Pull-ups

[Micker]

You can screw your shoulders up big time with behind the neck pull downs. It puts your shoulders in a week position. I hurt my rotator cuff doing them about 10 years ago and it took a LONG time to heal.

If you can do wide grip pullups, then I would probably do them over pulldowns. My pullup bar is in between my doorway, so I can't get a nice wide grip and end up working my arms more. I like low rows if you can do those.

 

[perp69]

Pulldowns are worthless for me and I don't even do them anymore. I see great results with pullups and barbell rows.

 

[glennpendlay]

the best back exercises in my opinion are, in order, barbell rows (if they are done right), chinups, pullups, and dumbell rows.

of course, includes only the exercises where the arms are actually involved... i personally think most people really underestimate how much the back, even the lats, are involved in deadlifts and RDL's. they arent prime movers obviously, but they are put under tremendous amounts of stress. for me personally, the exercise which has made my back the most sore of ANYTHING i have ever done is RDL's. squeezing the bar back into you as y ou go up and down is a hell of a lat and overall back workout. there have been a lot of powerlifters and strength athletes who have built pretty insane backs without doing any of what we normally think of as lat work. just the different varieties of cleans and deadlifts.

Pulldowns are worthless for me and I don't even do them anymore. I see great results with pullups and barbell rows.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Agreed, Glenn. The stress imposed upon the entire back musculature is immense with deadlifts, RDLs, and cleans.

I dunno about you, but I prefer rows with a close underhand grip, elbows next to the sides. It recruits more muscles overall, so it makes it more of a compound, and thus allows for a greater load.

By the same token, chinups (supinated, shoulder-width grip) are superior to pullups (pronated, shoulder-width or wider grip) in that they both recruit the lats more or less the same, but the biceps are more involved with chinups, which also helps it to act as more of a compound and allow one you utilize more weight. And we all know load is the ultimate indicator of progress.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

That may be true about the chinups, but since I started doing medium grip pullups I have noticed that my lat spread has improved, but most notably when walking around in a semi-form fitting t-shirt I can see the upper part of the lat muscle thats right below the rear deltoid sticking out which is cool cuz I don't see that on alot of the guys workoing out at the gym. I attribute it to pullups.

Also cleans and snatches of all different types have really been improving my traps and rear deltoid area without doing any actual shrugging or rear lateral raises haha.

Favorite back exercises: strict Pullups, Explosive barbell rows with a cambered bar, cleans and snatches, deadlifts, DB rows

 

[Tweakle]

I actually prefer the hammer pulldown to any chinning or pullup variation as you can do it unilaterally... but bb bent rows and heavy deads built my back

 

[zero3si]

You'll get the looks from the ladies for having abs.

But you'll get the looks from the guys (the damn that's a strong mo' fo' look)..for having a muscular back.

I love doing pull ups. I used to work the hell out of my back and with not alot of results. The pull ups....have made a hell of a difference.

 

[Extra_Strong]

So I realize my back is getting stronger and was debating whether I should obmit lat pull downs and focus more on wg and cg pullups. Should I do lat pull downs from time to time but mainly focus on rows and pullups?


Thanks.

ya i think you should just focus on the pull ups try to touch your chest..
and work your weigh up to weighted pull ups....