Author: Laura B Cornely, NASM Certified Personal Trainer.
It took me years to realize I hadn’t been in the habit of strengthening my back. I was neglecting it not because I intended to, but just because I never understood the significance of working on a strong back while exercising. Our backs may be a part of the body many of us forget to train as most athletes probably separate their workouts into arm and leg days; and equate that with upper body and lower body.
A strong back results in improved posture, support for the spine and makes it easier for athletes to twist and lift while being active. Exercising your back muscles increases blood flow and can ultimately help increase flexibility and diminish your chances of pain. Without that stability and a good foundation, it’s impossible to get optimal results.
Why do we neglect our Backs?
Athletics mostly consist of forward or front heavy movements. Most sports involve running or moving ahead or to the side. Swimmers consistently bring their arms forward for most competitions, golfers swing up and to the side, and basketball players shoot up and ahead of themselves.
Even in our everyday activity, we rarely perform movements where we reach behind or pay any real attention to our backs at all. Why is that? Well for one, we are heavily dependent on our senses, in a huge way, our sight. Evidence shows that we are least likely to think about training our back muscles because most of us don’t regularly see what our backs look like.
We pay more attention to what’s in front of us our chests, arms, quads and abs because they are what we see when we look in a mirror, that’s what others see when they look at us. Biologically, we navigate the world by looking in front of us, not behind, so it’s understandable to overlook strengthening our back muscles.
Upper Back Exercises
Now that we’ve gone over the importance of back exercises and strengthening and are aware of its significance, let’s go over a few upper back exercises you can add to your workout regimen. Rows, shoulder shrugs[2], and push ups are great ways to strengthen muscles in your upper back. You can perform a row standing up straight with a slight bend in your knees to activate your core, you can do bent over rows with your back at an angle of about 45°-60° or you can try single armed rows[2]. Each of these can target your latissimus dorsi, rhomboids and rear deltoid muscles[2]. Shoulder shrugs can be done holding a dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand and most immediately target your trapezius muscle and can get your upper back muscles if you squeeze your shoulder blades together. Push ups are also a great way to strengthen your upper back muscles, chest, triceps and core.
Push ups can also be done in a wide variety of ways. Depending on your level of fitness you can do eccentric push ups (slow coming down, fast coming up), wide or narrow and diamond based (for chest or triceps respectively) or plyometric push ups (pushing off your hands and lifting them off the floor before coming back down and bending your elbows).
Lower Back Exercises
Now lower back exercises can be a little trickier. Because of the natural inward curvature of our spines, many people who attempt to strengthen their lower backs end up injuring themselves and getting the opposite result to what they wanted. Please consult with a personal trainer or another fitness professional if you have a history of back pain or are unsure of how to correctly do any of these exercises. First up, the Lat Pulldown[1] which targets, you guessed it, latissimus dorsi. If you are unfamiliar with the location of your lats, they look like wide wings on the upper part of your back and narrow downward toward your low back, so yes they are considered part of your upper and lower back. This exercise is demonstrated most easily seated and by pulling a weight down while bending your elbows along your side. Two more exercises you can do to strengthen your low back are dead lifts and side planks[1]. Dead lifts can be done with dumbbells, kettlebells or a barbell held downward in front of you, and need to be done with a straight back to prevent injury. Side planks are mainly known as an oblique and core exercise but also target the low back, by holding your body weight up against gravity through one forearm and your feet. These exercises target your erector spinae muscles located near your spine.
Is there a Gender Misconception?
Okay, so I don’t know if you have heard or experienced some of this but as mentioned in the intro, I neglected back strengthening because I didn’t understand its significance. To be completely honest, I think I felt that way mostly because I’m female. As I think back to my gym membership days, I would see men working out their back and shoulder muscles but just didn’t think it mattered for me. I assumed men worked on their back muscles purely for aesthetics and didn’t have a desire to have bulging back muscles. Just in case any one else can relate, women need back strength and stability just as much as men do. Strength is not always about definition and hypertrophy(large muscle mass), to be able to function and move in good health, we all need reliable back muscles and need to remember to train all of our muscles not just the ones we favor or want to look good.
Conclusion
So all in all, our backs is what hold us up. Strong upper and lower back muscles directly contribute to strong arms and legs as our muscles and body systems all work together. Whether you sit all day at work, or walk around all day at work, it is key that you incorporate back strengthening to your regular work out and exercise routine. It doesn’t have to be everyday, but regularly and consistently. As always in addition to strengthening, we cannot forget to stretch and recover. Whether you go get a massage, stretch with someone else so they can push you past where you are comfortable or use a foam roller or theraball make sure you also rest and recover to avoid tightness and inflexibility in your back as well. Before working to have someone else’s back, make sure you got your own.
Disclaimer: This article is strictly for informative purposes, and nothing contained therein is intended to substitute for medical advice. If you feel you may be experiencing symptoms of one of the conditions we’ve just covered, seek medical attention at once.
Sources
- https://www.mcdavidusa.com/blogs/posts/back-strengthening-exercises-every-athlete-should-try
- https://www.coachmag.co.uk/exercises/back-exercises/2033/five-best-upper-back-moves
