This is a hard and heavy back workout that works the back from top to bottom. Lat thickness, lat width, as well as the spinal erectors. For the first exercise I’m blasting out heavy weights for high reps to really push myself and stimulate some new muscle growth. Then for the remaining exercises I’m doing a standard 5 x 5 set and rep pattern.
The workout consisted of 1 arm dumbbell rows for lat thickness. Weighted pull ups for lat width. And good mornings for developing the spinal erectors, lower back, and core.
You can watch it right on my YouTube Channel at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfz7RTtoGk0
If you’d like to keep up to date and get early bird notification when I post new workout videos, be sure to subscribe to my Total Fitness Bodybuilding YouTube Channel.
34 Comments
Dominic
Lee, quick question regarding the GM’s…aren’t you supposed to try and keep your knees pretty much locked throughout the movement? Because I noticed that you unlocked yours a lot to allow yourself to increase the ROM (you went a LOT deeper, it seems), and I’ve never seen this described as the proper technique. I hope that doesn’t come off as me criticizing you, I’m legitimately curious.
Thanks, Lee, and keep the emails coming!
Preet
hey Lee, i had a question regarding back workouts.
every time i workout my back i never feel soar the next day.
I’ve tried high reps low weights low reps high weights and in the middle but i never get any DOMS. why is that? My form is good i make sure of it but no matter what i never get soar and it makes me feel like i didn’t have a good workout and tend to neglect my back workouts because of this. Also this happens with my shoulders as well! could it be the same reason?
Alex
Liftin’ heavy Lee !!
Enjoyed to see those gm’s.. didn’t know about that exercise and it seems preety good..
I just think youre neglecting the traps here.. maybe just one more exercise and it would be a real killer workout for the back..
Caelan
hey lee, i am 15 and still growing. does doing deadlifts, good mornings stunt your growth. i dont think so but other guys at school say squats and some back exercises can stunt your growth. also i am 5ft 10 1/2 and i am 145lbs so i am not very filled out yet and i play hockey/basketball, do you think i should go on a mass building diet or not and which one would you reccommend?
Thanks Lee and hope to hear from you soon.
Bali
Hey Lee when doing the conventional deadlift I feel like my back is rounded when actually its somewhere straight to arched… is this feeling normal as the back is lifting most of the weight and will feel like its being bent?
Joe
Hey Lee in this video you’re doing some heavy training…. but how often do you perform relatively light training with higher reps? Should an equal number of workouts be dedicated to relatively light training so as to recruit all the different motor units?
Kohl
Hey lee regarding your unique twist that you mentioned… you said that you were not going to do just regular sets of 10 but instead you were going into your top working weight. Question… don’t all trainees start off with their top working weight after warming up? Assuming they’re doing heavy style training
Perry
I can not watch the videos, can someone help me on how to change my settings so I can see them.
leehayward
Keeping your knees soft is the safer way to go. Just like with stiff leg deadlifts, you should still keep your knees soft. You are much more likely to get injured by pulling or tearing something if you lock out your knees.
leehayward
Well first off you should have a training schedule in place where you train your entire body in proportion and not based on what muscles get sore or not. So simply having an organized training schedule will prevent you from neglecting your back workouts.
And as for soreness don’t worry about it, I never got sore after doing this back workout and I really pushed myself on the db rows and weighted pull ups. Soreness doesn’t equal muscle growth.
leehayward
The whole growth stunting thing is BS. No exercise is going to help or hinder your height. You will grow to be a certain height based on your genetics regardless if you workout or not.
leehayward
Yeah, it’s normal to feel like your back is bending when deadlifting. That’s why it’s good to take video of yourself or at least get a knowledgeable person to critic your lifting form.
leehayward
I go by how I feel a lot of the time. If I’m feeling strong then I’ll push myself hard. If I feeling less then 100% then I’ll do a less intense workout with lighter weights.
leehayward
The twist is that instead of doing multiple sets with a set weight (like I often do). I just took my top weight and went for one all out set to failure. In this case I did a 30 rep set.
leehayward
You’ll need to go to http://www.YouTube.com and download the plugins needed to watch videos. Even if you google searched “can’t watch youtube videos” you should be able to find the info you need.
Charles
How often do you do that workout in a week ? You seem to be of the thinking of doing less more often. A smaller back workout on Monday and Thursday rather that one big workout on Thursday.
