest it across your mid-thighs, arms extended.
2. Move: Keeping your arms extended throughout, shrug your delt caps up as high as you can. Keep the motion straight up and down, no rolling.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxjNvepsae4

2 Seated dumbbell shrug

How many? 3 sets; 8, 10, 12 reps

1. Start: Sit on a low-back bench, holding a dumbbell in each hand with arms extended, palms facing you.
2. Move: Shrug your shoulders as high as you can, making sure not to bend your elbows to help in the lift--the movement should occur only at your traps. Lower the weights to a full stretch and repeat for reps.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KDDN1kyAds

3 Incline Barbell Front Raise

How many? 2 sets; 12 reps each

1. Start: Lie on a T-bar row apparatus with a chest pad (some incline benches may also work) and have a partner hand you a barbell. Using an overhand grip, let your arms hang straight toward the floor to begin.
2. Move: Raise the barbell in front of you until your arms are parallel to the floor, then return to the start.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygGdASrkM9c
Author MICHAEL BERG, NSCA-CPT
COPYRIGHT 2005 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

The standard shrug may be one of the most misunderstood movements in the bodybuilding arsenal. David Henry, an IFBB pro who has one of the most complete and aesthetically balanced physiques on the circuit, points out that it’s a trapezius exercise, yes--but simply shrugging up and down with plenty of weight in hand is not the beginning and end of the equation if you want a thick, kite-shaped blanket of muscle from your neck to your lower spine.

Dave Henry Bodybuilding Tribute
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyQiZvPfdnY

The key to comprehending ultimate trap development may rest on understanding the function of the trapezius muscles, so important for strength in exercises for back and shoulders, and vital for a back that looks full, massive and complete. When trained correctly, the trapezius tops a dramatic most-muscular and forms a nook for an imaginary angel at the apex of the “Christmas tree.”

With the individual muscle fibers of the traps angled in multiple directions, each section plays a particular role in scapula (shoulder blade) movement, Henry says. The upper fibers lift the scapulas. These fibers are the prime focus of shrugs and they also play a part in upright rows and lateral raises (especially if you go above parallel). The middle section draws the scapulas inward toward the middle. Rows and deadlifts are important exercises for the middle fibers. The inferior (lower) portion pulls the scapulas down. Cleans and front delt raises (especially if you lift your arms overhead) can make a difference in this region. Trapezius muscles also aid in neck movement, as well as help in maintaining proper respiration.

So, you need shrugs, but you also need more for total traps--it’s good, then, that the middle and lower sections grow extremely well with exercises you are probably doing for other bodyparts anyway (i.e., the aforementioned rows, deadlifts and raises). Henry, following upon that logic, hits traps as part of his delt and back work.

“I’ll do behind-the-back shrugs occasionally, but they’re not a regular staple,” Henry says. “I like the squeeze that they give you, kind of like a Vulcan neck pinch. I do the shrugs at the end of my delt routine, so I don’t have to use so much weight. If you don’t have to use so much weight and tear yourself up, then don’t. I’m a big stickler for that. I can pre-exhaust first by doing the delt workout.”

Even though he doesn’t shrug as frequently as he did when he began constructing his physique, Henry still has some valid points to make about trap expansion. Heed his advice if you desire more back mass and detail.

Rep limits
“I’ll do three sets of shrugs until failure. I don’t suggest using predetermined rep schemes, because your body may not be as ready to fail as you are mentally when you get to a rep limit. If you put a limit of 12-15 reps, once you hit 12, you might end up stopping, when you could have gotten 17 or 18. I won’t pyramid these, but I use a static weight and keep it for all three sets, whatever it is. If I can knock out a high number of reps for the first set, great. I’ll try to get there again on the second and third sets.”

The pinch
“A lot of blood flow and a real deep pinch are what you’re looking for. You’ll feel like somebody is gripping on the back of your traps and pinching them together. Traps are such dense muscles, because you’re constantly turning your head and lifting your arms. You get indirect and direct trap and shoulder work all day.

Weight
“Use a moderate weight and go for the feel of the movement. That’s a lot more important than simply using heavy weight. Your body doesn’t know--only you know what weight you’re using. You can make 135 pounds seem like 225 pounds if you’re feeling the movement like you’re supposed to in the area that you’re supposed to.”

