Are you curious how Jujimufu trains his back? Do you want to know his secrets for building huge lats and a massive deadlift? Then you’ve come to the right place.
In this comprehensive guide, I will teach you exactly how Jujimufu trains his upper back for size and strength.
Jujimufu Stats
- Age: 35 years old
- Height: 5 feet 11 inches
- Weight: 235 pounds
- Real Name: Jon Call
- Cooler Than You: Yes
Jujimufu is one of the biggest names in the fitness industry today. He is known for his acrobatic skills, his legendary flexibility, and his impressive physique. He has also competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting, and can deadlift over 665 pounds.
Jujimufu says that his upper back has always been his strongest body part. His training partners joke that it all comes down to his elite genetics.
“How did Jujimufu build his back? He was born with it. It’s genetics.”
So how does Jujimufu train his upper back? Jujimufu trains his back using a “powerbuilding” approach.
He is a big fan of the conventional deadlift and is known for repping out heavy deadlifts in his back workouts. However, he also includes plenty of bodybuilding style exercises like pull ups, pulldowns and rows to develop his lats.
Here is one of Jujimufu’s favorite high-volume bodybuilding-style upper back workouts. Check it out:
Jujimufu Back Workout #1
- Exercise A1: Chin ups (medium / supinated grip), 2 sets to failure
- Exercise B1: Inverted rows with rings, 2 sets to failure
- Exercise C1: Reverse pec dec, 4 sets of 8-15 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise C2: Lat pulldown (wide / overhand grip), 4 sets of 8-15 reps, 2 minutes rest
- Exercise D1: Seated hammer strength row (medium / neutral grip), 4 sets of 8-15 reps
- Exercise E1: Standing one-arm DB row, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
Here is the training video:
This is how Jujimufu organizes his back workouts when he is training for bodybuilding. He says the deadlift is a great exercise. However, for advanced bodybuilders he thinks it is overrated. It is too difficult to recover from and doesn’t do enough to develop your lats.
Instead Jujimufu likes to focus on exercises like chin ups, pulldowns and rows to increase the size of his upper back.
“It just messes with your mind! I don’t want that right now. My back is big enough, it’s not a weak point, I don’t need to waste my time deadlifting right now.”
Throughout the workout Jujimufu gives some great advice on how to manipulate your posture on different exercises to get a stronger contraction in your upper back – especially your lats.
“Something that is hard to write in a program or read online is all the little details of an exercise.
Bodybuilders will tell you when you work with them, but for example the hammer strength row, it’s not just your grip, it’s also your posture.
It’s how your body is positioned, it’s your body type and all these little details. Bodybuilding is so personal.”
When Jujimufu is training for pure strength he organizes his workouts a little differently. He usually starts his back workout with some heavy deadlifts, and then performs some higher-rep assistance work to get in some more volume for his upper back.
Here is one of Jujimufu’s powerlifting-style back workouts. Check it out:
Jujimufu Back Workout #2
- Exercise #1: Conventional deadlift, 1 set of 2 reps
- Exercise #2: Seated cable row (V-handle), 3 sets of 8-12 reps
- Exercise #3: Lat pulldown (wide / overhand grip), 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Here is the training video for this workout:
This is exactly how Jujimufu likes to train the deadlift. He works up to 1-3 heavy sets on the deadlift, then performs some higher-rep assistance work for his upper back.
Jujimufu says that his simple approach is all you need to build a huge upper back and a massive deadlift.
“Look at similarities. Look at what most people are doing that’s working with them. They do something heavy, then they do some high-volume assistance work for higher volume and they’re consistent with it.
And it just works. It’s like baking a cake. You use the right ingredients and it just works. Deadlifts work, rowing works, pulldowns work.”
Jujimufu also likes to use supersets in his upper back workouts. Supersets are a high-intensity technique where you perform 2 exercises in a row with very little rest between sets.
Jujimufu often likes to superset different back exercises together to create more muscle fatigue and metabolic stress in his back.
Here is one of Jujimufu’s high-volume superset workouts that you can try. Check it out:
Jujimufu Back Workout #3
Superset #1
- Exercise A1: Standing cable pullover, 3 sets of 5-15 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise A2: Chin ups (wide / neutral grip), 3 sets of 5-15 reps, 2 minutes rest
Superset #2
- Exercise B1: One-arm barbell row, 3 sets of 5-15 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise B2: 30 degree incline barbell row, 3 sets of 5-15 reps, 2 minutes rest
Superset #3
- Exercise C1: Seated cable row (v-handle), 3 sets of 5-15 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise C2: Barbell dead stop row, 3 sets of 5-15 reps, 2 minutes rest
Superset #4
- Exercise D1: One-arm cable row, 3 sets of 5-15 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise D2: Chin ups (narrow / neutral grip), 3 sets of 5-15 reps, 2 minutes rest
Here is the training video for this workout:
Talk about a high-volume workout! Jujimufu performs 4 separate supersets to hit every area of his upper back.
As you can see Jujimufu likes to focus on rowing variations over pull ups and pulldowns. He says that he gets more out of rowing movements for overall upper back development.
“I feel like rows help build the back the most. High pulldowns, I get a better pump, so that’s why I prioritize rowing motions rather than pulling down motions, although pulling down motions are great for athletic carryover.”
Here is another one of Jujimufu’s superset workouts. This time he supersets deadlifts with other upper back exercises, such as shrugs, inverse rows and cable hip thrusts.
This workout is for entertainment purposes only! Check it out:
Jujimufu Back Workout #4
Superset #1
- Exercise A1: Conventional deadlift, 1 sets of 10 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise A2: Standing DB shrugs, 1 set of 10-15 reps, 3 minutes rest
Superset #2
- Exercise B1: Conventional deadlift, 1 sets of 10 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise B2: Inverted bodyweight row, 1 set of 10-15 reps, 3 minutes rest
Superset #3
- Exercise C1: Conventional deadlift, 1 sets of 10 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise C2: Cable hip thrusts, 1 set of 10-15 reps, 3 minutes rest
Superset #4
- Exercise D1: Conventional deadlift, 1 sets of 10 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise D2: Belt squat calf raise, 1 set of 10-15 reps, 3 minutes rest
Superset #5
- Exercise E1: Conventional deadlift, 1 sets of 10 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise E2: Glute ham raise, 1 set of 10-15 reps, 3 minutes rest
Superset #6
- Exercise F1: Conventional deadlift, 1 sets of 10 reps, 10 seconds rest
- Exercise F2: Reverse hyperextension, 1 set of 10-15 reps, 3 minutes rest
Here is the training video:
I’m not even sure what to say about this workout. Try it at your own risk!
Conclusion | The Jujimufu Back Workout!
Jujimufu is known for his incredible upper back development. He trains for bodybuilding and powerlifting, so he is always mixing things up in his workouts.
Sometimes Jujimufu performs high-volume bodybuilding style workouts using supersets and many different back exercises to hit his upper back from all angles. Other times he performs powerlifting-style back workouts where he performs a few heavy sets of deadlifts and 1-2 assistance exercises and calls it a day.
There are probably better upper back programs out there. However, if your goal is to be entertained then it’s hard to beat Jujimufu’s crazy upper back workouts.
“A trickster asked: ‘What is the true meaning of tricking?’ His friend responded: ‘Have you tricked today or not?’ The trickster said: ‘I have tricked.’ ‘Then wash your feet,’ said his friend.”
Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of luck on your strength training journey!
