Legendary Bodybuilding Coach Charles Glass Tells You How To Obtain a Wider Again

Going heavy would not assure something

Final up to date on November 1st, 2024

With 4 many years of teaching expertise, Charles Glass has helped numerous shoppers sculpt stage-worthy physiques. And if there’s one lesson “The Godfather of Bodybuilding” has realized over the past 40 years that particularly applies to again coaching, it’s this: There’s a time and place for all the things.

Glass gave viewers a glimpse into what it’s wish to undergo considered one of his exercises in a video posted on his YouTube channel on Oct. 21, 2024. The grizzled veteran of the muscle-building neighborhood supplied particular teaching cues for growing wider lats and deeper delts.

 

Again to Class With Charles Glass

The grizzled veteran of the muscle-building neighborhood began the session with the seated cable rowa staple in nearly each bodybuilding again exercise. A horizontal pull motion that successfully engages your lats and traps, the seated row can rapidly deviate from a back-builder to a biceps-drainer in the event you’re not cautious.

• To keep away from this, Glass had his shopper sit on a brief plyo field positioned instantly behind the seated row bench. This enables for a whole stretch the place you possibly can pull together with your again and contract throughout.

Glass emphasised kind and management over loadnoting that he didn’t use plenty of weight on the seated row. When his shopper talked about that many YouTube coaching movies say you raise heavy to develop a giant again, the longtime bodybuilding coach dispelled that notion.

• “We do consider in coaching heavy, however there’s a time and place for it,” Glass mentioned.

 

Unconventional Setup, Higher Outcomes?

After his shopper accomplished a number of slow-and-controlled units of seated rows, Glass pulled one other card out of his bag of cable-training methods with a singular lat pulldown variation.

The Setup

• Glass positioned an adjustable weight bench instantly behind the seated row bench, setting it to a few 45-degree incline.
• His shopper sat about midway up the again pad, inserting his ft on the seated row bench for leverage and leaning ahead along with his torso.
• Holding onto an extended triceps rope along with his arms absolutely prolonged, the trainee drove his elbows again, pulling and squeezing his lats on the high of the motion.

 

Why undergo such hassle with a wonderfully good lat pulldown machine close by?

• “It goes a technique,” Glass defined. “This we will manipulate just a little bit extra and get the identical contraction.”

Glass pays consideration to each element, stating that even probably the most nuanced change could make a significant impression.

• “I want the angle so you possibly can pull and raise the chest up,” Glass mentioned. “In the event you’re sitting down in there, it’s taking place to the underside and you find yourself folding over.“

After stating each strengths and areas for enchancment in his shopper’s physique, Glass completed up at a plate-loaded bent-over row machine. Once more, he emphasised two acquainted cues: absolutely stretching and contracting the muscle utilizing your again as a substitute of your biceps to execute a motion that’s additionally taxing in your core.

If there’s one factor you possibly can take away from the legendary coach, it’s {that a} full vary of movement issues greater than shifting huge quantities of weight—a minimum of on the subject of constructing a large again.

Extra Bodybuilding Content material