A powerful back makes the figure look like an inverted triangle, so you can make your waist and hips visually narrower. Superficial muscles give beautiful posture, and deep muscles stabilize the vertebrae and protect the intervertebral discs from injury.
Without a strong upper body, it is difficult to fully train your lower body. If you want to squat heavy weights, your back must be strong enough to support a heavy barbell.
Egor Fukalov
fitness trainer
If you want to be healthy, beautiful and smart, rock your back. You will have beautiful posture and good brain activity, since strong and stretched muscles will relieve you of tightness and pain.
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Back workout in the gym
Most exercises can be performed freely, with a minimum set of equipment and without the help of classic power racks and universal benches.
Back training in the gym begins with defining a lat training complex; it is better to start with simple general physical exercises that will warm up and improve blood supply to the whole body.
To perform the workout, warm up for 10 minutes (aerobics and stretching).
A back training program must include a combination of exercises with equipment and stretching.
Pull-ups
Starting position: Grasp the bar with your palms facing your chest, keeping the handle close to your shoulders. Straight back and curved lumbar region with a slight protrusion of the chest forward.
- Execution: Exhale and rise up until your head reaches the height of the bar. At this moment, inhale and return your body to its original position.
- How many times to repeat: The number of repetitions you need to perform depends on your form, so it is recommended to start by trying to perform as many stretches as possible, setting a fatigue limit, and then gradually increase the number of repetitions of the movement over time.
How to eat to achieve results?
Ideally, you need to calculate your resting metabolic rate and daily calorie intake based on your current or desired body weight. To do this, you can use formulas or download a food diary app to your smartphone. To reduce the amount of fat, you need to eat 200-500 kcal below normal per day.
Here are some more tips to help you speed up your metabolism and finally remove fat from your back, sides, and armpits:
- Eat as varied a diet as possible to ensure you get the full range of essential nutrients.
- Limit sugar: in addition to calorie content, it causes the development of dangerous diseases.
- Use proper cooking techniques. The higher the cooking temperature and the longer the cooking time, the more harmful and dangerous substances are formed in the products.
- Avoid foods that contain “empty calories”: fast food, chips, sweet soda, dishes with fillers, starch, palm oil, etc.
Reverse swing with reclining bench
To best perform this type of workout, you will need a bench and two dumbbells or weights (it is advisable to use different sizes of tools, starting with light ones and then gradually increasing the level of resistance).
- Starting position: Lie on an adjustable incline bench at an angle of 30° to 45°, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Back straight, shoulders back.
- Execution: Inhale and extend both arms at the same time until you reach shoulder level, avoiding bending at the elbows. Tighten your back muscles, exhale and slowly return the dumbbells to the starting position.
- How many times to repeat: Also in this case, the number of reverse flies performed depends on the state of the form, but to get results it is recommended to perform a series of 12-15 repetitions.
Deadlift
We have already told you about the best exercises for the upper back. Now we'd like to dedicate a section to an exercise that also targets the lower portion of this muscle group.
The deadlift is a compound movement that works the upper and lower back, gluteal muscles, and the front and back of the thighs.
The technique for performing this movement is shown in detail in the video below:
Recommendations:
- This exercise is not recommended for beginners.
- The deadlift is a very traumatic movement, so it should be performed as technically as possible. Incorrect technique can lead to spinal hernia, displaced intervertebral discs, etc.
- If for one reason or another you cannot or do not want to do deadlifts, you can replace this exercise with an easier and safer hyperextension.
Rowing machine pulley
There are also two types of rowing machines that allow you to do cable exercises. The most famous and used is the "low pulley" and the less practical but no less useful "high pulley".
The difference between the two exercises lies in the angle of the torso, the position of the feet and the depth (low or high) of the tool that we are going to use.
There are many variations of this exercise, but here we will focus on the traditional V-handle rowing machine pulley. This is a great back workout for men, especially those who have sedentary jobs.
Degree of difficulty: medium.
