delt - deltoids - raise the arm to the front, side and back.

lat - Latissimus dorsi - a very large muscle which lowers the arms to the side.

spinal erector - helps keep the upper body stable - raises the back from a 'bent over' position.

The standing bent-over row (T-BAR) exercise is an excellent overall muscle developer for the back. There are about 3 different ways to grips to do this exercise. The one we'll discuss is the handle-bar grip. Grab the handles out near the bend in the bar, and while bending the knees to minimize unneccessary stress on the lower back, pull the bar to your chest and hold this position for a split second to flex the back muscles, then slowly lower it. Because the T-bar weight is loaded in the front of the machine, the size of the 45 pound plates can actually limit the range of motion (the plates may hit the chest not allowing to raise high enough to work the back). Because of this, it may be necessary to use 25lb weights. You want to keep your back arched and knees bent when executing the reps. On the bottom portion of the rep you can round your back slightly for a little extra stretch. You can maintain the same grip for each set or you can do each set with a different grip. Experiment to see what works best for you. Again, you want to do 4 sets with 8 to 10 reps per set. You can use heavy weight for this exercise if your form isn't sacrificed. Straps or hooks can also enhance the usefulness of this exercise.

Building the back is probably the most difficult of all muscle groups. Its also probably takes the longest of all muscle groups to build also. Don't get discouraged if your back takes longer than the other groups, just stick with it.

Each set consists of eight repetitions. To warm up: Do a set at fifty percent of your maximum effort. Begin with three sets of eight. When you can't break a sweat with that, add five more reps to each set.

Seated row. You need a multistation gym for this one. Sit on the floor in front of the low pulley bar. With your knees bent a little, reach out and grab the pulley bar with both hands. Pull it slowly to your chest, keeping your back straight and - as much as possible - perpendicular to the floor throughout the movement.

Lat pulldown. Grasp the lat pulldown bar with your hands slightly more than shoulder-width apart. Sit down and wedge your knees under the kneepads. Lower the bar until it touches the front of your upper chest. Don't lean back more than a few inches.

Reverse, close-grip pulldown. Grasp the lat pulldown bar with your palms facing you and your hands about eight inches apart. Keeping your back straight, lower the bar until it touches the top of your chest.

<< One-arm dumbbell row. Rest your left hand and left knee on an exercise bench, about feet apart. Keep your right foot on the floor. Grasp a dumbbell in your right hand. Keep1ng your shoulder parallel to the floor and your palm facing the bench, pull the dumbbell up beside your chest. Do this eight times. Then jump over the bench and do it with your left hand. Okay. You don't have to actually jump.

The one to do if you're doing only one? The seated row.

This exercise is probably the best overall movement for the back. As you pull down the bar concentrate on feeling all the muscle's in your back contract. As you return the bar stretch upward and feel your lats stretch.

* Muscle Confusion Tips: There are several different bars in them. Use them all as long as you keep your hands at least 18 inches apart to maintain a wide grip. Change the angle of your body by leaning further back while using a slight swinging or cheating motion. This will enable you to use more weight. Pull to the front of your chest one workout and to the back (behind the neck) on the next workout.

Perform this movement the same as the "Wide Grip Lat Pulls above".

* Muscle Confusion Tips: There are several different bars in the gym. Use them all as long as you keep your hands at least 4-8 inches apart to maintain a narrow grip. Change the angle of your body by leaning further back and using a slight swinging or cheating motion. This will enable you to use more weight.

This is an awesome movement that will really get the top portion of your lats burning. The photos best describe how to perform this movement. Pausing at the start and finish will really get your blood pumping on this exercise. As you pull the bar into chest area, be careful not to lean to far back - this may cause injury to your lower back.

* Muscle Confusion Tips: There are several different bars in every gym. Try them all to vary your angles and grip. By changing the width of your grip from narrow to wide (up to 24 inches apart) you will notice a distinct difference in the exercise. Change the angle of your body by leaning further back and using a slight swinging or cheating motion. This will enable you to use more weight, and you can also get a great negative burn as you return to the starting position.

Pull the dumbbell upward towards your waist area. As you return be sure to use the full range of motion to really stretch out the lat muscles. Lifting straps will enable you to lift more weight. Try using them and concentrating on the negative bum as you lower the weight. Pauseatthetopofthelift(1-2 seconds)as you concentrate on feeling the muscles of your inner back work to maintain the paused position.

* Muscle Confusion Tips: Try pulling the dumbbell into your,our hip area on on one workout and into your chest area on the next workout. Reps andvpeed are alvo an excellent way to va this exercise. Some gyms have machines that simulate thiv motion, except you use both arms at once as if you ",ere using a barbell.

This classic exercise develops the lats by widening the upper back. This variation of the classic widegrip chin behind the neck allows a marginally greater range of motion, and marks the beginning of Tevita’s back routine. Pull up to the top of your chest, just below the neck. Note that the bar apparatus seen here at Powerhouse Gym/Fullerton, has a cambered grip at each end of the bar. For variation, try using a chin-up bar that is straight. Tevita does these a little different than some other advanced bodybuilders: He prefers to keep his body, as seen from the sides, fairly straight up and down. You’ll see other bodybuilders use a significantly greater arch in their back, particularly when they force out final reps, but Tevita prefers a stricter approach to form.

