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I Created The Smartest Back Workout (USING SCIENCE)

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Rating: 4.5; Vote: 2

The back is such an important part of what makes an impressive physique. But with literally 100 s of different back exercises out there, it s hard to tell which you should do in your back workout. That s why we got Betty - our muscle activation measuring machine. Today we re using her to test the best back exercises on 4 different people. At the end, we ll use the results to create a perfect back workout you can trust is the best back workout that ll get you the muscular, powerful looking back you re after. Different back exercises will target different back muscles. The two main features of a well-developed back are thickness, and width. Most thickness comes from the mid and upper back muscles. So we put a sensor on the mid-traps. We also put a sensor on the lower traps. The main muscle responsible for widening your back and building is the lats. Because it s the largest muscle of the upper body, we put 2 sensors on it, one on the upper lats, and one on the lower lats. Next, let s cover the details of the experiment that ll help us find the best back exercises. Subjects: Coach Alex, Raza, Tahnee, and myself. There was no wager this time around. We had to control 3 variables: 1) weight testing, sensor placement, and maximum voluntary contraction. We did 1 set of 5 reps, then took at least 5-minute rest before moving onto the next exercise. We also rotated between horizontal and vertical pulling exercises. Note that Betty, and EMG research in general, has its limitations. More activation does not always lead to more growth, and there are other variables to consider when determining how well an exercise grows muscle. That said, after averaging the data, I did find some very interesting insights that align with other current research. First, overall back builders to include in your back workout. The first is deadlifts. Your legs are mostly responsible for moving the weight, but all of your upper and lower back muscles have to work hard to keep your body stable as you lift. Although they aren t taken through their full range of motion and are only contracting isometrically, this is still a powerful stimulus for growth especially because of the heavy weight used and the deep stretch that some of these back muscles experience. The second exercise is bent-over rows. Similar to deadlifts, you re able to load it relatively heavy and your whole back, including the lower back, is helping you stabilize and move the weight. The overhand grip led to more mid back activation whereas the underhand grip, led to slightly more lats activation primarily in the lower lats. Next, the best exercises for the mid and upper back. The exercise that came on top was the inverted rows. It led to the highest back activation for both Tahnee and Raza but didn t do nearly as well for both myself and Alex. So while it is a great bodyweight exercise that I d highly recommend for most females and beginners, as you get more experienced you ll want to consider other movements that you can start adding weight to or save this exercise for the tail end of your workout. As for the other exercises that came out on top, wide grip seated cable rows and dumbbell chest supported rows with the elbows flared out and shoulder blades squeezed together at the end, both led to the highest activation after the inverted row. So, when talking about the best back workout, these two will definitely make an appearance. Now, I want to talk about the lower traps. It s an extremely important yet often overlooked muscle for overall shoulder health and posture. So I d recommend including at least one lower traps exercise in your routine. And the one that came out on top during our experiment? Incline prone Y raises. Last but not least, the lats. While lat pulldowns and pull-ups do a pretty good job of activating the lats, one move in particular however led to higher activation than any of those exercises. The lat-focused row. Let s put everything we learned into perfect back workout that you can start using right away. I d recommend picking one exercise from each of the categories we went through and then adding in prone Y raises to the end to give the lower traps some extra love.
Date: 2022-12-11

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Comments and reviews: 14

xxcrysad3000xx
I've switched to a four day split that runs something like this and been getting good results:
Upper A
BB Bench press (4 sets)
BB Row (4)
Inc DB Press (3)
DB Row (2-3)
Bicep/tricep superset (3)
Lower A
BB Back Squat (4-5 sets)
RDL (3)
Glute machine/hip thrusts (3)
Leg xtnsn, prone leg curl (3 each or superset)
Upper B
BB Overhead press (4-5)
Pullups or lat pulldowns (3-4)
Y raises (3-4)
Lateral raise, rear delt superset (3)
Lower B
Deadlift (4-5 sets)
Front Squat (3)
Bulg. Split Squat (3)
Leg xtnsn, leg curl (drop set to failure)
That's the general template at least, then add extra stuff as needed.
reply

Arit
Re: deadlifts on back or legs days. yes and no? I do my splits a bit differently from most people. I have a thorax day (mostly overlaps with standard back & chest) and a base day (mostly overlaps with standard leg, but do my deadlifts on my center day (standard core plus sagittal plane) because I feel them most in my spinal erectors, then traps and rhombs, and hardly at all in my legs or glutes.
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hijo1998
It's no surprise that pulldowns and pull ups don't target the lats when you perform them the way you did. If you don't pull behind your body they're absolutely better than lat focused rows. A narrow grip like in a chin up is the same movement as a lat focused row but better since it has a greater range of motion and more tension in a stretched position which both is better for hypertrophy
reply

Derek
I m 44 and never really did deadlifts.
Been doing them for little under year, and unfortunately now have a hernia. Noticed a bulged over my dick. Ugh
So now I stopped and hoping doesn t bulge out anymore.
No pain down there and I m not in a position to get surgery for a while.
So guys, go lite if gonna do deadlifts.
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Sam
Great content from JE as always. He clearly knows his stuff just wish these videos didn't need such basic intros. What is a muscle? Why do we have muscles? What are the back muscles? And then the extensive discussion of methodology. It's hard to just get at the relevant exercises.
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Rounak
Wo this is a very amazing and superb video bro telling about the perfect back workout and you are doing a excellent and brilliant work for all of us who love to building back and keep it up and keep training hard and be positive and happy always
reply

Rafael
Hello, first of all congratulation for your videos! Could you show the list (ranking) for each muscle region as you did for shoulders and chest? This way we can check if our preferred exercises were considered and their position in the list.
reply

Illithune
I usually follow the pattern below:
1. Shoulders, back, biceps
2. Chest, triceps
3. Super heavy legs + calves
4. Rest
5. Shoulders, back, biceps
6. Chest, triceps
7. Deadlifts + grip + light legs
8. Rest
reply

Brenden
When I did a pull-push-legs split, I did deadlifts on my pull days. Nowadays I do an upper-lower split, so I do deadlifts on the lower body days. I prefer them on leg days for sure, but find what works best for you obviously
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John
I bought a program a month ago. It s a lot. but I m easing into it and seeing some great results. I look forward to your videos each week to implement new techniques and exercises. Keep up the good work! Ps thanks Tahnee
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Manh
This is my pull day: lat pull down, single arm lat pull down, seated cable row ( close-grip, barbell row, meadows row super set with prone Y raise, face pull super set with rear delt fly.
Do you think it's fine?
reply

KTM
Just started my fitness journey about 2 weeks ago. I was 70kg 2 weeks ago, now I m already 75kg. I ve always been insecure about my upper body, but with only 2 weeks of training I ve already made huge improvements
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Greg
Ummmmm sorry Alice it doesn't work this way. This is hardly the smartest workout. Training is individualized, no one workout is best. Your goofy pads don't prove anything about the effectiveness of the movement.
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CACE
I recently programmed deadlifts in as the starting lift on my back days and I'm really enjoying it - definitely feels like my back muscles are fired up when I go into my more isolated back movements afterwards.
reply

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