Hi guys,
First time posting here. I was jsut wondering if there was any effective isolation exercise for the back. Just like the fly for chest.
Are rear delt exercises the closet thing ? Or is there something better ?
Thanks !
Hi guys,
First time posting here. I was jsut wondering if there was any effective isolation exercise for the back. Just like the fly for chest.
Are rear delt exercises the closet thing ? Or is there something better ?
Thanks !
Stiff arm pulldowns. With these you can rotate the elbows around so the triceps are less stressed too. They work great with curl grop rows or pulldowns.
I assume you mean ISOLATION, not isometric. Isometric holds can be done on any exercise.
If you do mean isolation, I would suggest medium and wide grip pull-ups. And weighted pull-ups if you can do them.
Welcome aboard,
Im sorry there are no good isolation exercises for the back, just like there are no GOOD isolation exercises for chest and legs. Stick to the heavy compounds! Chins, rows, deadlifts.
[quote]TFlex28 wrote:
Welcome aboard,
Im sorry there are no good isolation exercises for the back, just like there are no GOOD isolation exercises for chest and legs. Stick to the heavy compounds! Chins, rows, deadlifts. [/quote]
Would it be considered “isolation” if I preexhausted my arms first… then proceed to to the rows ? I feel that biceps play a big part in it, I just want to make sure the back is doing most the work.
Thanks
stiff arm pulldowns seem like a good idea
[quote]KelvinL wrote:
TFlex28 wrote:
Would it be considered “isolation” if I preexhausted my arms first… then proceed to to the rows ? I feel that biceps play a big part in it, I just want to make sure the back is doing most the work.
Thanks
[/quote]
I think pre-exhausting your arms would hurt even more. If your arms are tired going in to the exercise, they will fail before you get a chance to really work the back muscles.
Is there any specific reason you want isolation for your back?
I agree with Tflex, stick to heavy compounds. Besides, it can’t hurt if you’re arms grow a little too, right?
ummmmm have you all forgotten that there is more than one muscle in the back?
[quote]goatninja wrote:
ummmmm have you all forgotten that there is more than one muscle in the back?[/quote]
Well, I think we all get his point. Let’s look as what has been mentioned:
Stiff arm Pulldowns and Reverse Flys of some description are both a good start for what most refer to as the back (the “pulling muscles”) These should be done in a low rep set as with the compound exercise so that the resulting superset has an effective rep range.
I don’t think he is asking about lower back and trapezius.
Hey KelvinL,
I don’t know if you mean that you are not feeling the back muscles work, because you feel your arms doing most of the work.
I don’t know if this will work for you but this works for me. Let’s say that you are going to do bent rows, what I do is get into position and I keep the arms straight and pull with my back and clinch my shoulder blades together and then pull the weight towards my lower pecs. Like O’SHEA posted above this can be done with pulldowns too.
I hope that you can visualize the exercise with the description I gave.
Also, like goatninja posted there are more muscles in the back so try to work out your traps,lats,erectors,and rear delts. Do some shrugs,pull-ups and bent rows.
I almost forgot there was a little trick that was posted a while back and that is to do the exercises thumbless. When you grab the weights don’t wrap your thumb around the bar I think it’s called a monkey grip.
Hope this helps and welcome.
“Sancho”
why do isolation exercises when you can do a compound exercise like the deadlift and get awesome results?
i also have the same problem cuz i always think that my biceps are doing more of the work than my back. but i think in the end, your back still gets a good workout (or maybe my form’s screwed up on all my back exercises)
Hey guys,
Thanks for all your input. Actually, I have a sliped disc. So I cannot do dead lifts, although they indeed are good back builders.
Actually, I was asking for isolation mevements, because I intend to work my back twice a week. Call me crazy but… I split it up into a heavy back day, with all the rows and pulls and stuff. And an isolation day. LOL.
So, I just wanted to get some input, on what u guys think would be some of the more effective isolation movements.
So far, I’ve got:
Anything else would be good ? How about some crazy stuff with cables ? Anyone tried those ?
[quote]T-Bone2 wrote:
If you do mean isolation, I would suggest medium and wide grip pull-ups. And weighted pull-ups if you can do them.[/quote]
Pull-ups are not isolated, but compound, ie, more than one joint action involved.
If you want to really fatigue your back, if that is your goal, try either pre or post exhaust supersets. For example, you could do a compound exercise such as a pull-up followed immediately by an isolated exercise such as the straight-arm pulldown. This would be a post-exhaust superset. You can play around with the reps.
Another good isolated exercise for the lats: similar to the straight-arm pulldown except your are standing sideways…essentially doing shouler adduction, which is another joint action in which the lats are sollicited.
Have fun!
Two good back movements that do a good job, and have both been in the cool tips recently are:
DB rows to the hip and Full ROM pull Downs (use the cross over pulleys and cross your arms grabbing the right pulley with left hand and left with right, then do a pull down) Neither are a total isolation movement but damn close.
As others have said I would incorporate such movements as secondary to your main BIG compound movements. Rows, chins, etc.
Hope that helps,
Phill
How about pull-overs. You can use a machine or a dumbell. This isolates the lats.
If you want to split your back training into 2 days I would seperate them into a verticle and horizontal pulling days.
I have always done it this way (with a third day I do deads) and my back is by far my strongest body part. My biceps still do alot of the work but by doing heavy compound movements I’ve been able to build a strong back and strong arms with little to no specific bicep exercises.
Decline cable pullovers fry my lats. Give those a try. If you are gonna train back twice a week break it down like the other poster said, horizontally and vertically. I have had great results training like this. Remember when you are rowing or chinnig to pull through with your elbows. If you focus on pulling through with your elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together you should feel your back the next day. Good luck and get wide.
Joe_Bob
[quote]Tom_H wrote:
How about pull-overs. You can use a machine or a dumbell. This isolates the lats.[/quote]
Pullovers definitely. Reverse flyes. Stiff-arm DB rows.
The stiff arm pulldowns I know as lats shrugs and they are the only time I would have no problem putting lifting straps on. The are great but also you could do it in another plane of movement. If you have access to a t-bar row or chest supported row you can do lat shrugs in the horizontal plane. It would be hard unsupported to do it with the load necessary.
Also at less of an angle bent over shrugs are quite good for hitting the lower traps and rhomboids.