Not feeling / progressing on back plus a bicep growth problem

[Zaatar]

Hi, I've been working out on and off since 1 year ago, continuously since about 2 months ago. I've seen some real progress, my biceps are bigger, stronger, more defined, same with my chest and shoulders.

My problem is with my back. No matter how hard i try to follow proper form, i cant seem to get growth in my back, it never gets sore or anything. My back workout involves 3 sets of the lat pulldown (back slightly bent backwards, bringing bar down to chest, holding it), row pull (back still, slightly bent back, bringing it to touch right under chest), and a lower back workout (don't know the name) My question is, is it normal not to notice any progress / feel any soreness?

My other problem involves my biceps. Although they've gotten a lot more defined, stronger and bigger, they really seem to be growing the wrong way. As far as i know, there are major and minor muscles in my biceps, it seems i'm only working out one of them. The reason being that when i am doing my preacher curls, my biceps flex inside, not straight, so it looks like someone bunched me from the outside and pushed my biceps inside. I think the reason is that when i do my preacher curls, i do them using dumbells and my elbow as well as my movement is really twisted, seems like it's working the inner half of my bicep.

Is there a workout to offset this? or are there any other ways to fix this?

Thanks a lot, hope i didn't bore you
Zaatar

[jdmalm123]

Not sure what kind of weight and reps you're using on the back moves.
Assuming you are pushing weights that are heavy for you at 6-10 reps, try adding another set or two or doing drop sets. The back can take a lot of work and you need to kill it to really get the blood in there.

For your biceps...the extra back work will work them too, but you can also try wide-grip curls and/or hammer curls.

[DtotheJtotheH]

regarding your problems with back gains...Have you tried doing pullups. They work sooooo much better than lat pulldowns in my opinion. After getting pullups down move to weighted pull-ups. Over the past 9 months of lifting, I have seen the most substantial gains in my back muscles. For a while I really tried to hit them hard on one of my workouts during the week( with rows, weighted pullups, different rows, strait arm push downs, etc). This day also happened to be my heavy squat day, so if you buy into the squating helps put your body in an anabolic state theory that may have also been a factor. Thats what i did, and I saw major gains.

As far as the problem regarding your biceps...I've noticed many people's biceps appear to be deformed almost when they do preacher curls. Mine also seem to look pushed inward, but this isn't really a sign of something wrong. If you are worries about balance...do curls in varying level of supination and pronation of the wrists. This will allow different muscles to be worked.

[TheDeepBlue]

Originally Posted by Zaatar

Hi, I've been working out on and off since 1 year ago, continuously since about 2 months ago. I've seen some real progress, my biceps are bigger, stronger, more defined, same with my chest and shoulders.

My problem is with my back. No matter how hard i try to follow proper form, i cant seem to get growth in my back, it never gets sore or anything. My back workout involves 3 sets of the lat pulldown (back slightly bent backwards, bringing bar down to chest, holding it), row pull (back still, slightly bent back, bringing it to touch right under chest), and a lower back workout (don't know the name) My question is, is it normal not to notice any progress / feel any soreness?

My other problem involves my biceps. Although they've gotten a lot more defined, stronger and bigger, they really seem to be growing the wrong way. As far as i know, there are major and minor muscles in my biceps, it seems i'm only working out one of them. The reason being that when i am doing my preacher curls, my biceps flex inside, not straight, so it looks like someone bunched me from the outside and pushed my biceps inside. I think the reason is that when i do my preacher curls, i do them using dumbells and my elbow as well as my movement is really twisted, seems like it's working the inner half of my bicep.

Is there a workout to offset this? or are there any other ways to fix this?

Thanks a lot, hope i didn't bore you
Zaatar

are you doing deads?
anyway if your not feeling it in your back id say your just not lifting hard enough.

as for your biceps you dont have minor and major muscles.
you have the biceps(two heads: long, short) and brachialis. All of these are key to getting good upper arms.
The brachialis is used in all flexion at the elbow but using a pronated grip will focus on it.
The inside of your bicep is your short head, the outside is your long head, so if you want the outside of your bicep to look bigger try doing narrow grip barbell curls or some hammer curls or narrow hammer grip curls....

[Senate156]

ok so you are doing the following for your back:
lat pulldowns
rows
low-back something or rather
...and that's it

just like DtotheHtotheJ said, sticking with the same routine, it would be better if you did pullups rather than pulldowns.

If you would like to change your routine there are a lot of things i would suggest.

first of all, deads, like DeepBlue said, are essential for back growth, however this is a very technical lift that requires lots of practice/core and lower back strength. So if you feel up for the challenge and aren't going to get frustrated with using small weights for the first month or so, then by all means add them.

Close-grip pulldowns/pullups have worked really well for me in adding lots of mass to my back...really an underated lift.

In order to place more focus upon your biceps, you can switch to doing reverse-grip pullups, and underhand grip rows.


i would recommend something like this for back/bis:
Deads 3x8
Db rows 3x8
Reverse-grip pullups 3x8
Upright rows 3x8
Back extensions 3x8
Hammer curls 3x8 (see if you have a 'hammer grip' barbell)
Barbell curls (with a narrow grip*) 3x8

*the narrow grip targets the long head of the biceps, which i believe is your weak area.

okay, so that should definitely help to put some mass on your back and build better biceps....hope this helps man.

[Sir_Malak]

Personally (this may or may not work for you) I didnt start seeing real gains in my back until I added deadlifts to my routine. Pullups help me greatest after deadlifting for some reason..maybe cause the back is already exhausted somewhat *shrugs* but thats what works for me.

Good luck!