5 Exercises For Your Back
Exercising the Back
Exercising your back consistently is a lot more important than you think. Your back muscles are essential as they help you with stability and posture. If you don't exercise your back you probably won't get far in the rest of your lifting. With a stronger back, you'll be able to lift heavier for all kinds of exercises, for example, bench press and deadlifting.
In this blog, you’ll learn a few great back exercises to increase your back strength, improve your posture, and give you a more balanced body.
5 Back Exercises
1. Bent-over row
The bent-over row is a staple for back day. You can perform the bent-over row with lots of different equipment like; kettlebells, dumbbells, or a cable machine.
How to Do the Bent-Over Row:
"Set up as you would for your deadlift by standing feet shoulder-width apart in front of a loaded barbell. Hinge at the hips until your torso is about parallel to the floor. Grab the barbell with a slightly wider grip than your typical deadlift grip. Lean back, so your weight is on your heels, and row the barbell, leading the pull with your elbow until it touches your belly button." (trusted source)
2. Lat pulldown
"The lat pulldown involves you pulling down a bar into your chest attached to a cable pulley. The tension and strength needed to pull the bar inwards to your chest create tension in your back. The lat pulldown is a lot similar movement to a pull-up. While performing this exercise, you can adjust your grip to target different back areas such as the upper back, biceps and lats." (trusted source)
3. Seated cable row
"For this row variation, you use an attachment with a cable pully; while seated, you pull the attachment towards your chest and create tension in your back. The position of your grip will play a significant role in the muscles being used during back exercises. Your arm path in this variation will be higher than the seated row focusing on lats, which will align the rowing motion with the rear delts and upper back (traps, rhomboids, and teres major). This seated variation is great for building overall muscle and strength in the upper and mid-back." (trusted source)
4. Landmine row
"This free-weight variation is performed by grabbing a handle attached to or added around a barbell. This exercise is excellent for placing tension on the entire back. It challenges not only your back but also your core and stability. This exercise can add a variety of resistance patterns with different attachments.
How to Do the Landmine Row
Set up your barbell by sliding it into the landmine attachment; add your weight of choice and a handle. Stand overtop of the barbell with one foot on each side. Fix the extension to the barbell and grasp the handles. Pull the weight up toward your chest with a slight lean forward, core tight, and the torso rigid. Slowly resist the weight as you return to the starting position." (trusted source)
5. Pull-ups
"Don’t assume the pull-up is less effective than the other moves on this list because it’s a bodyweight exercise. Pulling your body weight creates instability that recruits your core muscles for stability. Stabilizing your body weight will also draft the muscles in your core. You'll only need a pull-up bar to make this move, which you can buy, use at the gym or find at a park.
How to Do the Pull-Up
Assume an overhead grip on the bar, slightly wider than shoulder width. With the arms relaxed and shoulders elevated to the ears, contract the core and upper back as you initiate the pull-up. Aim to pull your chin to or above the bar level, driving your shoulders away from the ears."(trusted source)