---
title: 'Biggest Back Training Mistakes (that keep you small forever)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=qT3llByCJqI'
video_id: 'qT3llByCJqI'
date: 2026-08-01
duration_sec: 482
---

# Biggest Back Training Mistakes (that keep you small forever)

> Source: [Biggest Back Training Mistakes (that keep you small forever)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=qT3llByCJqI)

## Summary

This video breaks down the most common back training mistakes that prevent lifters from building a wide, V-tapered back. The host emphasizes the concept of weighted stretch and walks through lat pulldown form, range of motion, pulling cues, exercise variety, and rear delt training. Viewers get concrete technique fixes and a recommended set scheme.

### Key Points

- **The Back's #1 Growth Mechanism: Weighted Stretch** [00:02] — The back responds primarily to weighted stretch — muscles getting stretched under load during a lift. Most technique errors kill this stretch, which is why so many people's back training fails.
- **Lat Pulldown Mistake: Pulling to the Belly** [01:20] — Many beginners pull the bar toward their belly or crotch, turning the exercise into a triceps pushdown. The bar should always be pulled toward the upper chest; if you can't do that without leaning back, the weight is too heavy.
- **Incomplete Range of Motion** [02:15] — Skipping the top and bottom parts of back exercises misses the most impactful portions of the movement. Full range of motion is essential — comfort isn't the goal in the gym.
- **Pull With Your Elbows, Not Hands** [03:33] — Hands are only hooks for holding the weight. All pulling should be done by the elbows, and forearms must stay in line with the direction of the pull. This cue applies to all pulling exercises.
- **Keep Chest Up and Back Straight** [04:25] — If maintaining a straight back is difficult, use chest-supported row variations. This lets you focus purely on pulling correctly without your back rounding.
- **Include Both Vertical and Horizontal Pulls** [05:04] — Vertical pulls (pull-ups, lat pulldowns) and horizontal pulls (rows) are both necessary for balanced back development. Doing only one movement pattern long-term leads to imbalances.
- **Thumbless Grip Improves Back Activation** [06:24] — Most experienced lifters use a thumbless grip on back exercises because it makes the exercises feel better and improves the connection with the back.
- **Don't Neglect Rear Delts** [06:41] — Rear delts are crucial for pulling strength and making the back look bigger from the side. The host recommends five sets of rear delt isolation per session because most people are seriously lacking in this area.

