GRT Yoked

Small back, bro?
elitefts.com/coaching-logs/small-back-bro/
Casey Williams
My college roommate was the biggest ball buster and one of the funniest humans I've ever
met. He looked like, acted like, and partied like John Belushi. One day in the locker room,
because we were also teammates, he started chuckling to himself. So I asked - what the fuck
are you laughing about??
"You have such a small back dude. It's the smallest back I've ever seen. I don't even know how
you carry your backpack on there."
I'm 99% sure he was busting my balls and giving me a compliment, but with him you never
quite knew for sure. I was fortunate that with only a little bit of work, my back blew up in
college. And he kindly referred to me as a "small back gorilla"...I think. Little did I know how
1/3
important this would be to my training after college football...
___________________________________________________________________________
Lately this has been a recurring question, and frankly a very good one. Sometimes lifters
will fixate on things that don't really matter - how wide should my bench grip be
(wherever you feel strongest), how much volume should I do for my triceps (more,
always more), am I doing the right program (probably, it doesn't matter that much) - you
get the picture.
Where to add in back work, and how much, is a good question because it shows me that
you know back work is important, and you're (hopefully/probably) already doing enough
of it.
A general rule of thumb for most lifters - you should be doing 2x as much rowing as
you are pressing.
Baseline:
If you're not doing that, start. Keep it simple - do your bench work for the day and then
pick a rowing exercise and match it. Then go onto your dumbbell work, pick another row
and match it. Then throw in pull ups or pull downs. On your second bench day, if you
have one, get your upper back work matching the same volume. Because the upper back
work is light, the load won't kill you. And if it does, then you need keep pushing the gas
on your volume of back work until it catches up.
___________________________________________________________________________
*I differentiate between back and upper back because
-- rows (back) should be trained 2-3x per week at a moderate to heavy intensity at
a volume 2x your pressing volume
--upper back should be trained 3-4x per week at a light intensity and high volume
(200-400 reps per week)
___________________________________________________________________________
My training split when I was competing (not including other assistance work):
Saturday Squats - no direct back work here
Monday Bench
- two heavy row variations (one unilateral)
- two upper back variations (light, about 100 reps each)
Wednesday Deadlift
2/3
- Main movement, another deadlift variation
- one targeted back movement
- one targeted lat movement
- more upper back work (light, about 100 reps total)
Friday Bodybuilding/Catch all
- Here I would add in LIGHT rows but no upper back work
___________________________________________________________________________
So where can you add in your own back work? Try this:
Squat day
- After your main movement and builder, add in 50 reps of chest supported rows or
machine rows at a moderate intensity
- Then add in 100 reps of upper back work (face pull, pull aparts) at the end of your
workout.
Primary bench day
- Match your presses with rows as discussed - typically a heavier rowing day
-Add in 100 reps of upper back work (chest supported rear delt swings as an
example)
Deadlift day
- Heavy back work/rows
- Plus 100 reps of upper back work as well.
Secondary bench day
- Row twice the amount of presses for that day, keep them moderate and targeted.
So now you're at 2:1 rows to presses, and you've added 300 reps of upper back
work per week.
*One rule of thumb I learned from Goggins - DO NOT do upper back work before your squat
and deadlift days. It's a recipe for disaster - if those muscles are fatigued it will be a bitch to
keep your technique under any sort of load.
3/3

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Small back, bro?

*I differentiate between back and upper back because

Saturday Squats - no direct back work here

- two heavy row variations (one unilateral)

- two upper back variations (light, about 100 reps each)

- one targeted back movement

- one targeted lat movement

- more upper back work (light, about 100 reps total)

Friday Bodybuilding/Catch all

- Here I would add in LIGHT rows but no upper back work

Primary bench day

- Heavy back work/rows

- Plus 100 reps of upper back work as well.

Secondary bench day

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