Grow Your Back

[@stealthkillertoxic4090]

I didn't expect this video from you either lol. Especially with that thumbnail, thought it was a bald omni man vid for a second

[@atlaspowershrugged]

Define strong deadlift. I pulled 600 with tiny lats.

[@summerofsais]

I'm 505 with tiny lats 😢 I have it as a short on my channel

[@jmartinez19944]

@@summerofsais weighted pull ups in the 5-10 rep range and pullovers 🙂👍🏻

[@Backpack_belal]

Partial pull ups in the top range of motion made my lats grow. People will tell u not to do them but it works. I still do full rom but partials as well

[@frog6054]

​@@Backpack_belal You mean don't go all the way down when doing pull ups?

[@Backpack_belal]

@@frog6054 yo exactly like chin over bar then half way then back up

[@joewhisney1113]

3 minutes of straight value no BS. This is the way.

[@Joel0991]

As always, one of the best coaches out there. Simple, easy to follow, step by step insights. Thanks Will

[@banglevision8207]

Vertical pull, row, hinge

[@krb0123]

It’s that simple

[@MidnightSlasher]

Can you guys recommended exercises to strengthen the lower back. I like deadlifts but I feel like they don't strengthen it enough, like something that is pure lower back.. I've tried stiff leg deadlifts but I feel like it's barely strengthening my lower area

[@Eldarin]

@@MidnightSlasherback extensions 45 degree angle. Made my lower back bulletproof

[@chuk1es699]

@@MidnightSlasherback extensions like someone else suggested is great, i would also recommend paused rdl’s and really emphasize the pause at the bottom

[@AmericanBulldogFit]

This sums up my approach to back training, over the past 29 years. Well done! :)

[@brsvideos8143]

Solid advice in less than 3 minutes.

[@rossacord9645]

Great information even if it's review for a lot of us. Serves as a good reminder. All this in under 3 minutes.

[@maxmaximum-sh4bx]

We need more!

[@evb750]

Can RDLs serve the same purpose as deadlifts in this scenario?

[@willratelle8027]

Yes

[@Rigpa88]

Dr. Density is nodding wisely at this vid.

[@willratelle8027]

Sticky Rick?

[@Rigpa88]

@willratelle8027 The Stick!

[@tycho103]

For the longest time my training programs were built on an overly extensive selection of exercises. To be fair, it resulted in some significant muscle growth. However, I noticed the most apparent muscle gain when I started focusing on getting stronger at the basic free weight movements.

[@Jake-jv9ff]

Wish people understood how simple this was. Everyone wants to see a vid showing some new secret exercise - reality is get really fucking strong fundamentals

[@Lostboyyo]

Single arm dumbbell rows are the best back builders. I do 150lbs for 3-4 sets of 10 and my back is monstrous.

[@RobBor-n2z]

From a dead stop?

[@kremarino]

No bs advice you just need to keep pushing, may take years for that. Great work

[@thephunguy.r]

is there a major reason you chose chin ups over pull ups? im gonna keep doing pull ups cause i like them more, but just curious

[@cramz101]

Chin-ups build arms too, and who doesn’t want bigger arms?

[@milanojudo]

More lat engagement and greater ROM for the vast majority of the population. Not many people can do a wide grip chin up.

[@Wedgebiggs]

I might be wrong, but it's probably because the supine grip is gonna internally rotate the shoulder increasing the stretch on the lats?

[@AS-Stardust]

@@cramz101 In my experience, chin-ups are a garbage exercise for the arms but great for the lats.

[@JorgeGonzalez-sx7fk]

@@Wedgebiggslats do not have good leverage when lengthened or in the end range of shoulder flexion

[@davidkeller3618]

Algo 3 minutes perfect 👍 learned a lot

[@CrimpKeeper]

Forgot about you my dude. Your workouts are intense 😂🤙🏽

[@lucashenriques4242]

Hip Draaaahve

[@noobajan3802]

Hey, I know that chin ups is an easier exercise than pull ups since you use your biceps aswell. So I thought pull ups would be more efficient in isolating your back. Do chin ups just target different back muscles? I'm 3 months into the gym and I can do a couple reps of chin ups but still working my way through assisted pull ups. You think it's better to just spam chin ups instead? Also doing lat pulldowns and seated rows for now cos i see progress in them (Lat pulldown went from 23 to 47.3kg)

[@TIMOSTERRORS]

Great vid

[@AS-Stardust]

