The backbone of any weight-training program is brutalizing your back. Because of this, I have chosen to discuss the value and importance of back training this week. Further, I am going to address what an important role the back muscles play in the overall stability of your entire shoulder girdle. 
The back is the foundation of your upper body and it's not a coincidence that almost every Mr. Olympia had superior back development in comparison to their peers. I would also like to address how important your antagonistic muscles are when it comes to your back training. The pecs, front delts and the biceps should, ideally, be loose and flexible. Keeping them like that allows the shoulder girdle to rotate back fully, thereby allowing the lats and other back muscles to contract, stabilize and fire fully. These muscles, if they're too tight, can pull you out of proper body alignment and that can lead to all kinds of problems.
Years ago, I began seeing physical therapist, Adam Bogar. He told me that over the years, my pecs, front delts and biceps had accumulated scar tissue and got very tight. A consequence of this was that my shoulders started rounding forward. My back wasn't firing as well and had started to weaken from not being able to contract properly because they were being pulled forward by my tight antagonist muscles. As soon as we began Active Release Therapy (ART) and focused on stretching those areas, my back muscles began moving properly again. Over time, all the adhesions in my shoulders were gone and I was able to fully rotate backward further allowing my back muscle to really contract properly.
Ronnie Coleman and Kai Greene are two great examples of maximal back stimulation and full rotation of the shoulder girdle. Both these men have inhuman back development but if you take a closer look, their back development and strength is so developed that when they rotate their shoulders backward, it appears they are almost leaning back when standing relaxed. This also is the reason they both have extremely developed glutes. Stand upright and test this theory. Rotate your shoulders further back and your glutes automatically fire more to balance you. Rotate them slightly forward and the emphasis shifts off the glutes and back. Their bodies are in great alignment for proper firing of all the back muscles, glutes included.
Both Ronnie and Kai have full barrel-like chests that rise past their front delts. The reason for this is that the further your shoulders rotate back, the more your chest will fire when working chest. Front delts will stay out of the movement allowing for you to concentrate on chest development rather than front delt development. Common problems for many bodybuilders are the front delts overpowering the pecs, weak rear delts and lats.
Maximal back development is heavily reliant on the athlete being able to rotate the scapula fully and having full shoulder rotation. A perfect example is Paul Dillet. The man could have been Mr. Olympia had he ever developed his back fully. I have known Paul for many years and it was not until recently, looking at old videos and talking to him, that I realized why his back muscles couldn't fire. He had severe shoulder impingements. He could not rotate his scapula fully if his life depended on it. Luckily, he was such a freak that it really didn't matter.
It isn't a coincidence that almost every Mr. Olympia had some of the best developed backs in comparison to their peers. Having a better back than your competitors can put you ahead far enough to take the top spot in any competition. Samir Bannout, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, Sergio Oliva and even Arnie had great backs. Jay Cutler has a great back, but he certainly doesn't have the dominating back of some of the previously-mentioned names did.
Currently, my favorite exercise to help strengthen lats and focus on rotating the shoulders back are partial deadlifts. I like to really emphasize on the top part of the movement, squeezing the glutes and arching the back. I usually start from just underneath my knee cap. It is fairly difficult to describe, so there may be an instructional video coming down the pipe! Kovacs out!
Subscribe to RxMuscle on Youtube