The standard form for traps starts with feet about shoulder width apart. Take either an overhand or mixed (one hand over, one hand under) grip; if you choose the latter, reverse which hand is forward and which hand is back from set to set for more equal stimulus of the traps. Keep your head up, spine neutral, and pull your shoulder blades up high; a common tip is to imagine raising your shoulders to your ears. Squeeze at the top to sustain the peak contraction, lower the weight fully and repeat.

The range of motion is very short; Henry estimates between four and five inches. He also emphasizes that your arms should not come into play when you are doing shrugs. “Basically, you’re going to utilize your hands as hooks,” he explains. “It takes the mind-muscle connection to get a good focus on the traps without using the arms. They should be essentially hanging straight down in front, on the side or in back of you, whichever movement you decide to do.”

You may know that certain large muscle groups should be trained with focus on the different areas, such as upper and lower pecs, or front, middle and rear delts. But what about back? Can you get better results by targeting various areas during your back training? In a word, yes.

The back includes the very large winglike muscles known as the latis-simus dorsi, which make up a good majority of the back’s mass, and the diamond-shaped trapezius. The rest of the back muscles are much smaller in comparison; they include the teres major, rhomboids and the lower back muscles, which are primarily composed of the erector spinae.

When it comes to training back, devise a routine with exercises that target all muscles and focus on specific areas of the lats to ensure full and balanced back development. We typically suggest that you break down the back into four main areas: the upper lats, the lower lats, the middle back and the lower back.

1. The upper lats obviously include the upper portion of the lats, as well as the teres major muscle. This area gives you the width and V-taper that every guy wants. It’s best hit with movements using a wide grip, hands typically spaced outside shoulder width. These include wide-grip pull-ups and pulldowns. Wide-grip rowing exercises also hit this area to some degree.
2. The lower lats involve the muscle fibers of the lower portion of the lats. This area provides the appearance of back width all the way down to where the lats meet the waist. Exercises that focus on this portion of the lats include reverse-grip and neutral-grip exercises performed with a shoulder-width grip, such as pulldowns and pull-ups, as well as rows utilizing barbells, dumbbells, T-bars, cables and machines. The straight-arm pulldown and pullover (especially when done on a decline) also hit the lower lats.
3. The middle back includes the middle and lower traps and rhomboids; it gives you the appearance of thickness from the side. Exercises that hit this area include wide-grip rows in which you pull the bar toward your chest, not your midsection. You can do this by using the lat pulldown bar on the seated cable row, or by taking a wider-than-shoulder-width grip on barbell or Smith machine rows. You can also use dumbbells and an overhand grip, bringing them far out to your sides. Regular rowing exercises in which you bring the bar to your midsection also hit this area to a good degree. But if you’re serious about back thickness, be sure to include a few sets of rows done wide and high.
4. Last but not least are the low back muscles. Without getting so detailed that you need to refer to your anatomy text, these mainly include what are known as the erector spinae muscles, which extend the spine (straighten it out) after being flexed (bent forward). Exercises that work this area include stiff-legged deadlifts, back extensions and good mornings. Be sure you do these by bending at the waist, not the hips (which works more of the glutes and hams). To accentuate this action, round your back a bit as you bend forward. Be sure to go light and slowly increase the weight used.

For complete, balanced back development, choose exercises that work each of the four major areas of the back in every workout. You’ll reap the rewards of a wider, thicker and more impressive rear view from every angle.

Author JIM STOPPANI, PHD
COPYRIGHT 2008 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

For complete back development, I include exercises with all types of hand positions: overhand, reverse, palms facing and even mixed grip (one palm forward, one backward) for deadlifts. I do realize that I rely on reverse grips for more movements than other bodybuilders do. For lat pulldowns and barbell rows, in particular, I’ve personally found that a reverse grip engages my lower lats and, overall, I get a greater range of motion during the exercises.

To further accentuate these effects, I employ a narrower grip than is common. When I move my hands closer in a reverse grip, I can stretch my lower lats more during the extension and pull my elbows farther back for the contraction.

