I do upper back work 3 times a week.
Day 1 ME Bench… I do pull aparts and a horizontal pull (chest supported row, bent row, dumbell row, yates row, t-bar row, horizontal pullup, you get the point)… the next day I’ll do a vertical pull (pullups or pulldowns), straight arm pulldowns on cable, and external rotations with a dumbell or mini band… and Day 5 I’ll do light cable rows to loosen up the scapula along with light isolated shoulder work (raises and laterals) and some more shoulder rotation
My shoulders stay pretty much pain free for 3 months… 3 months seems to be the point where I need to give my body a break, so my training macrocycle last 15 weeks.
Doing heavy rear delt work, 5x5 not to failure is working well for me and cleared up some shoulder discomfort
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
Personally, (and if anyone hasn’t noticed yet, there is something seriously wrong with the way my head works) I train Upper Back EVERY DAY. Usaully something stupid like 100 face pulls with varying band tensions or seated DB powercleans for time or super high rep pull aparts from different angles. I will also, occasionally do some high rep vertical rowing on lower body days.
I do all this because my upper back was giving out first on my squats and I felt it was more a conditioning problem then a strength problem. This has helped my squat, bench, and deadlift tremendously. My back is staying locked in on squats, my lockouts on my pulls are as solid as they have ever been (shooting for 830 at the Arnold), and benching has never felt better.
Again, I’m nuts. Just wanted to share my experience.[/quote]
Not that crazy, upper back can handle ALOT more volume than most people think. And most of the stuff you mentioned will get various muscles stronger without too much CNS or joint stress setting you back. The only thing I am not a fan of is really taxing the lats multitple times a week. If you were doing low rep chins and barbell rows every other day, now that would be a bad idea.