BACK WORK AND THE BARBELL ROW

BACK WORK AND THE BARBELL ROW

For decades, doing lots of a back work was a staple in the strength training arsenal. Powerlifters and strongmen patterned building a big back the same way bodybuilders did. Lots of barbell rows, Lat pulldowns, chins, and shrugs. These men were Alpha, got more play from women, totaled bigger, drove awesome whips, and instilled a greater amount of fear in others than the average man.

However, in the last decade, I’ve seen more and more guys think of back work as an afterthought. Something that is done after they do dead-lifts or bench and it is usually something to the tune of….

BAND PULL APARTS - A BUNCH

 I don’t care what that guy dead-lifts or squats, or how strong he is, that is NOT adequate back work.

Even more, I’ve seen many guys now simply say that doing Pull Aparts every day was either enough or was “great for building the back”.

The band pulls apart might be great for what it does, like helping to build scapular retraction. But building a strong, jacked, and capable back is not one of them. A back capable of moving 600 and 700-pound squats and dead-lifts with ease is not built with band pull apart. In fact, if you do Band Pull Aparts as a significant part of your back work, to borrow from the vernacular of my friend and world record holder, Jamie Lewis, you should just kill yourself.

The last few years I’ve seen the “big 4” pitched as the bench press, deadlift, squat, and overhead press. And I’ve had a paradigm shift in my thinking in regards to that. I think the big 4 should really be the bench press, deadlift, squat, and barbell row. That’s right, the barbell row. And I will tell you why.

Big shoulders are an awesome thing. Being able to overhead press a tremendous amount of weight is always an impressive feat to watch. However, something most of us should strive to achieve is a back made of thick slabs of muscle that carry over to literally everything you do. It provides a stronger and more capable shelf for the squat to sit on. It helps pick up that monstrous deadlift. It gives a bigger, broader, and more stable base to bench press from. It will also carry over for all of the same reasons for the overhead press.

It is this reason that the barbell row will be a staple throughout all of the routines in this manual, and I suggest that you take your barbell rowing serious. Let’s talk about rowing and the few different ways to implement it.

STRICT BARBEll ROW: 

This is done with the back parallel to the ground, and it never moves from that position. The lower back is arched fairly hard, and the bar is pulled into the area just about an inch below the pec line. The bar rests on the floor between each rep. Once you’re in position, you pull it off the floor into the upper abs, and then return it to the floor, never moving position. There is no heaving or “cheating”. This is the toughest of all the barbell rows in my opinion.

Pluses: Forces the lifter to focus on the rhomboids and mid-back. Teaches the lifter how to arch correctly, and what scapular retraction feels like.

Minuses: Limits the amount of weight to be used by a significant margin compared to the other barbell rows.  The top end of the weight to be used, if the form is maintained, will be limited.

TRADITIONAL BARBELL ROW: 

This is the row guys have used for decades to build a thick, solid, and tight back. With the traditional barbell row, you lift the barbell off of the floor a few inches, are a little more upright than in the strict row, and there can be some, SOME, cheating allowed in it. When I write cheating, I mean somebody movement to get the bar moving is allowed. It should not turn into an epileptic seizure, however. It’s the barbell ROW, not the barbell HEAVE.

Nor should you be so upright that you are essentially doing shrugs. If you want to do shrugs, do shrugs. Do not get so upright in the barbell row that the bar is moving only a few inches and bastardize the movement. This drives me fucking crazy. With the traditional barbell, you lift the bar off the ground, and just as with the strict row, pull it into the abdominal area. Unlike the strict row, you will be more inclined to pull the bar in the lower abdominal area than the upper ABS. This is due to having to hold the bar in the correct position (hanging straight down from the arms with the torso slightly more upright).

Pluses: Allows for more overload than the strict row. Brings in a little more of traps since the angle is slightly more upright than the strict row.

Minuses:  Generally gets turned into a circus act of some kind, with guys trying to date rape the bar.

Yates Row: This is essentially a barbell row done with a curl grip and the upper body at an even higher angle than the traditional barbell row. More like 70 degrees. This movement is named after multi-time Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yates, who had a back that would make a Silverback embarrassed to show himself around his troop. The Yates row is great at really bringing the lower lats into play. This is the movement Dorian used predominantly in his training until he tore his bicep with it. Yes, he tore his bicep with it. It is obvious that you are using a curl grip here, you are going to want to be cognizant of not getting too heavy with this movement. Remember, you’re back building here. No one has to do rows at a meet, so keep the ego in check.

Pluses: Really helps to develop the lats better than other rowing because of the mechanics of it.

Minuses:  Can tear biceps if one gets stupid with the amount of weight being used.

Someone very interested in total back development might be inclined to use all three versions from time to time. One could even base an entire back workout around those three variations. Do a strict barbell row, a barbell row, then a Yates row. Two hard working sets of each would give you a lot of work from top to bottom in the back. Top it off with some chins and shrugs and this could develop a back that makes people stop in awe.

BACK BUILDING OPTIONS

One way to get in more back work is to train it twice a week. You can train chin and pull down variations on one day, and row variations on the other. Here is how you could set this up.

Day 1 

- Bench and Bench - BBM Incline - 350 Method Chins V-Bar - 8x5 bodyweight Lat Pulldowns Wide Grip - 5x8 to a top-heavy set

Day 2 (later in the week) 

- Rows Strict Rows - 2 x 5 Barbell Rows - 2 x 8 Yates Row - 2 x 8 Cable Rows - 4 x 20 This is a solid option. You fit in your squats and pulls during the week between those sessions. The other option is to go the traditional route and just squeeze it all in on one day.

Back day 

Barbell Rows - 4 x 8 DB Rows - 1 x 20-30 Wide Grip Chins - 5 x AMAP Close Grip Pulldowns - 3 x 8 Shrugs - 2 x 20

This is solid as well, and plenty of guys have built barn door wide backs just getting it in once a week.

Regardless of which one you decide to do, start emphasizing back work more than you have been. It will pay big dividends in regards to helping your other lifts.