Best Back Exercises: Build A Back Like Jason Statham!

 

The back has many muscles. This is why having a well sculpted and built back is so desirable. Jason Statham loves to show off his back muscles in movies. Have you ever wondered what the best exercises are to get a back like that? Well it’s time you found out. In this article you’re going to learn how to perform the best back exercises to gain muscle.

The first thing that we need to do is to make sure that we stimulate as many of the different muscles as possible. Just for those of you who like to know the technical terms, here are the different muscles in your back.

latissimus dorsi

teres major

erector spinae

rhomboids major and minor

trapezius

posterior deltoids

Wow that was boring… Now for the fun stuff. It is your job to physically tax and test every last one of these muscles. The best way of doing this effectively is by targeting exercises that engage your entire back while still putting focus on certain areas. To help rebuild the muscles after you work them out, it’s important to have a protein shake before bed. With that said, let’s get to our first exercise.

Power Cleans

As you have probably noticed, power cleans are very similar to the Olympic style dead lifts. The only thing that is missing really is lifting the bar over your head and striking a super hero stance at the end. Let’s go over the technique in detail on how to perform the power clean.

It’s important that you start by gripping the bar by your feet with the back of your hand facing forward. In this sense it’s gripped like a reverse bicep curl. Your hand position should be just wider than your shoulder width. It’s a good idea to tuck your thumb underneath your fingers. This helps with your gripping power. You don’t want to be that chump who drops weights in the gym…

Make sure that your feet are shoulder width apart. Be sure that you have a nice straight back, bend your knees, and then lift using your legs and lower back to a standing position (but do not perform a squat!). In this position your arms must be straight. You can turn your elbows out to help ensure that you keep your arms straight.

The bar should be at your upper thigh with your arms straight. From here you explode up, fold your arms completely and hold the bar just above chest level with your palms facing the ceiling. Be sure to keep your elbows up and out, this takes pressure off of your wrists. Then lower the weight back down the exact same way that you lifted it. You will then be back in the standing position. From there lower the weight back to the ground for one complete rep.

This exercise targets your entire upper back, and hits your lower back from when you lift the weight off of the ground. Since it includes your entire body, the release of IGF-1 and testosterone is also increased. This is why power cleans are one of the best exercises for back and are great to include in your workout routine to gain muscle. Let’s move on to our next exercise.

Dumbbell Rows

This one is fairly straight forward but yet again engages the entire back. The main muscles that will be focused on using this exercise are the latissimus dorsi and the rhomboids. Bend over forward so that you are looking at the ground while keeping your back straight. Keep your legs slightly bent. Make sure that you are not hunching over. If you hunch, the entire exercise is ruined and you can potentially hurt your back.

Hold the barbells down at your sides and pull up at a trajectory that goes straight up and intersects with your naval area. This will help to ensure that you are targeting the right muscles in your back for this lift. Keep your chin up and look straight ahead. If there is any confusion with this exercise make sure to watch the video above. This is a great exercise to include in your workout routine to gain muscle.

Lat Pulldowns

Here’s a classic workout. This is one exercise that is ok to use a machine for. This way it’s very easy to measure your progression due to the 15 pound increments on the pulley system. Many people don’t perform this exercise properly. I found a video to help demonstrate the difference between the right technique and the wrong one.

You want to keep your hands just a little wider than your shoulders. This will target your lats and really help to give you that V shape. When you pull the bar down, you need to make sure that you pull it straight down as opposed to on an angle. If you have to use momentum then the weight is too heavy for you. Accept the fact that you can’t lift the same as that 250 pound beast across from you.

Bring the bar all the way down to your chest in front of your head. Never bring the bar down behind your head, this will only cause stress on your spine. Look straight ahead while you perform these reps and you’re golden.

Use these 3 exercises in your workout routine to gain muscle and you will develop some pretty gnarly back muscles. The rest of your body will also benefit due to the extra amount of IGF-1 and testosterone being released into your system.

Tags: Best Back Exercises