Hi, just started a 4day split, and did my first back workout yesterday. I certainly worked my traps and my lowerback, but the middle of my back seems untouched - are there any excercises i should be implimenting in my Back day for my middle back? or will it just grow as the lower and upper back gets worked?
deadlift
Deadlifting will help, but if you are doing that on leg day that’s ok too.
I always found that if i tried to lift more than i could really do, i pulled with my arms and never fully stimulated the middle back.
For me, (maybe not for anyone else) the best exercises are seated and t-bar rows, but i do them much lighter than i think i should, and just focus on those muscles. Really try and squeeze the middle back when doing any row.
I did a machine circuit last Wednesday because I pulled a middle back muscle doing front squats on Monday. I went through the entire gym and didn’t agravate my injury once. It just goes to show how easy it is to ignore the middle back if you use machines. I PRd on Front Squats on Friday.
Deadlifts are obviously #1.
Next, I’d say Cable rows, Bent Rows, cleans, push presses and Squats.
Middle back being what muscles? Lower traps? Spinal Erectors? Lats? If that’s what you want to hit, Deadlifts really are the best thing to target all three. Nothing else really comes close to developing that area that I know of.
[quote]tw0scoops2 wrote:
Middle back being what muscles?[/quote]
Good question. Check the picture above. What muscles are you generally talking about?
[quote]forevernade wrote:
are there any excercises i should be implimenting in my Back day for my middle back?[/quote]
Seated rows, especially chest-supported, using a palms-down (pronated) grip pulled to the upper abs and neutral (thumbs-up) grip keeping the elbows close to the body, would be the best best to focus on that area.
As long as you’re doing some kind of row and some kind of pull (pulldowns, pull-ups, deadlifts, etc.), you’re working everything.
My Back-day workout went like this: low volume. Straight leg Deadlifts 3 sets, Snatchs 3 sets, Weighted Widegrip Chinups 2 sets, Seated Row 2 sets, Back Flies 2 sets. I came out the next day feeling like I had obliterated my lowerback, then my middle back was blank, and my upper traps were killing me.
I guess, looking at the picture, my lower traps and my lats were worked the least. But it could just be my lats are under-developed, because they hurt in a string along my side under my arm pit, but not my ‘back’ part of my lats.
[quote]forevernade wrote:
But it could just be my lats are under-developed, because they hurt in a string along my side under my arm pit, but not my ‘back’ part of my lats.[/quote]
That’s not your lat. It sounds like your teres major. When you get your lats sore, you’ll know it.
[quote]forevernade wrote:
My Back-day workout went like this: low volume. Straight leg Deadlifts 3 sets, Snatchs 3 sets, Weighted Widegrip Chinups 2 sets, Seated Row 2 sets, Back Flies 2 sets. I came out the next day feeling like I had obliterated my lowerback, then my middle back was blank, and my upper traps were killing me.
I guess, looking at the picture, my lower traps and my lats were worked the least. But it could just be my lats are under-developed, because they hurt in a string along my side under my arm pit, but not my ‘back’ part of my lats.[/quote]
Try some chest supported rows as mentioned above. Arched back good mornings always get my whole back activated from keeping a hard arch against a heavy weight. You could also do chest supported rows with dumbells on an incline bench. There was an article about them a few months ago. Snatch-grip deads also really nail the upper back.
Just keep trying variations of stuff until you hit the part you’re trying to hit.