HackTwat
MuscleChemistry Registered Member
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<!-- /articleinfo --><!-- -->How to get the V-taper
Written by Joe Pitt
Want a V-taper?
To correctly train the back, you need to attack it from every angle and limit non-essential momentum, ensuring your elbows extend as far back as possible to recruit as many muscle fibres as possible.
The two major movements that are used to target the back are the row (or horizontal pulling) and the chin-up or pulldown (or vertical pulling).
Row to grow
To create a back with thickness, you need to perform rowing movements. To row properly, you will need to solidly lock the upper and lower back in place (with a slight arch in the lumbar region) and allow the scapula to glide to the front on the negative (resetting) phase and fully retract on the positive (pulling) phase, while ensuring that the muscle contracts at the peak of the movement.
To prevent injury, and optimise target muscle stimulation, err on the side of lifting lighter and gradually increasing the resistance while maintaining perfect training form, and aim to eliminate unneeded momentum. Form and contraction are key; sloppy, heavy weights —although they have their place — can lead to injury without proper application.
If a row cannot be held for one-to-two seconds at the midpoint, chances are you’re going too heavy. The best rowing variations are, in descending order of effectiveness: bent-over barbell rows; one-arm dumbbell rows; seated cable rows; and T-bar rows.
Wide- vs. narrow-grip chin-ups
Chin-ups/pull-ups and pulldowns target both the upper and lower lats like no other motion can. There is often debate about the best way to target the individual lat areas. Wide-grip chins come up a lot as being the best means to fully tax the upper lats to increase back width. However, in my experience, I tend to think otherwise.
In fact, because the extension and overall range of motion on close-to-medium-width chins and pull-ups use a greater amount of muscle compared to the wide-grip variety, my opinion for optimal lat width is prioritise a narrower grip.
With chins, be sure to ‘pull’ all the way to chest level; otherwise only a fraction of the benefits of this exercise will be seen. By chinning to chest level, the scapula is pulled all the way down, thus allowing complete activation of all the lat muscles, along with a number of secondary muscles. Be sure to let the elbow and shoulder joints completely unwind (via controlled lowering) at the bottom of the movement — this will stretch the lats further while creating a stronger contraction on the positive movement.
The best pulldown and chinning movements are: medium-width chin-ups; reverse narrow-grip lat pulldowns; and overhand medium-width pulldowns.
Shrugs
To target the traps, shrugs are king. These are often trained on shoulder day because they are such a large muscle. To fully stimulate this large grouping, you need a weight that will allow a squeeze at the top of the movement, not a jerk motion as we often see. You need controlled reps; to fully activate the traps, the shoulders must be elevated as high as possible on the concentric ‘pulling’ phase; aim to touch the ears. For all shrugging motions, aim to avoid the commonly practised rolling motion (backwards or forwards), which only serves to remove tension from the working muscles while potentially aggravating the shoulder joints.
The best trap building exercises are: dumbbell shrugs (from the side); barbell shrugs (from behind); and deadlifts (discussed next).
Deadlifts or rack pulls
Needless to say, no back program would be complete without one of the major lifts for the upper-body — the deadlift or rack pull. The deadlift is well documented as one of the best movements for building overall back thickness, not to mention an excellent one for developing crazy traps. Much like the squat, the deadlift is king for recruitment of multiple muscle groups, basically forcing total-body growth.
To perform, be sure to keep your back straight and your head up, maintaining continuous tension on all the back muscles, and pull the elbows back to promote a full contraction at the top of the movement.
<!-- /articleinfo --><!-- -->How to get the V-taper
Written by Joe Pitt
Want a V-taper?
To correctly train the back, you need to attack it from every angle and limit non-essential momentum, ensuring your elbows extend as far back as possible to recruit as many muscle fibres as possible.
The two major movements that are used to target the back are the row (or horizontal pulling) and the chin-up or pulldown (or vertical pulling).
Row to grow
To create a back with thickness, you need to perform rowing movements. To row properly, you will need to solidly lock the upper and lower back in place (with a slight arch in the lumbar region) and allow the scapula to glide to the front on the negative (resetting) phase and fully retract on the positive (pulling) phase, while ensuring that the muscle contracts at the peak of the movement.
To prevent injury, and optimise target muscle stimulation, err on the side of lifting lighter and gradually increasing the resistance while maintaining perfect training form, and aim to eliminate unneeded momentum. Form and contraction are key; sloppy, heavy weights —although they have their place — can lead to injury without proper application.
If a row cannot be held for one-to-two seconds at the midpoint, chances are you’re going too heavy. The best rowing variations are, in descending order of effectiveness: bent-over barbell rows; one-arm dumbbell rows; seated cable rows; and T-bar rows.
Wide- vs. narrow-grip chin-ups
Chin-ups/pull-ups and pulldowns target both the upper and lower lats like no other motion can. There is often debate about the best way to target the individual lat areas. Wide-grip chins come up a lot as being the best means to fully tax the upper lats to increase back width. However, in my experience, I tend to think otherwise.
In fact, because the extension and overall range of motion on close-to-medium-width chins and pull-ups use a greater amount of muscle compared to the wide-grip variety, my opinion for optimal lat width is prioritise a narrower grip.
With chins, be sure to ‘pull’ all the way to chest level; otherwise only a fraction of the benefits of this exercise will be seen. By chinning to chest level, the scapula is pulled all the way down, thus allowing complete activation of all the lat muscles, along with a number of secondary muscles. Be sure to let the elbow and shoulder joints completely unwind (via controlled lowering) at the bottom of the movement — this will stretch the lats further while creating a stronger contraction on the positive movement.
The best pulldown and chinning movements are: medium-width chin-ups; reverse narrow-grip lat pulldowns; and overhand medium-width pulldowns.
Shrugs
To target the traps, shrugs are king. These are often trained on shoulder day because they are such a large muscle. To fully stimulate this large grouping, you need a weight that will allow a squeeze at the top of the movement, not a jerk motion as we often see. You need controlled reps; to fully activate the traps, the shoulders must be elevated as high as possible on the concentric ‘pulling’ phase; aim to touch the ears. For all shrugging motions, aim to avoid the commonly practised rolling motion (backwards or forwards), which only serves to remove tension from the working muscles while potentially aggravating the shoulder joints.
The best trap building exercises are: dumbbell shrugs (from the side); barbell shrugs (from behind); and deadlifts (discussed next).
Deadlifts or rack pulls
Needless to say, no back program would be complete without one of the major lifts for the upper-body — the deadlift or rack pull. The deadlift is well documented as one of the best movements for building overall back thickness, not to mention an excellent one for developing crazy traps. Much like the squat, the deadlift is king for recruitment of multiple muscle groups, basically forcing total-body growth.
To perform, be sure to keep your back straight and your head up, maintaining continuous tension on all the back muscles, and pull the elbows back to promote a full contraction at the top of the movement.
