Spending hours training your biceps and seeing no results? Most likely, you are not taking your back workout seriously or you are skipping your back day.
Back is one of the biggest muscles in our upper body. The only thing they are not physically visible in clothes, we often skip them in favour of biceps training, because that is what demonstrates gains. But do you know? When you train your back, your arms muscles are also worked. So, if you've been ignoring your back or your back muscles aren't growing, let's start by defining what a back day is and what exercises you should do to build a wide back.
What Is A Back Day?
If you've ever been to the gym or attempted to exercise, you're probably aware that there are different types of workout splits, such as push, pull, and legs. When you perform these splits, you can train a few muscles in your back. A back day is one in which you focus solely on your back muscles, from your upper back to your lower back. The back muscles are made up of the trapezius, rhomboid, latissimus dorsi, scapulae, rear delts, and erector spinae. The best part about having a back day is that the back is a pulling muscle, and pulling exercise works your arms as well, so training your back will help you gain biceps as well.
Training these six back muscles is only possible if you have a designated back day, so here are five exercises to help you target all of them.
Pro-tip
If you are a beginner, three sets of the following exercises will suffice, but if you are an advanced athlete, you can perform one or two extra sets on all of these exercises.
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Back Workout For Wider Back
1) Deadlift
The deadlift is one of the most important exercises for increasing strength and muscle mass. The primary muscle worked during a deadlift is the erector spinae, as well as several secondary muscles such as your traps, lats, and rhomboid. The deadlift is an exercise where you can lift the most weight, but make sure you lift with proper form because the improper form can result in serious back injury.
2) Lat Pull Down
Lat pull down, as the name suggests, targets your lats muscle (latissimus dorsi). The lats are the muscle that helps you develop a wide back, so start with a lat pull-down every time you hit your back.
3) Shrugs
The traps are the primary muscle worked in shrugs, with the rear delts and rhomboids serving as secondary muscles. Shrugs are ideally performed at last, but if you have a weak trap muscle, you should start with shrugs and then move on to other exercises.
4) Rowing
Rowing exercises target the upper and middle back muscles, including the rhomboids, lats, and traps. Rowing adds thickness to your back and should be done in the middle of your workout.
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5) Pull-ups
Pull-ups are an excellent body-weight movement for developing your back muscles. Pull-ups help you target all of your back muscles. Pull-ups can be used as both a warm-up and a finisher. To get the most out of your pull-ups, go all out and perform reps until you're done.
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