- Starting position: Sitting with a straight back, slightly bent at the knees, feet resting on the footrests, holding the low cable with both hands.
- Execution: Inhale and pull the handle towards your stomach, contracting your back muscles. Stretch your back, pushing your torso forward, exhale and return to the starting position.
- How many times to repeat: Here again, the number of blocks to perform depends on the state of the form, but to get results it is recommended to perform at least a series of 12 repetitions.
Pull-ups with an elastic band
Let's move on to another very good exercise for training the back muscles, in particular the spinalis major. This is a good workout option for girls in the gym.
The pulldown, performed correctly, essentially allows you to perform a full range of motion, providing excellent muscle stimulation in the context of absolute joint safety.
To perform this exercise, all you need is an elastic band, which will be passed through a stand located in front of you at head level.
Difficulty level: Easy.
- Starting position: Stand with a straight back about one meter from the support on which the elastic band stands, knees slightly bent, feet shoulder-width apart and pressed firmly to the floor.
- Execution: Grasp the ends of the elastic band with your hands, extend your arms forward at shoulder level, inhale and pull the elastic band until your arms are parallel to your body.
- How many times to repeat: The number of Push-ups performed depends on the state of the form, but to get results it is recommended to perform at least one series of 12-15 repetitions.
Anatomy
Before you learn about the best exercises for the upper back, you first need to understand what parts this muscle group consists of. A little later we will pay attention to how to train each of them.
- Latissimus muscles. Perhaps the most important part of the back, as it is what gives the body its triangular shape and athletic appearance. The main function is to bring the arms closer to the body. To work these muscles, it is necessary to perform vertical and horizontal movements.
- Trapezius muscles. Located above the latissimus dorsi muscles. Their main function is to raise and lower the shoulder blades and bring them closer to the spine. It follows that the best trapezius exercises are those in which the shoulder blades move up and down.
- Spinal erectors (extensor muscles). They stretch along the spine, starting from the pelvis and ending with the neck. As you can already understand from the name, their main function is to straighten our body. The back straighteners are trained with deadlifts, standing body extensions and hyperextensions.
Well, we’ve sorted out the anatomy, now let’s move on to the main topic of the article - exercises for the upper back. We'll start with movements aimed at working the latissimus muscles.
Rowing machine with steering wheel
In the list of exercises for training the back muscles, you cannot miss a great classic, namely the dumbbell rowing machine. It may seem like a simple exercise, but it hides several pitfalls.
To do this for back training at home, in addition to weights or dumbbells, it is also useful to have a flat bench, even if you don't already have one, it is recommended to choose an adjustable bench.
Degree of difficulty: medium.
- Starting position: knees and arm on one side of the body on a bench, back slightly arched parallel to the ground. The other foot remains on the ground and the leg is simply spread out to the sides. With your free hand, hold the dumbbell with your palm facing your body (neutral grip) and extend your arm.
- Execution: Pull the dumbbell upward, exhaling and trying to raise your elbow as high as possible, while keeping your arm to the side and your back remaining in its original position, avoiding twisting your torso. Stay in the maximum contraction phase for a few seconds and then use slow, controlled movements and inhalation to return to the starting position.
- How many times to repeat: The number of dumbbell rowers depends on your form, but to get results, it is advisable to perform at least a series of 12 repetitions on both sides of the body.
Mistake 4: Sacrificing range of motion for weight
Do you sense a certain trend here? A quick experiment: Extend your arm straight out in front of you, bend your elbow, and then move your elbow back as far as possible. This is what a full range of motion looks like when performing a pulling exercise. The point is that when you use too much weight, the amplitude usually decreases in both phases of the movement - especially during muscle contraction - the upper end of the range.
Best way: Use a weight that allows you to squeeze your shoulder blades together, then let the weight pull your arms back until they are fully extended. When doing T-bar deadlifts, use 10kg plates rather than 20kg plates to give yourself more wiggle room at the top due to their smaller diameter.
