How To Get A Bigger Back

Step 1

Getting a bigger set of back muscles is a must for anyone even casually interested in lifting weights. Although you may not see your back muscles when you look at yourself in the mirror each day, any puny guy walking behind you will be able to know you have dedicated yourself to building muscle when they see a wide back. Once your lat muscles on the side of your body develop and fill out and you have that true "V" shape to your torso, the entire world will know: you are a weightlifter.

Step 2

Your back muscles are also some of the strongest muscles in your body, doing incredible amounts of work during heavy lifting, regardless of whether or not the back muscles are the focus of your workout. In other words, if you properly train your back, the rest of your muscles will get bigger, too!

Step 3

Getting a bigger back can also help you avoid injuries common to many men. If you have an office job and develop a bigger back. your back will be able to deal with wear and tear on the body from sitting at a computer.

Step 4

One last note before we get the the "meat" of our advice on bigger backs: many guys who are seeking to get a bigger back find that becoming a Campus Man is a perfect way to get affirmation and support from followers. Most weightlifters have a set of friends and admirers who track their progress and admire their gains. They see you getting a bigger back and comment that they notice the transformation. As a Campus Man, these admirers are called your "Fans." Fans can provide motivation to keep going when you hit a plateau or need that extra mental boost to keep going in your effort to get a bigger back.

Step 5

And if you ever choose to enter a bodybuilding contest down the road, having organized all your supporters in one place makes it easy to get those Fans to attained the contest in the audience. So, once you start building that back, take it to the next level by becoming a "Campus Man."

Step 6

Weightlifting Experts Offer Different Advice on How to Get a Bigger Back Different trainers and weightlifting experts offer different advice on how to get a bigger back. CampusMen.com has compiled these recommended products, which we feel offer the best amount of advice for the money you will spend. Regardless of the trainer, book or DVD you follow, many experts feel it is effective to switch the tactics you are using to get that bigger back. So, look at CampusMen.com's recommendations below, choose a product and the necessary supplies we list - and get going in switching up your back program.

Step 7

Books CampusMen.com Recommends to Get a Bigger Back Men's Health Home Workout Bible - This book focuses on informing the reader that no matter where you choose to work out, you can get gym-quality results! Men's Health Fitness director Lou Schuler includes everything that a man needs to make the most of his workout, no matter where it may be, as well as advice on effective, inexpensive equipment. Editor Michael Mejia has also included 4-week workout programs for specific muscle groups, ensuring that none of your workouts will ever go to waste!

Step 8

Encyclopedia of Muscle and Strength - If you are looking for no-nonsense workout advice on a certain area of your body, then you owe it to yourself to check out the Encyclopedia of Muscle and Strength. This book has collected and organized very detailed, specific information on every major muscle group in your body. Your back can be developed to be very, very powerful, but only through proper technique and execution. Don't risk injuring yourself: do the research and do it right, the first time.

Step 9

Strength and Physique: Tactics and Strategies - In just 72 pages, this book tells you exactly what you need to know while avoiding any sort of filler or unneeded information. Strength and Physique adopts a football playbook-style method of presenting its workout plans, ensuring that you will get the point and be back in the gym with as little wasted time as possible!

Step 10

Recommended DVDs For Getting a Bigger Back For those non-readers who prefer a DVD to a book, we recommend these DVDs... Trainer's Edge - Killer Abs and Back with Michael Olajide - Fitness celebrity Michael Olajide uses principles of natural resistance to strengthen your body's back, abs, and core in one dynamic 40 minute DVD! With years of experience keeping himself in peak physical condition as a middleweight boxer, Olajide demonstrated many of his favorite techniques in this instructional DVD packed full of valuable firsthand advice!

Step 11

Ronnie Coleman: Invincible - Just as there was Arnold Schwarzenegger of the 1970's, there is Ronnie Coleman of the new millennium. The winner of a record breaking eight Mr. Olympia titles, Ronnie Coleman gives the world a glimpse into his life in the twelve weeks leading up to the 2007 Mr. Olympia contest: his training, his diet, the whole nine yards. Learn from the best of his generation as even Coleman's personal nutritionist, Chad Nicholls, offers exclusive advice and insight!