My big 3 for back are stiff leg (or romanian) deadlift, single-arm dumbbell row and weighted pull-ups or a single arm lat pulldown on a good machine

[@HelloSpyMyLie]

Will- I come from the cult of barbell as well. I have done heavy pendalay rows in the past, but as someone who only has time to train 3x per week, i struggled to train my deadlift congruent with pendalay rows, because of the lower back strain. My new coach has had me do lat pulldowns and CS rows each once per week along with deadlifts. My deadlift is actually approaching 500 now. I squat 2x per week on the other two days What are your thoughts on programming deadlifts and pendalay rows on the same linear program? How can we do this? I think this would be a very good video. Make a video about programming for amateurs/non-professionals to develop the back. I, like you, believed machines would not help me, and I made a ton of progress. But at the intermediate level, I am surprised to see gains with deadlifts and machines

[@StarcraftDr]

It seems like the DL always grows my back if I’m taking it seriously. That experience goes against what a lot of the science guys say about isolating pieces of the back w/ deep ranges of motion, but given the other benefits I’m getting from the serious DLing, I’m not worried ab squeezing out every drop of growth

[@artv4nd3l4y]

Yeah even redundant videos are interesting because there's a common theme between some of the strongest guys. It seems the ones that advocate for deadlift being the best lift to chase numbers always have the thickest backs. Sure everyone can build a decent back doing pullups and rows, but I will never believe the organism will be as big without the deadlift. Stimulus to fatigue ratio might not be "optimal", but there is something to be said about overreaching from time to time. If all we ever do is what feels easy to us, how would we ever be ready when it really comes time? I think that's what people miss that always focus on perfect form and the "optimal" volume, never trying to exceed your limit. It's also interesting learning how high rep sets just don't prepare you for max attempts.

[@treywor]

Great video Will

[@janfischer861]

Can you do this for every muscle group?

[@willratelle8027]

I can but it's not something I really want to do. I just think there are so many videos out there that already talk about this. Maybe I'll get the itch to do one.

[@hdjdjdjd4855]

I disagree with your last point, why don't you think you can progressively overload lat pulldowns and cable rows to a huge back

[@BubbyX669]

Yeah, its the same movement without taxing the lower back if done with chest support on cable rows, this is just nonsense imo. Say my back day consists of a heavy deadlift and then I want to include and RDL for the lower body, but then I want to target just the mid and upper meat of my back with a row, its not gonna be a barbell row thats for dam sure.

[@willratelle8027]

My point was you aren't going to progressively overload pull downs and cable rows to grow a big back, absent of the exercises I mentioned.

[@dddigler.89]

quick question. is the rdl an effective back builder like the deadlift? Especially done on a deficit

[@willratelle8027]

Yes

[@dddigler.89]

@ thank you!

[@indianronin01]

Fellas if deadlifts "did not grow your back", Try Zercher full cycle or 3 - 6 inch deficit deadlift for 6 - 8 rep sets.

[@MKGPerformance]

Will finna go for his IFBB pro card

[@charlesborel8493]

People need to understand the difference between sarcoplasmic hypertrophy vs myofibrillar hypertrophy. Sacroplasmic you are maximizing time under tension which damages the sacroplasmic sack around your muscles, its get depleted of glycogen, electrolytes, and water and fills up with blood (also known as the pump) it then rebuilds and gets bigger after recovery. When you go for lighter weight, more reps and shorter rest times you are going to optimize size building which is why body builders do this. Myofibrillar hypertrophy, you will recruit high thresh hold motor units which cause damage to actual myofibrills or little strands that actually make up the muscle so yes you will get bigger but you will not optimize size building, when you train heavy you are actually training your nervous system more than your muscles. You are training to send strong signals from your brain to your muscles. That’s when you’re lifting heavy weight, low reps, high rest time. If you want to maximize any body part or movement pattern you need to do both

[@christopherseat9871]

Good session.....Thankyou always Will. Get Well..........please.

[@Skygooose]

I do all of these and can confirm it grows the back.

[@Master_Po_731]

Just curious, does it matter in which order you do them? Or how frequently? Just making sure I don't overkill my body doing em 3-4 days a week.

[@Skygooose]

@@Master_Po_731 I superset rows and bench press, superset OHP/Pull-ups, and do deadlifts on leg days.

[@metroboominwantsomemore242]

do you train neck sir, or deadlifts and trap specified rows which you mnetioned is enough for better looking neck?

