A short list of the greatest backs of all time would start with names like Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, Lee Haney and Joel Stubbs. Right now, thousands of readers are spitting out protein shakes and asking, "Who the hell is Joel Stubbs?" Leading up to this year's rendition, the first three men had won the past 21 Mr. Olympia titles--but few bodybuilding fans have even heard of the fourth man, and he may never so much as qualify for the Mr. O, much less compete in it.
Still, when Joel Stubbs made his pro debut at the Europa Super Show September 17 in Arlington, Texas, the combination of width, thickness and neck-to-glutes details in the Bahamian's back astounded even this jaded reporter.
The next morning, FLEX's Kevin Horton photographed Stubbs in the sweltering heat of MetroFlex Gym--using the same equipment that built Coleman's legendary lats--and I found out precisely how Stubbs crafted a back that rivals Big Ron's for world's best.
BACKGROUND | First, let's answer the question that made many of you spray your whey. Standing 6'3" and weighing 305 in the offseason and 278 in his pro debut, Joel Stubbs is a tight fit in his office--the cockpit of a jetliner. Stubbs is a pilot for Bahamasair, dividing his time between his native Nassau and his usual destinations of Miami, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia. Stubbs played basketball at Florida Technical College and started bodybuilding in 1996. Then, after tearing patellar tendons of both knees on a basketball court, he committed more energy to physique competition, taking the super-heavyweight class of the 2000 Southern States (Marcus Haley won the overall) and securing IFBB pro status by winning the 2003 Central American and Caribbean championships.
"That was the goal I wanted to reach," Stubbs says of that contest. "I was unsure about going on. But I thought why not have some fun in the big league?"
He placed 12th in the 2005 Europa Super Show, hindered by a deficient lower body that was overpowered by his tremendous torso. Stubbs, who turns 38 in December, wants to promote bodybuilding in the Caribbean and see how far he can advance in the "big league," but his primary workplace remains the skies.
BACKTALK | When asked why his back is so outstanding, Stubbs gives the reply of a man who, for obvious physiological reasons, doesn't have a view of himself like the rest of us do--he can't honestly assess that bodypart of his, which is truly a bodybuilding wonder. Fact is, he believes his chest is on par with his back. That's not quite the case, but in any event, we had to delve deeper into just how he crafted his titanic rear view.
Stubbs clearly has a genetic proclivity for back musculature, but he also takes the same rigidly technical approach to his training that he does to landing an airliner. If there's a secret, it lies in the fact that he doesn't merely rep out rows and chins, but he carefully focuses each exercise on specific areas. "The back is a complex muscle group," he explains, "so I concentrate on details and on how the muscles tie together."
He alternates two back workouts. The first, his heavy day, includes more power movements, with pyramided sets for as few as six reps. The second, his light day, includes sets that go up to 15 reps. Most of the year, the gentlemanly islander does a heavy day one week and a light day the next week, but for the final month before a contest, he trains back twice per week.
Six sets of chins, performed in three different styles, remain a constant in both workouts, as does the precise way the wide-bodied jet-flier targets lifts to specific areas of his spacious back. He explains his approach to each exercise.
* Chins "I like doing chins first and with different grips, because this really warms up the various back muscles and stretches them out. When I change my hand positions, I feel different muscles working in different ways. I feel more of my upper lats and rear delts working with the wide forward [overhand] grip.
"With the hammer [palms facing each other] grip, I feel more of the traps tying into the rhomboid area. With the reverse [underhand] grip, I feel more of my rhomboids and the lower part of the lats."
* Deadlifts "Deadlifts are best for lower and midback thickness, all up the lumbar region, from the bottom of the back to the lower traps. I pyramid five or six sets. I start with one plate per side [135 pounds], and every set I go heavier, working all the way up to seven plates per side [675 pounds] for six reps."
* Barbell rows "I pyramid up, starting with one plate per side [135 pounds] for 15 reps and going to three plates per side [315 pounds] for eight to 10 reps. I usually alternate my sets, going underhand for one and overhand for the next. Sometimes I do two overhand and two underhand, sometimes three of each. I feel barbell rows in my upper back and middle back, getting a little better squeeze underhand and a little better stretch overhand. The important thing is to use a weight that's heavy enough to make you really work, but not so heavy that you can't feel the back muscles contracting."