Step 12

Before you hit the gym and start building muscle, buy and read one of the above recommended books or DVDs to understand these basic concepts: The Back Muscles, Exercise Form, Progressive Resistance, Training Plateau, Effects of Overtraining & Why you need a Spotter.

Step 13

Advanced Exercise Techniques Beginners Should Know It is not all about the workout plan. One of these recommended books or DVDs will teach you techniques on how to effectively build muscle by combining the techniques below WITH your workout plan - to build muscle and avoid wasting your time:

Step 14

Different Grips: Anyone who lifts weights will tell you that once you hit a plateau with your training, it can be nearly impossible to break through and move past it. One sure-fire way to challenge your muscles in new ways is to alternate your grip. When you grip weight using a different hand position, different muscle groups are recruited, shocking your muscles into responding in different ways- especially effective when doing chin-ups or other pulling exercises.

Step 15

Exercise Intensity: Don't just lift the weight- own it. Don't waste your time in the gym by performing halfhearted reps, just going through the motions- get the job done by powering through weight that you know you can lift, blasting your muscles and conditioning your body to be comfortable with it! Once you crank up the intensity of your weightlifting sessions, your muscles will respond in an unbelievable way!

Step 16

Superset: Back workouts can be easily incorporated into any other workout plan you might have, going before, between, and after sets of other heavy exercises such as bench presses or squats! Keep the blood pumping and maximize the physical benefit by supersetting your favorite workouts, back-to-back-to-back!

Step 17

Supplements You Must Buy If You Want to Get a Bigger Back Supplements "add" to the foods you eat normally through the week. Supplements fill the gap your normal diet does not meet. These books and DVDs will explain which supplements are necessities. Why and when these supplements should be taken is too extensive to explain in this article. We encourage you to invest some time in reading one of our recommended books. We'll give you a hint: you need a certain amount of protein for every pound you weigh, but there are different kinds of protein that range in price and effectiveness. Protein can get expensive. Read up to avoid wasting your money.

Step 18

Bench You Can Buy If You Want to Get a Bigger Back Some guys are intimidated by the big huge bodybuilders at a gym and prefer to invest in equipment - so they can work out at home. If this is the case for you, we recommend you choose the: Bowflex Revolution FT Home Gym $1299.99 - The next time you think about making the drive to the gym, instead, consider the benefits of having an all-in-one fitness center at your home! This world-famous, all-in-one home fitness center provides over 90 different workouts in 400 variations, covering all the major muscle groups in your body! Out of the box, resistance can be set at as little as 10 lbs or as much as 200 lbs (but is upgradable), and can support a maximum weight capacity of 300 lbs.

Step 19

4 Items You Must Buy When Seeking to Get a Bigger Back Finally, you'll need some basic supplies for the gym. Buy these Weightlifting Supplies: Harbinger Pro FlexClosure Wash & Dry Gloves $14.99 - These gloves are built to help up to the wear and tear of regular lifting. The stitching in many gloves can loosen from use, something that the "ventilator mesh" construction avoids by allowing the gloves to stretch repeatedly over time. Reinforced leather padding located in the palms helps to avoid slippage, as well.

Step 20

Schiek Sports Schiek Lifting Strap Long $19.95 - Once you try these lifting straps, your grip strength will no longer be an issue. Designed with extreme amounts of tugging and pulling in mind, this reinforced, triple-stitched construction promises to hold up to any workout time and time again. This is the best way to instantly add weight to exercises such as the deadlift and chin-up.

Step 21

Valeo VRL 6-Inch Padded Leather Belt $15.50 - This leather lifting belt is a must have item for all power lifting related workouts, both in providing added stability as well as an extra bit of safety. You don't want to attempt exercises like a dead lift or any sort of heavy rows without the proper protection- back injuries are almost ALWAYS permanent. Every serious weightlifter needs one of these. End of story.

Step 22

Valeo XL Premium Heavy Duty Back Belt Lumbar Pad with Removable Suspenders $21.99 - For only the most serious weightlifters, or anyone else that hates adjusting the weight belt during a workout. The included suspenders keep the belt stationary during the most intense exercises, making constant adjusting and fidgeting between sets a thing of the past! The books or DVDs we recommend (above) will explain what these supplies are for and how to use them.