No matter what type of strength athlete you are, a big, strong, upper back is a sure sign of dedication to your chosen craft. As a powerlifter, a strong upper back helps keep you upright in the squat, lock out deadlifts safely, and support big weights on the bench press. As a bodybuilder, a thick, broad, upper back sets you apart from the rest of your competition who only made back training an afterthought.
Below is an eight-week plan to set your upper back apart from the rest. But first, let’s take a look at the methods behind training this crucial part of the body.
Movement versus muscle
While the upper back is important no matter what your chosen strength sport, how you approach training will be different depending on your end goal. Dave Tate makes clear that “there is a big difference between training a movement for strength and one for mass. A good way to think of it is training the movement versus training the muscle.” How you approach even an exercise like cable rows will change depending on whether your goal is strength or mass gain. While training heavy can be beneficial for either goal, often times when training for mass, it is optimal to focus on a slower tempo and tight contractions as opposed to throwing around as much weight as possible.
This is why it's important to understand why you're performing a movement. Certain movements like block pulls, good mornings, and bent-over rows can be used for direct carryover to your squat, bench, and deadlift while others like cable rows and face pulls may be used to prevent injury and build muscle mass. While there is definitely strength and mass benefits to both, the pace, rep ranges, and technique of these movements will vary greatly depending on the purpose.
Get ready to row
Josh Bryant summed it up when he said that “pretty much every well-developed back has included some rows.” There are countless rowing variations, and they'll be a crucial key in your quest for a bigger, stronger back. Remember, just like we discussed movements versus muscles, there isn't any “perfect” rowing variation out there, and technique will vary as well. At the time this article was written, I still have yet to see rowing as an event at a powerlifting meet, so find the bar, technique, and rep range that fits your goals best and row away.
Some weapons at your disposal for rows include barbells, dumbbells, the Swiss Angle grip bar (a favorite of Vincent Dizenzo), the standard Swiss bar, the cambered bar, Meadows row handle, ropes, other cable attachments, machines, and more. Movements like bent-over rows with a barbell are often trained with heavier weight for lower reps in order to focus on technique for carryover to deadlifts and overloading the weight. On the other hand, movements like one-arm dumbbell or cable rows can be pushed to failure with higher reps to stimulate muscular growth with less risk for injury.
Julia Ladewski’s 'go-to' movements for upper back include Kroc rows (heavy, high rep dumbbell rows), challenge sets, and dead stop rows. Dead stop rows are a great movement for building strength that carries over to deadlifts and can be done with dumbbells or a barbell (the barbell variation is often referred to as a Pendlay row).
As you choose movements to incorporate into your training, don’t forget to work in different planes of movement. If doing several movements in a transverse (horizontal) plane, make sure to incorporate movements like pull-ups and shrugs on different days to work in a frontal (vertical) plane. Pull-up variations are an excellent way to build the lats and strengthen muscles that support the shoulders during pressing movements.
Upper back support for the big three
The upper back is crucial in supporting performance in the squat, bench, and deadlift. Each of the lifts is supported in a different way by the upper back, but the common denominator for all three is tightness.
In order for these lifts to be performed correctly, the upper back must be held in the correct position during the entire lift. Dave Tate notes that “the upper back is basically in a maximal isometric hold for all bench work, squat work, and more.” If you don’t have the strength or discipline to keep your back tight during your lifts, your numbers will be going nowhere fast.
One aspect of building this tightness in the upper back is technique and discipline. Too often, lifters wait until their heaviest sets to focus on keeping a tight back, and this builds poor habits that will carry over to all your lifts. Begin cueing a tight upper back right from your first warm-up set all the way until your work sets. This will not only reinforce better technique but build strength and prevent injury.
Also, make sure that you incorporate lifts that teach tightness into your training. Vincent Dizenzo does a lot of back work like a reverse band bench press with his scapula retracted, which builds strength in the upper back as well as discipline for tightness during the bench press. Movements like Yoke bar squats and good mornings also build great isometric upper back strength for the squat and deadlift. Brandon Smitley uses snatch grip deadlifts as an accessory movement to build his deadlift as well.
Make sure to consistently cue your training partners to keep a tight upper back while training. Mark Watts has used the cue “put your shoulder blades in your back pockets” with athletes. It’s a great way to get them to retract and depress their scapula. This engages the lats and keeps the upper back locked into position.
