With four decades of coaching experience, Charles Glass has helped countless clients sculpt stage-worthy physiques. And if there’s one lesson “The Godfather of Bodybuilding” has learned over the last 40 years that specifically applies to back training, it’s this: There’s a time and place for everything.
Glass gave viewers a glimpse into what it’s like to go through one of his workouts in a video posted on his YouTube channel on Oct. 21, 2024. The grizzled veteran of the muscle-building community provided specific coaching cues for developing wider lats and deeper delts.
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Back to Class With Charles Glass
The grizzled veteran of the muscle-building community started the session with the seated cable row, a staple in just about every bodybuilding back workout. A horizontal pull movement that effectively engages your lats and traps, the seated row can quickly deviate from a back-builder to a biceps-drainer if you’re not careful.
- To avoid this, Glass had his client sit on a short plyo box positioned directly behind the seated row bench. This allows for a complete stretch where you can pull with your back and contract all the way through.
Glass emphasized form and control over load, noting that he didn’t use a lot of weight on the seated row. When his client mentioned that many YouTube training videos say you must lift heavy to develop a big back, the longtime bodybuilding coach dispelled that notion.
- “We do believe in training heavy, but there’s a time and place for it,” Glass said.
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Unconventional Setup, Better Results?
After his client completed several slow-and-controlled sets of seated rows, Glass pulled another card out of his bag of cable-training tricks with a unique lat pulldown variation.
The Setup
- Glass positioned an adjustable weight bench directly behind the seated row bench, setting it to about a 45-degree incline.
- His client sat about halfway up the back pad, placing his feet on the seated row bench for leverage and leaning forward with his torso.
- Holding onto a long triceps rope with his arms fully extended, the trainee drove his elbows back, pulling and squeezing his lats at the top of the movement.
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Why go through such trouble with a perfectly good lat pulldown machine nearby?
- “It goes one way,” Glass explained. “This we can manipulate a little bit more and get the same contraction.”
Glass pays attention to every detail, pointing out that even the most nuanced change can make a major impact.
- “I need the angle so you can pull and lift the chest up,” Glass said. “If you’re sitting down in there, it’s going down to the bottom and you end up folding over.“
After pointing out both strengths and areas for improvement in his client’s physique, Glass finished up at a plate-loaded bent-over row machine. Again, he emphasized two familiar cues: fully stretching and contracting the muscle and using your back instead of your biceps to execute a movement that’s also taxing on your core.
If there’s one thing you can take away from the legendary trainer, it’s that a full range of motion matters more than moving massive amounts of weight—at least when it comes to building a wide back.
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Featured image: Charles Glass GOB / YouTube