Thanks
Selwyn McEwan
Tried this today.. loved it great workout Lee, especially with those ‘Good mornings’, although i got told off for doing them because the PT’s thought I’d get a back injury, (theyd never seen them before) ..
leehayward
If you are going to do 2 workouts in one week for the same bodypart use different exercises for your second workout. For example you could do a hard and heavy “free weight” exercise workout like this one. Then for your next workout do a lighter machine based workout. This will allow you to work the muscles frequently, but you’ll be less likely to burn out or get injured.
leehayward
Awesome, glad you liked the workout!
As for the good mornings…
It just goes to show how much experience the gym’s personal trainer has if he hasn’t even see the exercise before… I don’t like to be negative to anyone, but most personal trainer courses out there are a total joke. They give you creditably on paper, but not in the real world.
Dave
learnt years ago from Mike Mentzer the best way of doing pullups is with a close palms together grip, you get a much better stretch in fact, the wider the grip the less effective the exercise is despite what numerous people tell you, if you have never tried v bar dips try them, they speak for themselves.
Weihong
Do i also need to do the same order of exercises? I prefer to do pull ups first since its the toughest back exercise for me. As for Good Mornings, I’m still working on the good form. More reps using moderate weight for that exercise instead?
Chad
Good Mornings MUST be done with knees bent to prevent injury!!
leehayward
I do all sorts of grips when doing pull ups, wide, narrow, over hand, under hand, parallel, etc. I usually switch it up with each set to hit the muscles from different angles.
leehayward
You can do pull ups first in the workout if you like, it’s not a big deal.
Rob Baumgartner
Hey Lee I’m trying to bulk up a bit and I’ve always wondered will high rep exercises help me get bigger? I’ll usually switch up with high weight and low weight variations for example start with high weights and then hit low weights with high reps. Is this a good routine too follow?
madeline
hi Lee, i hope all is well at your end of the world, i saw you video and my question is about the good mornings.. im hearing so much on my facebook page that adding weight to it can totally blow out your back, i do GM and i have a back injury L 4/5 spinal fused uff ) but i will not add heavy weights ( 2.5 lbs on each side )due to that fact but it gives me a stretch and i feel good after words, i do and ALWAYS bend my knee just like you do so it does not stress my back out with some ppl lock there knees ..i know it isnt good to do that more so when your bending over , as a nurse we were always told about body mechanics when lifitng patients and bending over is like adding 70 lbs cuz our upper body is the heaviest, we were taught old school way.what are your thoughts about this controversey?
leehayward
Yes, cycling between lower rep and higher rep training will work the best for overall muscular development. You’ll also find that certain exercises work better for higher rep work (i.e. isolation moves) and certain exercises work better for low rep power moves (i.e. big compound lifts).
leehayward
I always keep my knees soft when doing exercises like this. Now the nature of a good morning is to have the weight somewhat in front of you to train your body for that position.
But when lifting in general and doing “real world” things and lifting heavy objects you certainly want to keep everything in alignment and try to lift with your legs, not your back.
Akshat
Hello LEE I HAVE a question for you ….. when I do abbs workout specially crunches , My lower back starts paining … Is it due to back workout ??? cos I always wear gym belt while working out ? ….. Thank you 🙂 take care
Eddy Beale
This is a pretty epic workout to be honest Lee. Might give it a go.
I’m still a firm believer in my staples, Deadlift, Barbell Rows and Pullups 😀 I think ill continue to do these (God willing) up until im like 50 years old, i just cant get enough of them.
Paolo
He was bending his knees for balance which you have to do when going that heavy.
Dominic,
maria Dyment
you rock thank you!!!!
casey macville
Training back is probably one of the most complicated yet one of the most rewarding bodybuilding training experiences. Complicated because the back is a complicated area made harder because you can’t see what you’re training.
DonEri
Lee, I love your workouts and I use most of em in my routine. I’m wondering if there’s any help you can give me. I’ve been working out for 6 months solid now, and have improved a significant amount, but I can’t do pull ups. I’ve had a significant increase of stregnth all around. I can pull 190lbs for a 6 rep set on lat pull downs, but yet I can’t do more than 4 pull ups. I’m 5′ 6″, I weigh 185, and am about 17.5% body fat. That’s not amazing but way better than the 210 and 24% I was at 6 months ago. Thanks in advance Lee for any help you can give me!