[@willratelle8027]

Hey man i put on this video no trap development a couple of years ago, hope this answers your question. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqimeIKim5d2a68si=-UI1Vk2SD_nF-k-1

[@umairyaqoob2307]

Next video on how to maintain contact in clean?

[@kanter777]

Do you feel sore after doing such heavy sessions?

[@willratelle8027]

Yeah I usually experience a little bit of soreness, rarely too much that I can't recover from and train hard again within 48 hours.

[@KissLovex]

Do you have programs?

[@willratelle8027]

Yes I have several programs and they come with ebooks as well. You can find them at the link below. Best www.w2performance.com/shop

[@DarthBeanr]

Interesting video! A lot of the natty hypertrophy youtubers have actually started a movement AGAINST this, i.e. the conv deadlift is the worst variation to grow muscle and you're better off training mostly RDLs and SLDLs.

[@jo8989]

why preference for supinated over pronated/neutral grip?

[@DeeRemedy]

Thumbnail caught my eye impressive work but on another note I’ve been avoiding deadlifts for like 2-3 years I’d guess I can pull somewhere from 5-600 because I can squat 525 for a few reps without a belt but deadlifts always make my back so stiff afterwards is my form just cooked or does everyone else get that?

[@BubbyX669]

Lat pulldowns id say are unnecessary if already doing chinups, but cable rows to isolate the mid/upper back thickness makes much more sense if already destroying your posterior with heavy deadlifts on a back day. Cable or machine rows are a great accessory lift for a back day like machine press and cable flys are to bench press, unless you dont deadlift and are specializing in bent over rows, I just dont see how you could make these work, and thats not including lower body days btw.

[@ramieskola7845]

The name of the lift has been known as the Row since 1950's. No need to add Pendlays there. Then there are variations eg. floating Row were weights don't touch the floor or Yates Row with more upright position.

[@BlackSpice]

just by seeing your back i knew you did deadlift

[@26Bibles]

What abt shoulders, just heavy presses and lat raises?

[@charliegarrett5993]

Why do you like doing chin ups with supinated grip rather than pronated grip? This was very gratifying because these are the exact exercises I do for my back, just got to increase the weight on the bar by 50% to get to your level haha

[@LC-nu6zz]

Hi, how much protein is needed to build added muscle?

[@NimrodTheEternal]

none

[@BilboBaggins-s8n]

0g/lb of bw

[@TheSymphonyofpain]

Short and sweet

[@dohertysdespair]

Great video. Quads next!

[@willratelle8027]

If I do another video similar to this one, quads might be the muscle group I discuss!

[@kevinames2816]

Couldn’t agree more

[@fshiu]

become a streetlifter and weighted pullup over +100% bodyweight (even in the heaviest weight classes), that should grow your back

[@dariusdarden9670]

Good info

[@matriaxpunk]

Bent over rows are better than pendley rows for hypertrophy because of the loaded stretch, just try to be honest with your form.

[@IknowMMA]

How often should someone deadlift that has had a hip strain from an overuse injury? Lets say they deadlifted 3 times a week before.

[@batataandshawarmalover]

Frequency is only one factor. It's irrelevant to tell you X times per week without knowing how heavy, how much volume, and what YOU can tolerate at this stage without much pain. If the pain isn't too bad, and you don't think you have any actual muscle/tendon tears, and you're actually able to even Deadlift properly without much pain, I'd maybe do something like the following: Start with maybe 3x6 with 50% of 1 rep Max on one session, and maybe like 5x3 with 60% on another session in the week. Slowly add weight if it's not painful. You may want to/need to do some other exercises to rehab/strengthen the strained muscles. In the future, you need better load management or lower frequency on Deadlift. 3 times a week deadlift with heavier weights (80+%) is just unsustainable in the long term for most people. Sure, guys like Matt Vena exist who train 6x/week 3 hours for Powerlifting, but he's also very meticulous about not going anywhere near failure on any of his sets, and he has an actual periodized structure, something most of us don't really use because we're just not at that level.

[@dansmith9724]

I like the PendlayRow and have recently added a wide grip PendlayRow and it really works the upper back and rear delts hard. I do a couple of sets of wide grip rows after doing my heavy PendlayRows.

[@jessedavid8829]

This take on back training is so based. l find this so refreshing compared to all the stupid exercises pushed by the "science based" guys.

