cant strengthen my back

nolys

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
3,547
My back is lagging behind my other muscle groups greatly at the moment.
As far as I'm aware I'm training them correctly as I did before my shoulder blow out.

It seems to be growing at a decent rate although not getting much stronger, I struggle doing a few sets of wide grip pullups...

I never had this trouble before I dislocated my shoulder, my back was on par with my chest nearly, it was stronger then than it is now, and I'm much stronger and bigger now than I was then. Though it is bigger to physically look at...

A typical session looks like this for back -

1 warm-up followed by 3 heavy sets of each

Lat pulldowns
Bench bar rows (both hands on a hand grip wrapped underneath a bench bar, standing upright and I pull the bar with weights on one side up towards my chest whilst the other end of the bar is cradled in a gap in the corner of something to keep it steady)
Wide grip pull ups unweighted
Rows using the same hand grip and style as bench bar rows though whilst seated.

I follow this with a tricep workout including

Pull down v bar extensions
Overhead ez curl pullouts using cable machine
Dips
Incline bench extensions using dumbbells in each arm or skull crushers with an ez curl bar.

Anybody have any idea what is wrong here? I feel I'm doing everything the same as I always was just not getting stronger as fast as I was.

Any tips or input?
 
Doesnt seem like you have much variety. You do the same thing every time you workout back? You gotta switch it up. Super sets, drop sets, giant sets, high reps, low reps, target different parts of your back. Theres countless ways to strengthen and grow your back. Try deadlifts. That really engages not just my back but my whole body and i definitely get sore as shit from them.
 
No I do more always 8x3 but that's just a typical workout, I had no problems with it in the past only since I dislocated my shoulder though
 
I typically focus on slow reps getting full contraction of the target muscle. Deep face pulls help. Doing single arm rows on cables. Hyper extensions. That's just a few extras I do
 
The problem here though is that this worked fine for me before now before my injury, very strange
 
Be careful with deadlifts my back is fucked for life now cause I never warmed up or wore a belt and done 3 sets of 12 @ 100kg as soon as I entered the gym

My own stupid fault, it was back day and my mate was already doing them so I just joined in

But now I've gotta attend a pain clinic and take prescription pain killers for the rest of my life,

I just do
Lat pulldowns,
Seated cable rows using every extension possible
BB Bent over rows
DB Rows

Sorta do my Back and Delts at the same time but can never do another deadlift again,

Having said that, the guy with the journal on here who has an 80KG KETTLEBELL , now that looks pretty cool for some flexible deadlifts, but I'd defoe wear a cup lol :)
 
make sure your shoulder is 100% before you start training 100%. I have dislocated both. fix your health before worrying about cosmetic issues.


do wide grip pull ups everyday. just do 15 per day. everyday. in addition to your current training. do not worry about overtraining. one week per month take it off and do no pull ups or backworkout. every month increase the reps by 5.. so month 1 = 15 pull ups per day, month 2 = 20 pull ups per day, month 3 = 25 pull ups per day, month 4 = 30 pull ups per day, month 5 = 35 pull ups per day, month 6 = 40...........


then start over at the 15 but with added weight (hang like a 30 pound weight from you). and repeat for the next 6 months.


Also, it is important to be counting your macros, if you want to get a bigger back, eat for that bigger back as well. protein, carbs, fats, caloric surplus, proper hormones in body etc etc.
 
@NOLYS have you ever looked into TB500 and peptides that can allegedly help to repair damaged tissue and strengthen bones and stuff,

If I had the money I would run the GH and peptides that have healing properties as well as Deca for lubrication

I don't think I'll ever really stop Deca for that reason
 
I'm currently on 300mg deca for that very reason its worked well for my shoulder keeping it safe although o think it's starting to get a bit painful
 
yeah deca does lubricate to an a fair extent

I'm not thinking about my painkillers even half as much
 
Funnily after I started this thread I went into the gym and lifted 2 weighs heavier than I normally lift on the lat pull down then a bit heavier on rows...
Had an excellent tricep workout too I think this was down to starting Superdrol 20mg per day to be honest
 
My back is lagging behind my other muscle groups greatly at the moment.

