Upper back and Hamstrings

[Monarchking]

Hey.

How often do you guys n gurls directly train your hamstrings and back?

I know a lot squat multiple times a week and prob deadlift once, but how often do you hit te hams directly?

I find my ham recovery seems to take a while but I am wanting to increase the volume I give them.

and upper back everytime in the gym?

[drizzt]

Mike (RTS) has me doing some kind of hamstring movement at least once a week (on top of my 3x squats & 2x deads) - often Snatch Grip SLDL, and/or single-leg Romanian deads.  Guys like Brad Gillingham swear by their Glute Ham Raise machines too.

I add lots of light upper back work (pulldowns w/ variety of grips, rows) throughout all of my sessions, since I've added it in, I've noticed my bench setup has been tighter, and bench has certainly improved.  Whether or not directly related to the back work I've been doing, I can't say for sure, but I know it played a part in making me feel more stable under the bar.  That, and I haven't really had shoulder issues to speak of since I started doing upper back work, and I used to have chronic shoulder pain.

I've heard (may or may not be a myth) that some of the biggest benchers do heavy rows before their heavy bench sets, apparently something to do with the agonistic/antagonistic nature of the muscles makes the movement more powerful.  Could be a high level of bro sorcery, but I wouldn't count it out.

FWIW, the good benchers I know/have seen in action all place a fair amount of emphasis on back movements.

[Monarchking]

And we all gota have a mean bench!!

Cheers for te reply. Why the snatch grip? More upper back? 

I recently hurt my lumbar so have begun front squats 3x a week and basically doing pull-ups 2-3x. After a 4 week lay off fronts hit the back nicely too

Before this I was seen improvement in my deadlift after implementing the GHR 2x a week along with good mornings 2x  and more core work and only DL every other week.

soooo ill hammer the upper back even more n see how it goes.   

 

 

[Phedder]

I tend to do something for the upper back pretty much every day. I do more work for it on my bench days at the moment, but in general I'll still knock out some pull ups, face pulls or band pull-a-parts most days. Half the battle I find for me, is just keeping those muscles activated. Posture really is so important, and the more aware you are of it, and the muscles that control it, the better off you'll be. 

It definitely helps to have a very strong upper back, but I think it's just as useful to hyper-aware of your upper back positioning during lifts. If it takes a few sets before some squats or deadlifts to help that, then go for it!