What is the Best Back Thickness Exercises

[Streety727]

Just wondering what you guys who have good back thickness what you think are the best exercises for gaining this or the different grips that help this as well feedback is needed cheers

[ThisHolyDude]

deadlift FTW

[Shylock]

deadlift FTW

Bull****!

[entropy1]

deadlifting
rows
widegrip pullups

[Alfz]

Deadlift
rack pulls
heavy rows

[Leyton Stone_old]

Rows, wide grip rows, rearward shrugs (flat/incline).

[MawkieMawk]

WG Pull Ups / CG Pull Ups (both weighted)
Bent BB Rows

[ferbie]

forget about this pullup bull****! not that pullups are bull****, but honestly, they DON'T build back thickness! what builds back thickness is brutal heavy deadlifting and rowing. and not rowing on some machine or with a pussy 30 degr forward bend but parallel to the floor. a good variation of deadlifting is using a snatch grip. for upper back thickness, front squats are also great.

[battousai216]

deadlifts/rack pulls, and various types of rows.

[StoneMuscle]

forget about this pullup bull****! not that pullups are bull****, but honestly, they DON'T build back thickness! ...... for upper back thickness, front squats are also great.

yes pullups are not a back thickness exercise but they're going to do a lot more for upper back thickness than front squats ever will.

i've never heard of front squats being prescribed for building you back.

[MawkieMawk]

Any sort of pull-up motion, with heavy weights or high volume, will help a great deal with back thickness.

[ferbie]

i've never heard of front squats being prescribed for building you back.

i can see this might sound odd in a bodybuilding/bodypart-split context. but when you train full body style, you can definitely have front squats fill out this role.

in the deadlift, the lats help a lot to keep an erect spine especially in the thoracic, but with the elbows up and in front of you they (the lats) can't produce much force so your thoracic spinal erectors have to work harder. makes sense?

[MawkieMawk]

in the deadlift, the lats help a lot to keep an erect spine especially in the thoracic, but with the elbows up and in front of you they (the lats) can't produce much force so your thoracic spinal erectors have to work harder. makes sense?

No... :-P

[StoneMuscle]

i can see this might sound odd in a bodybuilding/bodypart-split context. but when you train full body style, you can definitely have front squats fill out this role.

in the deadlift, the lats help a lot to keep an erect spine especially in the thoracic, but with the elbows up and in front of you they (the lats) can't produce much force so your thoracic spinal erectors have to work harder. makes sense?

yes, i can see the logic, but front squat would only be effective as a back exercise in the way you describe if the torso started at an angle to the floor, similar to a back squat. Then the elbow position would dictate increased work by the erector spinae and upper and middle traps. However, the front squat is performed with the spine nearly perpindicular to the floor.

This entire argument is clearly illustrated by the recognized exercises for back thickness, i.e. the deadlift and bb row, where the torso starts or stays at a significant angle to the floor. These movements require significant spinal support from all the associated muscles in the back.

[ferbie]

No... :-P

seriously, what is it you don't understand? i will love to try to explain

yes, i can see the logic, but front squat would only be effective as a back exercise in the way you describe if the torso started at an angle to the floor, similar to a back squat. Then the elbow position would dictate increased work by the erector spinae and upper and middle traps. However, the front squat is performed with the spine nearly perpindicular to the floor.

This entire argument is clearly illustrated by the recognized exercises for back thickness, i.e. the deadlift and bb row, where the torso starts or stays at a significant angle to the floor. These movements require significant spinal support from all the associated muscles in the back.

i can't agree with your statement that the spine is nearly perpendicular to the floor in the front squat. it depends on thigh and calve length, hip and ankle flexibility, but in general there will always be what i'd call a significant forward lean. of course there is less lean than in the deadlift and the bar will be lighter, too, but you have to consider that the lats can't help much, and that's really a difference and it makes the exercise pretty special in the way it targets the erectors of the thoracic spine. check out this crossfit video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmEDhihtu74

there is a bunch of different people doing the exercise and as you can see, for 50% of them the weak point is obviously upper back tension, which is exactly what i'm talking about. if you are strong in that area, that's fine and it will hit your legs mostly, but in that case i bet you already have a THICK upper back...

ok to sum it up, i personally do front squats because i feel they give a unique stimulation to the upper back which i don't get from deadlifts. but if i had to choose one exercise for overall back thickness, sure as hell i'd pick deadlifts!

[Chatotixxx]

Deadlifts
Barbell rows
T-bar rows
Dumbbell rows

[Chatotixxx]

For width:
Weighted wide grip chins
Nautilus pullovers
Wide grip lat pulldowns
Reverse grip barbell rows

[heinstein]

Rack pull
Row
Pull up

Depending on which part of your back you'd like thicker

[Noobgainshehe]

Heavy azz rack pullz son