When one talks of great backs in the history of bodybuilding, Lee Haney and Victor Martinez come to mind as two of the best. Both men were blessed with wonderful genetics and trained very hard, but they trained very intelligently as well. They both attested to the importance of using chin-ups, or wide-grip pull-ups, in their back routine. They knew this movement worked like none other, and the results that they saw were undeniable, and in the case of Lee Haney, still discussed decades later.

Chin-ups, or wide grip pull-ups, are essential because they stimulate the body in a way that no machine can emulate. It is man against gravity, and man must win. Every possible stabilizer in the upper body comes into play, and the abdominals and arms get a heck of a workout as well. If you’re looking for a way to spurn some new growth, then use chin-ups – the ultimate body weight compound movement!

Lat pulldowns are a good substitute for chin-ups if you are incapable of completing the movement. Some people are just too heavy, or too weak, when they first start in the gym. There’s nothing wrong with that. The key is to work hard to reduce body weight to manageable levels, while at the same time increasing your strength by completing comparable movements. Even the largest 280-pound bodybuilders still employ chins in their routines for back thickness and width. If your gym has an assisted pull-up machine, then by all means, you should use it. Each week, try to remove another ten pounds from the stack, making the workload ten pounds heavier for pull-ups. Soon, you’ll be training with your full body weight as the resistance.

Form is important. Using your legs to ‘swing’ your way up will only remove stress from your back, and place it on your core, and allow momentum to remove some of the workload. This will make the exercise a poor arm movement, and do little for your back. Don’t even waste your time if you plan to cheat like this.

Being able to complete chins could save your life at a later time as well. We’ve all seen tragedies where a person fall off a boat and later perished because they didn’t possess the ability to pull themselves up out of the water. A great deal of arm and back strength is needed to pull your body up from a lower position. Regular use of chins helps you to develop that – and it can save your life one day.

Static hangs are another movement which help to deliver a great deal of stimulation to the back, even if you no longer have the ability to complete any more reps of chins, or if you aren’t strong enough to complete them to begin with. Grab a pull-up bar and hang. Flex your back muscles, and just keep them flexed for the duration of your hang. Spend 60 to 120 seconds stretching out in this manner. You’ll instill some growth, aid in spreading the lats, and discover soreness you never knew was possible!

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