Thread: back exercises

Try pulling with your elbows not your bi's. And if you are using to much bi then lower the weight some and focus on just working the back. The reason your using more weight is b/c your cheating yourself lol so don't worry about the ego trip b/c your screwing yourself most of the time.

-Elbow position, try different angles.
-Different grip widths.
-Similar exercises that allow different grips-T-bar, Hammer rowing, one-arm rows, rows with head resting against a waist-high pad..less biceps and at the same time can sometimes mean better isolation.
-Less weight-10-15 reps works better for many.

Originally Posted by DeadBolt

Try pulling with your elbows not your bi's.

That helped me a lot, definitely. Either way, your biceps are still going to get hit fairly hard, especially with a supinated grip.

Mentally make sure you are pulling with your back and "not your arms." Using a double overhand grip I do not get a lot of bicep pump now at all, it may also be the number of sets I do, maybe you do more row sets than I do.

Using a supinated grip I used to remember a lot more bicep pump, I was also stronger using that method in the past.

for me a thumbless grip works best on all back exercises...

the wider your grip, the less the biceps are involved. for example, on the seated row, dont use the little handle, use the one where the parts are like 18" apart. and on lat pulldowns, use a really wide grip. the elbow goes through a much smaller range of motion when your grip is wider.

Good point. I touch my pinkies to the ring when I row, when I reverse grip rowed I was closer in.

Yeah, playing with grip is important. However, at one point I was trying to go too wide. It just felt akward.

I concentrate on flexing my pecs whenever I do any back exercise, you inadvertantly concentrate on your back muscles!!! Try it and good luck!!!

Would it be ok to train back/tri's and on another day chest/bi's?

Originally Posted by nmuriqi

Would it be ok to train back/tri's and on another day chest/bi's?

I used to do that:
M-Chest & Bi's
W-Legs & Shoulders
F-Back & Tri's
now I do:
M-Chest & Bi's
W-Legs & Tri's
F-Back & Shoulders
It's really a preference thing and how you feel!!!

Originally Posted by nmuriqi

Would it be ok to train back/tri's and on another day chest/bi's?

Sure. That's commonly referred to as the push/pull split. Don't forget to train your legs too.

I definetly agree with the tumbless grip.

thats thumb not tum

Me three.

the problem for me is that I can't use a pronated? (palms down) grip with too much weight or else I get pain in my forearms, which kind of defeats the purpose. For instance, if I try to do a pull up, it hurts my forearms, whereas chinups do not, so therefore I have not varied grip much and have been using palms up for about the past 6 months. I do however, on barbell rows try to use the same width grip i use on bench press, which can sometimes be awkward, but most of the time works fine. I am altering my split so that my biceps will be worked on a different day to avoid the problem I stated in my original post. I will do:
Chest/tri
back
off
legs
shoulders/bi
off
off

we'll see if this helps

and what's with this thumbless grip? How does that work?