Tevita follows wide-grip front chins with this second upper back widener. If he were following a set scheme in which he were doing 5 or more sets of a particular exercise, he would likely alternate these exercises from workout to workout. But Tevita prefers 3 sets of each exercise (after warmups), running a classic 8 to 12 reps of each, keeping pretty much the same weight through each set of the exercise. Because he does 5 different back exercises, this gives him 15 total sets (not including warmups) for his back routine. As a highly advanced bodybuilder, this variation in a number of exercises for the back keeps his body constantly adapting to slight differences in approach. Note that Tevita does have more "lean- back" when he performs this than he does in the front chins, again providing him variety in angles and working position.

Tevita uses this exercise to increase back and lower lat thickness. Using the standard V-bar attachment for the rowing machine, Tevita uses a very strict approach to upper body movement: After the weights have been drawn off the stack, Tevita uses a beginning position for the exercise that sees his upper body only slightly bent forward. As he contracts the back muscles, he comes only an equally small amount "behind" fully upright. This ensures that he uses the lats, and not lower back muscle. Remember, it’s not the amount of weight you use, but the attention to form and weight selection that makes this exercise effective. There is a very slight arch to the back and the handle is drawn to a center spot just below the ribcage, and a few inches above the navel.

One of the more interesting variations in back routines is this esoteric version of the full bent- over barbell row, which thickens the upper back. Tevita does not bend fully over, but it is essential that the barbell move directly towards the ceiling as Tevita contracts his back muscles. Note that Tevita also uses a shorter range of motion than most bodybuilders are accustomed to with a fully bent over "standard" palms-in grip: He does not want this to become a bent-over biceps curl.

A strict lat exercise, the straight arm pull-down demand some attention to form: Begin with your legs slightly bent and the bars in front of you at arms length, and at eye level. Your upper torso is bent very slightly forward. Use the lats Ñ not the arms or lower back Ñ to pull the weight down until the bar almost touches your legs. Take care in selecting appropriate weight for this exercise. There is often a tendency to use too much weight and lose control as the weight comes back up to the beginning position. If you cannot maintain strict form and control the weight as the bar returns to the original position, you’re using too much weight.

Back

The chin-up is by far the single best exercise for the upper body. With it you can target every muscle in your back, and other muscles as well. The key to using the chin-up to it's fullest potential is to vary the grip and style of lift. Here's a list of some of the variations and what areas each one targets, along with some general tips, as usual!

• Standard, shoulder width grip, palms facing you chin-up. This one tends to involve the biceps a lot, so I would save this exercise till near the end of your back workout.
• Standard, wide grip pull-up, palms facing away from you. This focuses most of the strain on your lats, and is in my opinion crucial for building a wide back.
• Close grip, palms facing you chin-up. This works the brachialis a lot.
• Palms facing each other, close grip pull-up. This one is done with one of those small, triangular devices usually use on the cable row. Just hang it over the chin-up bar, and pull yourself up so your chest touches your hands. This exercise is great for developing the rhomboids ( down the middle of your back).
• Palms facing each other, wide grip pull-ups. This is easiest on the wrists, and would probably let you do the most weight/reps.
• Let yourself all the way down so that your shoulder blades go up. This gives a full stretch, and allows for a greater range of motion.
• Pull yourself all the way up, until the bar touches your chest, or your chin at least gets above the bar, for obvious reasons.

This exercise is great for building a lot of power, and a really thick back. People I workout with tend to think that it's more of a leg exercise, but if I can convince them to do 'em with me, the next day they usually realize how wrong they were!

• Grab the bar with both palms facing you, space slightly more than shoulder width apart.
• Always keep your back slightly arched, or at least straight.
• legs should be about shoulder width apart.
• Lift in one smooth motion, moving your hips and back at the same time. It may take some practice to get the motion down pat, but it's worth it. A common mistake is to straighten your legs, then your back, or vice versa.
• Keep the bar as close to your body through the entire motion. Unfortunately this can lead to some scraped shins which really sucks, so one trick is to put a pad on the bar, then you can let it roll up your legs.
• Keep your shoulders back, and look straight forward.

An obvious variation of this is the bent over dumbbell row which allows for a greater range of motion, but I find the bent over barbell row activates more muscle. This exercise may or may not be necessary, depending on which variations of the chin-up you do. The chin-up that most closely emulates the barbell row is the close grip, palms facing each other chin-up. If you have access to a machine that lets you rest your chest on a pad, it better isolates your back.

• Grab the bar with palms facing you, more than shoulder width apart.
• Bend at the hips, keep your back arched, and knees bent.
• Pull the bar up to your chest, at the bottom of the pec.
• Vary the grip to target different regions.
• Vary the angle of your torso to target upper or middle back more.
• Keep your head up and shoulders back.
• Do full reps, letting the bar all the way down for a full stretch. It may be necessary to stand on something elevated to achieve this, or load on a bunch of smaller plates.

Seated Cable rows

• I prefer a to use the handle that has your palms facing each other, and close together, though you can use pretty much any bar you want.
• Sit far back enough so you can let the weight stretch you fully before bottoming out.
• Straighten your back and pull your hands towards your waste in one smooth motion, not letting your back past a 90 degree angle. In other words, at the end of the motion, your back should be straight up. Squeeze your hands into your waste, and slowly return the weight getting a full stretch.
• For added intensity and a better stretch, you could try doing this exercise one arm at a time.

A Sample back routine.

• 3-5 consecutive warm up sets of barbell rows, deadlifts, and maybe pulldowns
• 2 working sets of wide-grip pullups, as many reps as I can.
• 2 working sets of chinups, as many reps as I can.
• 3-4 working sets of deadlifts (save it for last, cause you won't be doing much after these!)