## Transcript

vtaper is probably the number one goal for everyone, unless you like looking small. But there is so many crucial back training mistakes that people make which slow down their progress by a lot or just overall make it impossible to ever
get to that dream vtaper. That's why today I'm going to clear it all up for you so that you can finally achieve what you want. First, you need to learn one very crucial thing about the back. You need to understand how it works and what
it responds to. Once you know that, you will instantly eliminate at least half of the mistakes you are doing. The bag is all about weighted stretch. That's to absolutely drill this piece of information into your head because it's
the key to growing a massive bag. If you are not really sure what weighted stretch means, it simply refers to your back muscles getting stretched under of the lift. So, if you take the light pull down for example, you want the
but also in the top position. Unfortunately, most people are their poor technique. And as we established, the way they stretch is the most important thing for growing your back. So, if you are missing out on it,
look mediocre. So, let's start with the most common mistakes on the light pull down. The one mistake that is very prominent, especially in beginners, is upper chest, you pull it somewhere to your belly or your crotch, where it
almost looks like that halfway through the exercise, you changed your mind and down, you want to do the tricep push down instead. So, you need to eliminate this. Always pull the bar towards your upper chest. And if you can touch your
perfect. Yes, you don't have to directly come in contact with your upper chest, but you should still be close to it. But then you have to be careful that while upper chest, you don't let your body fall backwards because that is obviously
cheating and it's a sign that you are using weight that is too heavy for you down that weight is if you lay your entire body into it and that's not what cleanly get the bar down close to your upper chest without cheating, please
drop down the weight because you are not gaining anything by doing that. You are only losing. But even if some people know that they are supposed to pull the bar towards their upper chest, they then completely fail in the range of motion
department and that is not only relevant to the light pull down but to all back exercises. If I show you a line that represents the full range of motion with exercise highlighted, you can clearly see that if all you are doing is this,
then you are missing the most impactful parts of the exercise. That's why your range of motion should look like this instead. You know, I get it. Avoiding the top and the bottom parts of the exercise makes it so much easier and so
want it to be comfortable, you should have gone to the beach and not to the gym. Now, we need to talk about one other very important thing which just makes it straight up impossible for some people to do back exercises correctly.
you my training plans. If you are someone who feels really overwhelmed and you just want to get a great foundation that you can just grab and go, then this is exactly for you. These training plans are built on the basic exercises that
stood the test of time, which makes them perfect if you just want to cut out all just get to what really matters. If that's you, stop over complicating, click the first link below and start getting jacked the way it was meant to
be. Now, for our next mistake, which as I said is insanely important, and I am not overexaggerating, it makes all the difference. I'm going to tell you training. You have for sure heard in the past that you need to focus on pulling
with your elbows and not with your hands, which is true. This is very than this because when you hear pull with your elbows, it's kind of hard to imagine what it really means. So I'm going to try to simplify it for you so
that you can understand it completely and get the best back gains possible. your hands are only for holding the weight. Otherwise, they are just hooks. That's all. All the pulling is done by your elbows. And to pull with your
elbows correctly, you need to remember one simple thing. Your forearms always need to be in line with the direction of the pull. Your forearms shouldn't be in They always need to be perfectly aligned. This is how you pull with your
elbows and not with your arms. And this is not only relevant for the light pull down. This goes for all the back pulling exercises. So make sure that you you need to succeed is to keep your chest up, back straight, and make sure
you find it really difficult to hold this position and you are constantly you. You should try exploring chest exercises like that, your chest is supported so your back won't be
rounding. When you do that, you can purely focus on just correctly pulling keep your back straight, you are probably still relatively new to the gym. So having the freedom to just purely focus on improving your pulling
will be very helpful. Also, if you are still relatively new to the gym or you exercise selection, you need to know that there are two types of back exercises and it's crucial that you do both of them. So, let me explain. The
two types of back exercises are one a vertical pull and two a horizontal pull. Vertical pulling exercises are all the pull up and let pull down like exercises and the horizontal pulling exercises are all the rowing exercises. So what you
really don't want to do is for example do only horizontal exercises without any vertical exercises which just leads to imbalanced development of the back. So if you want your back to look as good as possible include both of these movement
patterns. But there are also other ways of going about it. For example, if you say I really want to get better at doing pull-ups, that's my focus. And then you only do pull-ups for like 3 months, that's completely fine as long as you go
later. The thing you just don't want to do is go years and years with just one type of movement pattern. This is not only a back training mistake, but it applies to all body parts. That's why I created this simplified cheat sheet
which has all the movement patterns, all the exercises, and all the rep ranges for every single body part. You can grab it for absolutely free in the pinned movement patterns and make sure that your routine has it covered. Now, we
very important when it comes to back training. For the best back gains, you thumbless grip. And while I wouldn't really call this a mistake because using a normal grip with your thumb is fine, but there is a reason why most of the
using the thumbless grip on their back exercises. It just makes it so much That's why usually when you go thumbless, you don't go back because it something that you might have not really seen coming in a back training mistakes
video, and that is rear delts. more specifically neglecting rear delts. Even shoulder version of this video, having strong rear delts is super important for you are pulling, the rear delts play a big role in that. After all, if you are
doing a pushpull legs routine, you are training rear delts on the pull days together with your back. So that should tell you something. The rear delts are one of the most neglected body parts. So, usually when I tell someone that
they just make the surprised Pikachu face. That's why in most of my training plans, I recommend doing five sets of rear delt isolation per session and not just three because majority of people are simply lacking in that department.
power to fix that. And this applies to you too, the one watching this video right now. Not only for the functionality, but also because having look so much bigger from the side. So, it's just a no-brainer to train them.
And you don't have to worry about some extra fatigue created by doing some more isolation work for your rear delts because it's just that, isolation. It only targets the small area of the body you are currently isolating. So, your
body won't be feeling beat up even if you do more sets than entering. Now, you fixed all your back training mistakes. Now, go fix your chest mistakes. Now, go fix your chest training.