Why you should train back + 3 non-negotiable exercises
You’ve ever thought about skipping back and train glutes instead? Well, this might make you reconsider.
no 1 The hourglass figure
The figure is more like a pear than an hourglass if you don’t train to gain size on your back. Latissimus Dorsi is one of the biggest muscles of your body and makes the sides flare. They are connected to the bone of your upper arm and follow your body down to the hip bode pretty much. Hips (a lot of genetics tho) plus glutes and lats is what created that hourglass shape.
Do a lot of vertical rows to grow your lats
— Pull-ups
— Lat pull-downs
— Straight arm pull-downs
— High row.
no 2 Posture
I know you’re scrolling on your phone now and probably not in a good ergonomic position. Sitting at your desk or scrolling on your phone with that birds neck stretches muscles, trapezius and tendons in an unnatural way. Strengthening the back muscles help you to stay in an upright position that is better for the future — trust me you probably don’t notice it now, eventually you’ll end up with pain or even worse, a hunchback. Standing upright, with chest up and shoulders down will give you more authority..trust me.
Do horizontal rows to strengthen your traps plus middle back
— Barbell row
— Cable row
— T-bar row
— Low row.
no 3 You won’t get bulky (unless you want to)
Girls often tell me they’re afraid of training back because they don’t want to get bulky or look like a man. I don’t know where they get this idea from, if it’s from bodybuilding female profiles they see on instagram you might want to look in a different direction. These women have trained for many years, they’re aiming to look big. That is their goal. You gonna need to train a lot more than once per week, even twice per week to get to that point and let’s not talk about all the food other things required.
no 4 Strength is power
We have 40 muscles that makes sure we can move our body, pull heavy weight and stay stable under a lot of pressure. Let’s say you’re doing a barbell squat, you didn’t think it’s only your leg muscles doing all the work did you? You back muscles in the lower back, called the erector spinae, makes up our core as well, making sure you don’t fold like a pretzel on a hot day. Having a strong back makes you strong overall, you can lift that couch all by yourself no need for those sketchy moving men that comes and goes.
Ho to strengthen erector spinae
— RDL & deadlift without belt
— 45 degree back extension
My 3 non-negotiable exercises for hourglass, definition & strength
Underhand barbell row — trains lats, middle back and overall back.
Pull ups — trains everything, you can start with assisted until you can do them on your own.
Single arm dumbbell row — superb for symmetry.
I do a lot more than 3 exercises per week tho, I think it’s more like 8 split into different sessions. But, this is a good start.
I’ll do a back full back routine that got me this back and definition in a separate blog post so stay tuned!