Rhomboid Exercises

[KingOfChaos]

Are there ANY middle back exercises that do not rely on the bicep as well? I need to isolate them since my biceps take a lot of the weight off my back because they are so damned strong. Only thing I can think of is a middle back fly of some sort that would really target those muscles.

[jocularric]

Lat/Kelso Shrugs, Dip Shrugs, and Chinning Bar Shrugs are three exercises you can use to hit your rhomboids. Your biceps act only as stabilizers in these movements.

Pick up a copy of Kelso's Shrug Book IMO, it's a great book to have in your library.

[Flex500]

honestly it is really just learning how to take the biceps out of the back movements as much as possible.

Sure you can do some reverse flyes and what not. But your just not going to be able to use enough weight to really challenge your back and put major muscle on.

your biceps will always be doing some work in back movements. But you have just got to learn to take them out as much as possible. It took me years to learn how to do this

[I dont work at Ballys]

find a cable pulley machine (like a cybex) and set the arms up high up to your head, take a crossover grip and pull back and down in a reverse fly motion. you'll hit your rear delts too but also rhomboids and a little bit of lats. kind of hard to explain without visuals but hope you get the jist of it

[take it easy]

"Back exercises for people with strong arms"

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1403235

[DoubleWide]

honestly it is really just learning how to take the biceps out of the back movements as much as possible.

Sure you can do some reverse flyes and what not. But your just not going to be able to use enough weight to really challenge your back and put major muscle on.

your biceps will always be doing some work in back movements. But you have just got to learn to take them out as much as possible. It took me years to learn how to do this

If you have a problem doing this, do back exercises with a wide grip. I do Pendlay rows with a wide grip so the ROM between start and when your arms are 90 degrees is very small. After that point, it's mostly rear delts and rhomboids.

[Eclectic1]

All kinds of rearward shrugs: from rowing position and chinning position.

I like to do rearward shrugs at the end of each set of rows and chins.

[tonester]

"Back exercises for people with strong arms"

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1403235

^^^^

[D-Y]

middle back shrugs are good. Lie on an incline bench (or flat i don't think it matters unless your arms are long enough to hit the ground) and squeeze the shoulder blades together. I do those supersetted with incline dumbell rows it gives me a great pump in the middle of my back!

[Ajklpool]

If you want to remove your biceps from back workouts, do not grip attachments with your thumb. Use your 4 fingers and remove your thumb completely from the movement, this will remove the biceps a lot from the exercise.

A good exercise to hit the rhomboids is behind the neck pulldowns. Just be careful with these as they can damage your rotator cuffs, so try not to add too much weight.

[olinerules87]

"Back exercises for people with strong arms"

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1403235

I was gonna post that link

[KingOfChaos]

Sweet...the T-nation link showed me a lot. Middle back shrugs and cross over cable flyes it is!