Eight weeks to a bulletproof upper back
Below is an eight-week program that blends size and strength in the upper back. There are two back days per week, one designed so that it can be performed on a lower body dominant day and one designed for an upper body dominant day. Each back workout consists of three exercises, so this program can be molded around the rest of your training (powerlifting, bodybuilding, etc). The exercises are marked with an (S) if they are strength focused and an (M) if they are mass focused. Remember that the goal with strength focused exercises is to track weight used and progressively overload while the primary goal with mass focused exercises is to “feel” the movement and contraction (although you'll likely be increasing weight over time with these movements as well).
Week 1
Day 1 (lower):
- (S) Block pulls from mid-shin, work up to heavy set of 5 reps
- (S) Pendlay rows, 4 sets of 8 reps
- (M) Dumbbell shrugs, 4 sets of 10 reps
Day 2 (upper):
- (S) Wide grip chin-ups, 3 sets of as many as possible (keep track of numbers)
- (M) Meadows rows, 4 sets of 8 reps
- (M) Seated close grip cable rows, 4 sets of 12 reps
Week 2
Day 1:
- (S) Block pulls from mid-shin, try to beat the 5RM from last week
- (S) Barbell bent-over rows, 4 sets of 8 reps
- (M) Dumbbell shrugs, 4 sets of 12 reps
Day 2:
- (S) Wide grip chin-ups, 3 sets using same numbers as last week and then add fourth set of AMRAP
- (M) T-bar rows, 4 sets of 8 reps
- (M) Seated close grip cable rows, 4 sets of 15 reps
Week 3
Day 1:
- (S) Block pulls from just below knee, work up to heavy set of 5
- (S) Pendlay rows, 4 sets of 8 reps
- (M) Barbell shrugs, 4 sets of 10 reps
Day 2:
- (M) Wide grip lat pull-downs, 4 sets of 10 reps
- (M) Meadows rows, 4 sets of 10 reps
- (M) Face pulls, 4 sets of 15 reps
Week 4
Day 1:
- (S) Block pulls from just below knee, try to beat the 5RM from last week
- (M) Barbell bent-over rows, 4 sets of 8 reps
- (M) Barbell shrugs, 4 sets of 12 reps
Day 2:
- (M) Wide grip lat pull-downs, 4 sets of 12 reps
- (M) T-bar rows, 4 sets of 12 reps
- (M) Face pulls, 4 sets of 20 reps
Week 5
Day 1:
- (S) Deadlifts, work up to heavy set of 5
- (S) Kroc rows, 2 sets of 10, 1 max rep set (shoot for 20–25 reps)
- (M) Dumbbell shrugs, 4 sets of 10 reps
Day 2:
- (S) Neutral grip chin-ups, 3 sets of AMRAP
- (M) Seated wide grip cable rows, 4 sets of 10 reps
- (M) Seated close grip cable “shrugs” (scapular retraction), 4 sets of 12 reps
Week 6
Day 1:
- (S) Deadlifts, try to beat the 5RM from last week
- (S) Yoke bar good mornings, 4 sets of 8 reps
- (M) Barbell shrugs, 4 sets of 10 reps
Day 2:
- (S) Neutral grip chin-ups, 3 sets using numbers from last week and then fourth set of AMRAP
- (M) Seated machine rows, 4 sets of 10 reps
- (M) Scapular depressions with lat pull-downs, 4 sets of 12 reps
Week 7
Day 1:
- (S) Deadlifts, work up to heavy set of 3
- (S) Kroc rows, 2 sets of 15 and then 1 max rep set (try to beat number from last time)
- (M) Dumbbell shrugs, 4 sets of 12 reps
Day 2:
- (M) Neutral grip lat pull-downs, 4 sets of 10 reps
- (M) Seated wide grip cable rows, 4 sets of 12 reps
- (M) Seated close grip cable “shrugs” (scapular retraction), 4 sets of 15 reps
Week 8
Day 1:
- (S) Deadlifts, try to beat the 3RM from last week
- (S) Yoke bar good mornings, 4 sets of 10 reps
- (M) Barbell shrugs, 4 sets of 12 reps
Day 2:
- (M) Neutral grip lat pull-downs, 4 sets of 12 reps
- (M) Seated machine rows, 4 sets of 12 reps
- (M) Scapular depressions with lat pull-downs, 4 sets of 15 reps