by: Gregg Gillies

A wide back, along with well developed shoulders is one of those impressive body parts that you can't hide no matter what you are wearing. Discover the most effective back training exercise you can use to build a thick, powerful back.

Your shoulders and lats create that impressive v-taper and make your physique look powerful and strong. Your back is also the biggest muscle group in the body. Thus, effective back routines are an extremely important part of your weight training routine.

Solid back routines for weightlifting should center around one exercise: the deadlift. Walk into any gym and count how many people perform the deadlift in their back routine. I bet you can count the number on one hand.

In fact, I bet you don't even need to know how to count because the number of people you see using the deadlift in their back routines will most likely be zero. This is usually true with the squat as well.

And how many trainees have well developed legs or a powerful well developed back? Not many. Sadly, these two exerices are also the best choices to develop the muscles people do spend a lot of time working - the chest and the arms.

Most of the time, the deadlift should be the centerpiece of any back routine. I say most of the time, because it's an exercise that can very easily lead to overtraining and you need to take breaks from time to time.

The back is a very complex muscle group and you can benefit from having a variety of back routines in your bodybuilding program that allow you to switch up your routine every 4 to 8 weeks.

You can center your back weight training program around the deadlift for 4 to 8 weeks and then put together a weight lifting routine for your back without the deadlift.

Effective back routines should include the deadlift for another important reason. Like the squat, the deadlift seems to increase muscle mass throughout the whole body, not just the back.

Your body will not develop smaller body parts like your biceps and triceps too far out of proportion to your larger muscle groups. So working your legs with squats and your back with deadlifts will help your smaller body parts grow as well.

In addition, the deadlift is an exercise that will help you become as strong and powerful as you look. Your muscles will not just be for show, like so many pump artists that look good but can barely squat or deadlift their own bodyweight.

Following are a couple of good back routines for weightlifting that you can use to develope a thick, wide, powerful back. The first one centers around the deadlift.

The following routine includes four quality sets on the deadlift. First, perform three light sets with increasing weight to allow your body to warm up and for you to get into a groove with proper technique.

Back Routines #1

Deadlift 4 x 6 - 8

Curl grip Chins 3 x 8 - 12

Perform this routine twice per week. It doesn't seem like much but believe me, if you put in the necessary intensity to those deadlifts you will not want to do any more work than this.

Back Routines #2

Curl grip Pulldowns 3 x 8 - 12

V-Bar Seated Rows 3 x 8 - 12

One arm dumbbell rows 3 x 8 - 12

In order to design effective back routines for weightlifting or practical weight training routines in general, it's important to understand the fundamentals of weight lifting.