I'm starting to really enjoy my back days. Well, I don't have a dedicated back day on its own. I actually run a three-day split of upper, lower, and upper-lower. It's the best I can do for now, and I hope to scale up when I can add more days. Lately, I’ve started to enjoy my back routines a lot. During my early days, I barely trained my back. At my old gym, which wasn’t high standard, there wasn’t even a pull-up bar, and I mostly did the one-sided variation of the bent-over row. It was only around mid this year, when I joined a more modern gym, that I started to see my lats grow and my back thicken. I did a lot more barbell bent-over rows and later on a bit of pull-ups, which are still my Achilles heel.
Now I enjoy lat pulldowns a lot. I'm able to nail my form from all the content and knowledge I’ve been taking in, and I enjoy working my back because it doesn’t drain me like leg days and the others. The best part is the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) the next day.
I always favoured the wide-grip lat pulldowns, but I realized my lower back was underdeveloped, so I decided to go for the close grip in my last session.
The close-grip pulldown targets your lats, lower traps, rhomboids, biceps, and grip + scapular control. The close-grip variation hits at a different angle compared to the wide grip, as it targets more of the lower and mid-back and the lower traps. Your form is also very important to get right.
For your form, grip the bar with the tip of your fingers or full palms, then pull it towards your chest and control the eccentric, making sure not to drop the weight. Also, avoid leaning back too much and go through the full range of motion. One thing I do more now is get that deep stretch at the top to work my scapula and squeeze at the bottom.
This routine has been great for my lats, my overall back thickness, and my strength, which has helped my posture and my football.
I highly recommend it for your pull day. Also, check out my video to see the right form. Thank you for reading, till next time.
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