Ronnie Coleman's Advice for Back

[SDFlip]

a coworker of mine went to the BSN Workout with Ronnie Weekend a few weeks ago. He said he learned a lot in that weekend. One thing he picked up from Ronnie was his back workout. My friend said all Ronnie does for back is rows and deads. Barbell rows (overhand wide and yates), corner rows, db rows, and deads..... that's it. no chins or pulldowns. he says he saves those and seated rows for precontest only.

what are your thoughts?

i gave it a shot yesterday and it was great. anyone else do something similar? i've seen people do one width and one thickness workout.... but never ONLY ROWS.

[PrisonerDilemma]

Summed up:

What works for some may or may not work for others.

[05impalaSS]

he has to have some sort of Lat pulldown....his back is fukin wide

[SDFlip]

Summed up:

What works for some may or may not work for others.

meh.....

the dude once had one of the best backs of all time. maybe he knows what's up.

he has to have some sort of Lat pulldown....his back is fukin wide

i've seen him do pulldowns in magazines and videos... but you know they sometimes do that **** just for show.

[_XYDREX_]

could depend on type of shoulder clavicle. heard some guys here have a fair bit knowledge on thios maybe they can chime in

[SDFlip]

could depend on type of shoulder clavicle. heard some guys here have a fair bit knowledge on thios maybe they can chime in

i don't really buy the straight vs. curved clavicle thing.... well, not for back. a straight clavicle tends to make it hard to develop size in between the shoulder blades though.

[_XYDREX_]

lats do span across the shoulder joint to attach upper arm to torso. different shoulder structures will change angle of pull & alter focus of certain exercises.

[Uriel_da_man]

Thing is when your lats are as big as Ronnie Coleman's you probably won't need chins or pulldowns to make them wider, because they're already so big you can't keep your arms down.

[tropo]

meh.....

the dude once had one of the best backs of all time. maybe he knows what's up.

The dude also apparently had 20 inch arms and vascular legs before he started his bodybuilding training in 1990. He's a true genetic freak and could probably build a great back with any heavy lifts.

Having said that, what he was doing more recently is probably not what he's been doing for 30 years in the gym.

[raysmith]

I personally dont like rows unless my body's supported to keep it strict. What the **** do I know? I have never won an Olympia.

[PrisonerDilemma]

I personally dont like rows unless my body's supported to keep it strict. What the **** do I know? I have never won an Olympia.

You haven't?? Say it ain't so, Ray!

[burningNun]

I only do rows for back and my width has increased since I started doing this.

[Defiant1]

a coworker of mine went to the BSN Workout with Ronnie Weekend a few weeks ago. He said he learned a lot in that weekend. One thing he picked up from Ronnie was his back workout. My friend said all Ronnie does for back is rows and deads. Barbell rows (overhand wide and yates), corner rows, db rows, and deads..... that's it. no chins or pulldowns. he says he saves those and seated rows for precontest only.

what are your thoughts?

i gave it a shot yesterday and it was great. anyone else do something similar? i've seen people do one width and one thickness workout.... but never ONLY ROWS.

A few things:

First, without knowing the context, it is hard to say.

Ronnie Coleman had a torn lat, so this may be why he is not doing anything with an extreme stretch.

Second, I know he has advocated chins/pulldowns before, including in his book, so this might be an "as of right now".

Third, his lat width is probably his best quality. Though I listen, I take what people do for good bodyparts that have always been good with a grain of salt. I pay more attention to those with "problem" bodyparts that bring them them up.

[Cgb6810]

a coworker of mine went to the BSN Workout with Ronnie Weekend a few weeks ago. He said he learned a lot in that weekend. One thing he picked up from Ronnie was his back workout. My friend said all Ronnie does for back is rows and deads. Barbell rows (overhand wide and yates), corner rows, db rows, and deads..... that's it. no chins or pulldowns. he says he saves those and seated rows for precontest only.

what are your thoughts?

i gave it a shot yesterday and it was great. anyone else do something similar? i've seen people do one width and one thickness workout.... but never ONLY ROWS.