The workout presented here includes two reverse-grip exercises: machine pulldowns and barbell rows. Machine pulldowns are first. I warm up with three pyramided, 10-rep sets, each one progressively heavier so that I max out on the third set. I then load it up so that my working set is all-out, for six to eight reps. I aim to get all eight reps by myself. In any case, I do at least six alone, plus two forced reps.

Reverse-grip barbell rows are third in this back arsenal, and my back is already pumped, so only one warm-up set of 15 reps is needed. I abandoned the underhand version and replaced it with the overhand version after I tore my left biceps in 1994, but, either way, my warm-up has to be heavy enough so that I’m mentally and physically ready for my all-out set of five or six full-range reps. If I can’t get another full-range repetition, I’ll add a three-quarter rep, then a half rep.

I highly recommend experimenting with different grip styles during your back workout. Each change can help spur new growth and adaptation, which is what the bodybuilding game is all about.

Author Dorian Yates
COPYRIGHT 2007 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

Go wide to get wide. Spacing your hands far apart (outside shoulder width) not only better recruits the upper latissimus dorsi fibers, it also hits the smaller teres major muscles, which sit just under the armpits and provide greater back width when fully developed. BULLSEYE

Chin-ups
There’s certainly nothing wrong with doing chins, but they target the lower lats more, as the narrower, underhand grip allows you to bring your elbows down and back farther at the end of the movement. Plus, your biceps are more involved when you use a narrow grip, which takes emphasis off the lats as a whole. MISS

Author JIM STOPPANI, PHD
COPYRIGHT 2004 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

The movement utilizes superstrict form, as your torso remains perfectly straight and parallel to the floor at all times. You’ll also return the bar to the floor after every repetition, as opposed to holding it above the floor as in the traditional style. So with the bar on the floor and your arms straight, you’ll adjust the bend in your hips and knees accordingly to get in perfect Pendlay position and keep that form throughout. (Yep, it’s brutal). We’re sure it’ll become one of your favorite exercises on back day.

The how

• With your feet spaced apart as wide as necessary, bend over and grasp the bar with an overhand grip.
• Bend your knees and hips, and make sure your back is perfectly straight and parallel to the floor. Avoid the tendency to look up, but rather keep your head straight and your eyes focused directly toward the floor.
• With your abs tight and without moving your upper body, powerfully pull the bar upward until it touches your middle to lower abs. Squeeze your lats hard at the top.
• Lower the bar under control back to the floor.
• Relax your grip, reset and repeat.

Pendlay pointers

• Your back must be parallel to the floor at all times, and each rep finishes at the floor. You’ll have to adjust your grip width to accommodate this, which might mean a narrower or wider overhand grip than you’re used to. You’ll also need a slightly greater bend in the knees to accommodate the strict form requirements.
• When performing this exercise, only your arms should move; there is absolutely no hip extension or movement of the knees.
• Feel free to utilize straps when necessary to ensure proper form as well as to reach the designated number of reps. Never sacrifice your back development for your grip strength.

Author SEAN WAXMAN, CSCS
COPYRIGHT 2007 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group

What part of your back is the “middle”?
Where exactly am I referring to when I say ‘middle back’? I mean the inner part of the lats and lower part of the traps: a well developed middle back will have a thick crevasse between the muscles running along the spine. If you are looking at a perfectly developed middle back you’ll be able to wedge your fingers in when the poser does a rear double biceps pose, and when they show a rear lat spread, the lats will almost protrude out in the middle. It is an area which is often not so well developed in competitive bodybuilders; even those of a high standard. Granted, unless pointed out to you, this is not a flaw which is obviously noticed on stage, but it is an area judges will notice and when you’re competing at a high standard, it could be the difference between winning or not.

Which exercises to do
Exercises for this area include deadlifts; they pretty much work the whole back. Also performing bent-over rows and T-bar rows slightly differently to focus the central back area; rather than bending right over, tilt your torso at less of an angle with a slight bend at the knees and your head up – bring the bar up to the abdomen and then lower it. Low pulley rows will also work the mid back: on full contraction continue to lean slightly forward as you bring the V-bar to the torso and really squeeze – you’ll really feel this in the mid-back.