BUILD A BEAUTIFUL BACK: Training methods for the ultimate v-taper

Get in the gym and move weight from A to B sounds simple, right? Not quite. It all comes down to the form and intention in which you do it. 

Ever see someone doing Lat pull-downs, rows or pull-ups swinging around and/or bouncing? 

All that energy is NOT putting the maximum tension on your muscles. It’s just using momentum and inertia just to start the movement off with that awesome heavy weight that looks so cool. 

If your goal is to lift the heaviest weight in the gym that session and or just to break a sweat so you can be called got– no matter what it takes – you will be wasting your time…

But if your goal is to build a beautiful physique and put some muscle size and width onto your back, keep reading.

Stimulating The Back Muscles

The basic function of the Latissimus Dorsi (lats), without getting overly technical, is to bring the arms down from an overhead position (think pull-downs and pull-ups) and to bring the arms back from in front of the body (think rows). 

We all perform those exercises in the gym—so, why do we continue to have so much trouble getting a V-TAPER shape?

Because you can’t see your backside, it becomes underdeveloped compared to the front side, which you can see and watch get pumped up during your workouts.

So what are the best exercises to get a V-TAPER shape?

a) Wide grip pull-ups (preferably weighted) are the one and only movement you need to get your lats growing with incredible speed. 

It’s superior to any isolation bullshit and will build the muscles in your back in a wonderful symmetry.

 b) Chin-ups (preferably weighted) are the only movement that you need to really grow your teres minor, teres major, and rhomboid muscles. 

Not to mention that they will also widen the lats and build the other back muscles in a great symmetry.
 c) Deadlifting is also important, as it’s easily the number #1 exercise that adds some serious mass into your back. 

Deadlifts literally work the whole back, every single muscle you have there. 

And even though some fellows claim that it’ll also make your lower back wider, that really doesn’t happen, at least not to any noticeable degree as your upper back will grow simultaneously with it.

Quick Tip: Having a narrow waist will bring up the V-TAPER shapefaster, so check out out article about HOW TO RECLAIM A NARROW WAIST

Here’s an example of what a proper back workout looks like most of the time:

• Weighted chin up 5 reps, 3 sets.

• Weighted pull-up, 5 reps, 3 sets.

• Deadlift, 3 reps 2 sets.

If you can't do chin-ups or pull-ups you can always do their variations in the machines, it works just fine. 

Also you can add more exercises of your choice, depending on your intensity level.