It seems to be growing at a decent rate although not getting much stronger, I struggle doing a few sets of wide grip pullups...

A typical session looks like this for back -

1 warm-up followed by 3 heavy sets of each

Lat pulldowns
Bench bar rows (both hands on a hand grip wrapped underneath a bench bar, standing upright and I pull the bar with weights on one side up towards my chest whilst the other end of the bar is cradled in a gap in the corner of something to keep it steady)
Wide grip pull ups unweighted
Rows using the same hand grip and style as bench bar rows though whilst seated.

Anybody have any idea what is wrong here? I feel I'm doing everything the same as I always was just not getting stronger as fast as I was.

Any tips or input?

You're back workout is kinda crap nolys.... Its your 2nd largest and strongest muscle group after your legs... Its missing basic heavy compounds... Plus theres not much volume at 3 X 8 reps....

Chins should be shoulder grip, no wider otherwise you could be more prone to shoulder injuries.. (I've got some studys that explain the science somewhere)...!!

Dead-lifts (where are they..? (and not pussy single reps either, heavy with plenty reps)... I was lifting 600lbs for a max at your age... repping with 550lbs...

Bent over rows..... (I do 12 sets)....

One arm D/B pull ups........... Cable seated (close grip, wide grip, high to chest)..... etc.. etc....

I always do 4 sets... (again, I've some studys somewhere show 4 sets are better than 3, blah blah)...

Back is a bit like legs, it can take more volume... don't be afraid of doing 12-15 reps sometimes... as the weight goes up lower the reps... Mix-n-match exercises and rep ranges whenever you feel like it, and don't push 1-rep maxes more than once per month....
 
I do do chins too I mix it up that's just a typical workout, but I didn't actually know that wide grip may cause shoulder injury it feels fine to do, I'll beat that in mind.
Bent over rows I'll do 3 sets of a pretty heavy weight to fail basically, shit 12 sets would murder me I could probably add 1 or 2 extra although I find my back fatigues a lot more than other muscle groups quickly for some reason...

I used to do deads although I stopped doing them after I started having issues with my lower back and not just in relation to deads either, I gavé been doing back extensions to strengthen it before I start doing deads again just as a precaution...

I have neglected 1 arm db pull ups actually I havnt been doing those at all...

Gf i would appreciate if you could reccomend a good workout focusing particularly on lays, I always encorporate lat pulldowns, pull ups and bent over rows then mix up the rest. Always 8x3 to failure. What do you reccomend I change?
 
yo Nolys.... I know that I dont look like trustworthy poster but... I was on quest on how to strenghten my back for over year,I tried all kinds of excersises but nothing,nothing comes even close to heavy deadlift

not counting warm up I do 4 sets with 4 reps ( +-1 ) and my back grows like crazy,not so much width but the thickness.... 1 or 2 rep is too heavy and easy to injure,4 reps is sweetspot I found

last two months 80% of time spend in gym I just deadlift,its holy grail for my back atrophy




all these other back excersises it sound good on paper but its just bunch of bullshit,deadlift butt rapes the rest of movements,theres no point,other tings are just waste of time
 
Last edited:
If you've busted your shoulder, much of your present 'weakness' could well be a CNS protective effect. I don't know what the injury was, but for example rotator cuff injuries and dislocations seem to result in the CNS 'downgrading' the contractability of the muscles that operate around the joint. I see it a lot in my surgery.

Sorry I didn't read your post correctly. If you dislocated your shoulder, your issue will be shoulder stability (and thus the protective CNS effect I mentioned). You will want to focus on rotator cuff strengthening exercises PRIMARILY in your back and shoulder training. This should see things return to normal fairly rapidly after a few months.
 
Last edited:
I start with deads (high intensity).
In between deadlift sets, I do lat pushdowns (not pulldowns) to preexhaust lats.
Then I do weighted pullups. Grip slightly wider than shoulders with elbows tucked in.
Then do heavy bent over rows.
Last I do face pulls to work low and mid traps and rear delts.
 
Top