Ronnie used to work his back twice in one week. One workout would be rowing only and the other would be pulling only. Are you sure your friend didn't just happen on to one of Ronnie's rowing workouts?

[SDFlip]

A few things:

First, without knowing the context, it is hard to say.

Ronnie Coleman had a torn lat, so this may be why he is not doing anything with an extreme stretch.

Second, I know he has advocated chins/pulldowns before, including in his book, so this might be an "as of right now".

Third, his lat width is probably his best quality. Though I listen, I take what people do for good bodyparts that have always been good with a grain of salt. I pay more attention to those with "problem" bodyparts that bring them them up.

true. what do you think about an all rows back workout? do you think it could help with width and thickness?

Ronnie used to work his back twice in one week. One workout would be rowing only and the other would be pulling only. Are you sure your friend didn't just happen on to one of Ronnie's rowing workouts?

i've seen that too. thickness was deads, bb rows, db rows. width was bb rows, pulldowns, seated rows. something like that.

could have been. but he said that's ALL he did off season.

[microrahsheen]

Interesting question, though.

Can you build width in your lats without a vertical pulling exercise? I mean, not from a genetic-freak/individual perspective, but from a scientific perspective.

Is there some evidence that basically says a vertical (pullups and pulldowns) pull is the only way you can really build width in the lats and other types of pulls mainly build "Depth"?

Defiant1? Cgb6810? Ballys? Anyone?

[SDFlip]

Interesting question, though.

Can you build width in your lats without a vertical pulling exercise? I mean, not from a genetic-freak/individual perspective, but from a scientific perspective.

Is there some evidence that basically says a vertical (pullups and pulldowns) pull is the only way you can really build width in the lats and other types of pulls mainly build "Depth"?

Defiant1? Cgb6810? Ballys? Anyone?

that's pretty much what i wanted to know.

[microrahsheen]

that's pretty much what i wanted to know.

Figured so, but you said "Ronnie Coleman" and everybody got distracted...LOL.

[KeepOnShruggin]

this sounds like it could be a really good thread..

subb'd

[RH08]

this is an interesting thread, i'm sure we've all wondered the same things at one point or another.

[Demorak]

I only do rows and chins

[bassing68]

Ronnie used to work his back twice in one week. One workout would be rowing only and the other would be pulling only. Are you sure your friend didn't just happen on to one of Ronnie's rowing workouts?

I thought rows were a pull.

[burningNun]

Can you build width in your lats without a vertical pulling exercise? I mean, not from a genetic-freak/individual perspective, but from a scientific perspective.

My answer is yes. I don't have any studies or even real results, but from what I see in the mirror my lats are getting wider with no vertical pulling.

[Bierce]

I'm waiting hopefully for an argument that I don't need to do pulldowns, as I @#$% hate them.

[dom996]

My back is one of my strongest parts and when bulking I pretty much only do BB rows and deadlifts.

[SDFlip]

My back is one of my strongest parts and when bulking I pretty much only do BB rows and deadlifts.

how is your width?

[microrahsheen]

My back is one of my strongest parts and when bulking I pretty much only do BB rows and deadlifts.

how is your width?

Yeah, What them lats lookin like from the front/back?

[dbp]

A few things:

First, without knowing the context, it is hard to say.

Ronnie Coleman had a torn lat, so this may be why he is not doing anything with an extreme stretch.

Second, I know he has advocated chins/pulldowns before, including in his book, so this might be an "as of right now".

Third, his lat width is probably his best quality. Though I listen, I take what people do for good bodyparts that have always been good with a grain of salt. I pay more attention to those with "problem" bodyparts that bring them them up.

That's a very good point. Some people have naturally bigger body parts that could practically grow from a stiff breeze.

[fmrmarineinbiz]

Something else a lot of you guys forget, is that R.C. is 100% natural. 100% natural guys (who also embrace the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ) don't have to do as much back work as guys who use Cell Tech for example.

[crofty22]

Something else a lot of you guys forget, is that R.C. is 100% natural. 100% natural guys (who also embrace the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ) don't have to do as much back work as guys who use Cell Tech for example.

.. wait a minute