Abel Albonetti's Ultimate Back
Abel Albonetti's Ultimate Back
If you're
looking to round out your muscular physique, a strong back is an
absolute must. Try this intense, high-volume workout to put on size and
build a stacked back!
Looking to build a broad back? Of course you are. While the back
might not be one of the standard go-to "show muscles" or have an
international day named after it—ahem, chest—a wide, muscular back is
essential to a well-rounded physique. It's the key to looking dense,
thick, and powerful.
This upper-body workout will help you lift your way to larger lats,
stronger traps, and a muscular middle back. Some of the movements will
even hit your biceps and shoulders. Follow my directions, and you'll be
well on your way to a barn door back in no time.
ABEL ALBONETTI'S ULTIMATE BACK WORKOUT
Watch the video - 8:26
Abel's Ultimate Back Workout
1
Wide-grip bent-over barbell row
5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 reps, triple dropset on final set
2
Wide-grip weighted pull-up
5 sets of 8-10 reps
3
Single-arm dumbbell row
6 sets of 12 reps
4
Reverse-grip lat pull-down
4 sets of 10-12 reps
5
Close-grip seated cable row
4 sets of 10-12 reps
6
Prone dumbbell bench row
3 sets of 8-12 reps, triple dropset with intraset stretching on final set
Triset
7
Wide-grip lat pull-down
3 sets of 10-15 reps
Straight-bar cable pull-down
3 sets of 10-15 reps
Standing low-cable row
3 sets of 10-15 reps
Ready, Willing, and Abel
This hypertrophy workout is a high-volume, muscle-building assault.
It will most definitely help you build the solid, thick back
musculature you're after, but it won't be easy. You'll need to put in
some serious work. Get your head ready, because this bomber back session
includes a hearty helping of dropsets, trisets, intraset stretching,
and good ol' heavy lifting.
Lift to failure on all your sets, but stay focused on form. Keep
your rest periods to a minimum and don't waste time. During my
hypertrophy workouts, I keep my own rest between sets to roughly 60
seconds, and I never exceed 80 seconds.
All of these movements emphasize the lats, delts, and traps while
throwing in a good amount of midback and shoulder work. Let's get
started.
1
Wide-Grip Bent-Over Barbell Row
When I do a bent-over barbell row, I like to start by standing up
with my back straight. I then hinge at the hips and lean forward into a
45-degree angle. This is the ideal starting position. For each rep, I
let my lats and arms achieve full extension before pulling the bar up.
Make sure you use a heavy yet manageable working weight for the first 4
sets.
Wide-Grip Bent-Over Barbell Row
On the fifth and final set, you'll perform a triple dropset. That
means you'll drop the weight after the fourth set and go as heavy as you
can for as many reps as possible (AMRAP). Then you'll strip more weight
and repeat that two more times. Make sure you hit failure with every
single set.
2
Wide-Grip Weighted Pull-Up
Pull-ups are an essential lat-strengthening, back-building
exercise. On these, I squeeze my back on every rep, and at the bottom of
each rep I release my lats fully before pulling myself back up.
Wide-Grip Weighted Pull-Up
Even when using weight, I try to make sure my form on every pull-up
is as perfect as possible: hands shoulder-width apart, chest out, torso
angled back slightly, shoulder blades back and contracted on the way
up, and arms extended and fully stretched at the end.
As always, scale as necessary. If you don't have weighted pull-ups
down just yet, bodyweight pull-ups are fine. Just make sure you hit the
8-12 rep range.
3
Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
For standard, single-arm dumbbell rows, I really focus on extending
my arm all the way down and then squeezing at the top, trying to get my
elbow as far back as possible.
Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
For swinging rows, my form is a little different. For these, it's
important to focus on the mechanics of the movement and leave your ego
behind when choosing a proper weight. I go down in weight for this one,
instead focusing on the second half of the rowing motion.
Doing so allows me to pause for a split second at the top of the
movement and then release, targeting a different part of the back. Trust
me: When you have this one down, you'll really feel the difference.
4
Reverse-Grip Lat Pull-Down
Underhand pull-downs really target the lats. For them, you want to
keep your hands about shoulder-width apart, really focusing on
maintaining a straight back while pulling your elbows down as far as
possible.
Reverse-Grip Lat Pull-Down
During this part of the workout, you should really start to feel it
in your lats. Keep your end goal in mind, and push through any
perceived fatigue.
5
Close-Grip Seated Cable Row
Close-Grip Seated Cable Row
When I do cable rows, I make sure to really focus on pulling my
hands outward and squeezing my shoulder blades back. I emphasize this by
holding the contracted position at the top of the movement. This pause
helps me get the most out of every rep in every set.
6
Prone Dumbbell Incline Bench Row
I'm a big fan of prone bench incline rows. It's one movement where
you really can't cheat by using your body weight to help propel the
weights. This means the entire lift will work your back—specifically,
your lats and traps.
Prone Dumbbell Incline Bench Row
On the third set of this exercise, you're going to do a triple
dropset with some intraset stretching. After completing your 8-12 reps,
you'll hold the weights in the bottom position for 30 seconds. You'll
then drop the weight, grab a slightly lighter set of dumbbells, bust out
8-12 reps, stretch for 30 seconds, and then drop that weight once again
before reaching for a lighter set of dumbbells.
For this last set, do as many reps as you can before holding that 30-second stretch. Finish strong!
7
Triset: Wide-Grip Lat Pull-Down, Straight-Bar Cable Pull-Down, Standing Low-Cable Row
We're going to wrap up this workout with a triset. The rep range
for each exercise is 10-15 reps, which is about as many as I can do, so I
will be going to failure on each one. You should too. Don't cheat
yourself on your final set—go hard or go home.
Triset: Wide-Grip Lat Pull-Down, Straight-Bar Cable Pull-Down, Standing Low-Cable Row
A triset means you'll complete all three exercises back to back
before resting. You'll start off with wide-grip pull-downs, where you'll
want to focus on keeping your back straight and squeezing your lats,
then progress to straight-bar pull-downs, where you'll want to keep your
arms straight and just squeeze during the entire motion. You'll finish
with low-cable rows, which are all about squeezing and pumping as much
blood as possible into the muscle possible.
Knock out three trisets to finish off the session, and your reward will be a giant back!