[@dbbdbdbdbd599]

i do rdls weighted pull ups and rows but my grip gives out completely mid training

[@willratelle8027]

I recommend using straps

[@Younex]

Pull ups / chin ups with deferent grips go to failure in each set Train them 2 or 3 times a week Thank me later

[@ScottO1990]

it really is that simple

[@ShawnLallJD]

Commenting for algorithm

[@ruhaanparandekar9528]

What do you think when people say they don’t do free standing rows for the reason that it fatigues their erectors too much or people might just be progressively cheating as the weights get heavier?

[@batataandshawarmalover]

Maybe they're doing normal bent over Barbell Rows, not Pendlay Rows. Even if erectors get fatigued, the body adapts. Rowing 80-120Kg strict won't cause nearly as much fatigue as Deadlifting 200-260Kg will, so I think it's just cope, they don't want to do a difficult Barbell movement. Besides, the fatigue only matters if someone is actually trying to maximize their lower Body training. It's maybe relevant for Powerlifters, but not for people who just wanna get big and strong in general.

[@ruhaanparandekar9528]

@@batataandshawarmalover yea I heard the notion about not liking bent over rows for the reasons I listed from enkiri elite fitness. He said it with the context that he believed deadlifting was one of the overall best movements for just general strength, and he thought non supported rows was taking away from his deadlift performance

[@batataandshawarmalover]

@@ruhaanparandekar9528 at his strength level, it makes perfect sense. But guys who don't even Deadlift 4 plates or Row 1.5 plates for reps yet, talking about abandoning basic exercises because of fatigue is just counterproductive, that's not who the advice is meant for.

[@ruhaanparandekar9528]

@@batataandshawarmalover yea totally agree

[@jsamuel251]

TLDR; Hip hinge / vertical pull / horizontal pull

[@willratelle8027]

Lol

[@LiberatedMind1]

I just give fat women piggy back rides, built me a turtle shell this way.

[@MKGPerformance]

Based and barpilled

[@ve_rb]

Gws coach

[@Ruarif316]

why chin ups over pull ups?

[@willratelle8027]

I like the supinated grip in chins because it allows the biceps to be involved in a more advantageous position.

[@Adderup-sx7py]

Will are you lifetime natty?

[@willratelle8027]

Yes

[@kapoioBCS]

@@willratelle8027😅

[@346ask]

I disagree, I used to pull 465 and have a small back. I can do muscle ups, pulls, etc. Still small back. Idk what else to do. 5'6, 150lbs for reference.

[@Nice_Cali]

Pull 565 then

[@Michael-kb2il]

Your problem is you are 150lbs

[@346ask]

@@Michael-kb2il Isn't that normal for my height? I've seen similar height people on Instagram with crazy physiques at 135lbs

[@mateuszwojnarowski4404]

eat more food than chinese factory worker

[@kapoioBCS]

I can do 260kg for five reps at conventional deadlift, I don’t feel my back is big tbh (and 5x280kg at sumo i think)

[@anthonini66]

You know sumo doesn't count

[@kapoioBCS]

@@anthonini66can you read?

[@anthonini66]

@kapoioBCS Barely. I was kidding, 260 is strong.

[@sipe254]

Why every guy saying how to grow a big back, recommends deadlifts and rows… What’s the point of a big back when your waist is as big as your back from doing all that crap? Machines has to be better here

[@willratelle8027]

I have a significantly better body composition than you do

[@maxmaximum-sh4bx]

For the algorithm

[@shy3175]

Crazy back muscles, but definetly no bb genetics

[@Adderup-sx7py]

You’re delusional lol. He’s 5’10 230 lean with a very well balanced physique. He would crush in a show.

[@gregorykleppen8058]

For the algoooo

[@cheeks7050]

Will hasn't posted in 2 days. SMH he's dropped off

[@willratelle8027]

I'll be back!

[@NimrodTheEternal]

grow ur hair

[@willratelle8027]

Bald for life lol

[@NimrodTheEternal]

@@willratelle8027 Retain your seed, itll grow back. Will take some time though. You need good blood flow and lifeforce

[@LucasFortunato-c7f]

That was a very biased opinion (obviously, its your channel after all) Just saying that this approach (mainly talking about the deadlift here)should stay in the past and that there are WAY more efficient ways to build a bigger back (or anything)

[@MidnightSlasher]

Bro I have a really weak lower back and deadlifts are not doing enough to strengthen it.

[@Naresh-w8t]

In the pendaly row, do yoi recommend bringing the bar close to lower chest for more upper back or just bringing it to the navel?

[@willratelle8027]

I usually try to touch somewhere between the sternum and naval