It’s more than just the pairing of immense mass with intricate details that makes the best backs such crowd favorites. It’s their unpredictability. When someone unfurls a lat spread or locks in a rear double biceps, the potential permutations are vast, as a mélange of muscles big (lats, traps, spinal erectors) and small (teres major and minor, infraspinatus, rhomboids) jockey for attention. Our collection of LEGENDARY BACKS embody this variety, coming in all shapes, but mostly the largest sizes. Some are wider, thicker or more deeply divided, some are freakier, others more elegant. With their every movement, though, each of them awed audiences in their own unique ways. – Greg Merritt

Kai greene flexing back

DORIAN YATES: DENSITY FROM HIGH INTENSITY

FLEX WHEELER: SYMMETRY & DETAIL

JOEL STUBBS: WIDEST EVER?

LEE HANEY: DENSITY & DEFINITION

KAI GREENE: THE ULTIMATE FREAK

PHIL HEATH: NEXT LEVEL DETAIL

RONNIE COLEMAN: GAME CHANGER