(video)
When it comes to back exercises, most men favor pullups and lat pulldowns. It's no wonder, since these two movements primarily target the latissimus dorsi (a.k.a. lats), your largest back muscle. And that probably explains why the average guy's back workout rarely consists of anything else. Trouble is, "largest" doesn't mean "only." Think of it this way: Focusing solely on your lats is sort of like working your chest but skipping your abs; and you'd never treat your "front" that way.
"Training the muscles surrounding your lats, particularly your rhomboid and trapezius muscles, will quickly add strength and size to your upper body," says C.J. Murphy, owner of Total Performance Sports, in Everett, Massachusetts. Your rhomboids and trapezius stabilize your shoulder blades, which allow your shoulder joints to move your arms in every direction. By developing these muscles, you'll add mass to your upper back and rear shoulders, and see improvements in every upper-body lift.
How to Do This Workout
This four week plan will help you chisel your back in about 25 minutes a week. Before you begin, complete the workout progress diagnostic. Then follow this workout and retest yourself every week. You'll perform the assigned workout only once during the week.
The human back is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck and the shoulders. It is the surface opposite to the chest, its height being defined by the vertebral column (commonly referred to as the spine or backbone) and its breadth being supported by the ribcage and shoulders. The spinal canal runs through the spine and provides nerves to the rest of the body.
Muscles of the back
The spine is bordered by several groups of muscles, including the intertransversarii muscle which facilitate movement between the individualvertebrae, and the multifidus spinae, which facilitate the movement of the spine as a whole.
Other muscles in the back are associated with the movement of the neck and shoulders. The trapezius muscle, which is named from its trapezium-like shape, runs between the neck, the anterior chain, the two shoulders, and the thoracic vertebra, T12. The large latissimus dorsi make a triangle from the shoulder to the hip.