Strength Training: Back Day

Another day at the gym, another fulfilling workout. Today, it’s back day. For many, back day is a highlight during their workout week. Back exercises can be rewarding because you get to move a good amount of weight and truly increase your overall strength. Also, besides all the technical stuff, back exercises are fun to perform.

Back exercises consist of “pulling,” motions, and focus on three main areas of your back. These areas are your upper and lower back, as well as your latissimus dorsi, or “lats. Pulling motions target your back muscles, but also slightly target your biceps, so you’ll walk out of the gym with a double pump! Today, we’ll give a brief run-down of the areas to work in your back, as well as some exercises you can use to target each one.

Warm Up

As always, we need to properly warm up our upper body.

• Reach your hand behind your head and pull down while providing resistance. Repeat on both sides.
• Make sure you stretch your lats.
• Warm up your shoulders a bit, as many of these exercises will revolve around over-head motions. Like the chest workout warm up, using a lightweight dumbbell between 5 and 8 pounds, raise your arm to the side and bend at the elbow to make a 90-degree angle. The dumbbell should parallel your head. Rotate your shoulder so that the weight moves forward in front of you until you have made a 90-degree rotation.
• Rotate back to the starting position and repeat for reps.

Another great warm-up is the first set of our first exercise. To begin, we will be targeting our upper back. Typically, these exercises consist of over-head, overhanded pulling movements with a wide grip. For our first exercise, we will perform assisted pull-ups. These can be done with an assisted pull-up machine, or a regular pull-up bar with a resistance band. Even if this is an exercise you regularly perform without resistance, for the purpose of a warm-up, we’re going to stick with assistance. The reason for this is because with regular pull-ups, each person is limited in the number of reps they can accomplish, and each set will cause fatigue. We want to remove as much bodyweight fatigue as possible so that we can treat pull-ups like any other set. Perfect form throughout for 8-12 reps.

The Pull-Up Set

A common mistake with pull-ups is to put all the strain on your arms, when most of the work should be done with your back. Once your warm-up set is complete, complete the following:

• Once on the bar, position your hands in a wide, overhanded grip.
• When you’re ready, slowly pull yourself up. Focus on keeping your chest out, and head up.
• Once your head aligns with your hands, finish the movement by squeezing your shoulder blades together, and using your back muscles to complete the distance.
• Lower yourself back down (take advantage of the negative movement), and once you reach the bottom, allow your arms and shoulder to completely lock out. This is to work your back muscles more and stretch out your body.
• Perform three sets of 8-12 reps at a weight where you can reach failure.

Cable Rows

Another great exercise for your upper back is cable rows. Cable row machines are common in most gyms. Attach a wide-gripped bar to the cable. Find a good weight for your 8-12 rep range and set yourself up in the ready position.

Before you start, your arms should be forward and your feet should be on the footrests. To begin your set, be aware of proper form. We eventually want to extend our legs just before lockout, but a lot of people make the mistake of pulling the weight to this position incorrectly. When you are ready to begin, pull the weight back by pushing through your heels. Your legs should be doing most of the work as you move to a working position.

• Once your legs are straight and your arms are forward, pull the bar to your chest.
• Similarly to the pull-ups, focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together to complete the movement. Keep your shoulders down.
• Return to the starting position, allow your shoulders and arms to lock out, and repeat.
• Repeat three sets of 8-12 reps.

Lat Pull-Downs

Next, we will be focusing on your lats. Working these muscles is what gives your body a “V” shaped taper. Our first exercise is a lat-pulldown. In most gyms, there will be a lat pulldown machine or a cable machine with a seat. To attack our lats, we need to use an underhand grip, versus an overhand grip. Some gyms have a cable attachment that is shaped like a boomerang that is designed for this movement. If your gym does not have one of these, a regular, straight pull-up bar attachment will work just fine.

A lat pulldown is performed almost identically to the previous exercises we’ve talked about. The grip can be neutral, underhand, or overhand.

• When ready, grip the bar. Your hands should be spaced at shoulder width, or a little wider.
• Puff your chest and arch your back like you would set up a bench press, stabilize your core, and bring the weight to your chest. Make sure to get a good squeeze with your shoulders and return to a locked-out position.
• Repeat for 8-12 reps.

Single Arm Lat Pull-Downs

Another great exercise for your lats is single arm lat pulldowns. They function the exact same as a regular lat pulldown, however the use of one arm will allow you to focus more on one side at a time, while moving less weight.

• Find a cable machine and attach a one-handed grip.
• Raise the cable to its highest possible point, grab the handle and drop to one knee.
• Brace yourself by holding onto the machine and pull the handle down.
• Arch your back and stabilize your core the exact same way as described above. By using one arm, you should be able to pull the weight the entire distance just by squeezing your lat.
• Repeat for 8-12 reps on each side.
• Repeat for three sets.

RDL (Romanian Dead Lift)

Training the lower back is tricky. The muscles in your lower back work in tandem with your legs, meaning there are few exercises that target just that part of your back. A good exercise that does this is a Romanian deadlift, or RDL. Primarily, this exercise targets your hamstrings, however it also targets your lower back. Some people prefer to save this workout for their leg day.

Note* RDL’s need to be done with near perfect form to avoid injury, so don’t be afraid to start with a lighter weight until you feel comfortable with the movement, or better yet, consult a qualified coach.

RDL’s can be performed with either a barbell or with dumbbells, or with a trap bar. Whichever you choose, the movement remains the same.

• Grab the weight and move to a standing position with the weight(s) hanging in front of you.
• When you’re ready, keep your chest out, back arched, butt back, and head up, and then begin to bend downwards from a stationary position.
• As you lower the weights in front of you, your back will lift for half the distance, and your legs will lift the other half. Lower the weight(s) down until you feel a pull in your hamstrings, then return to the starting position by pushing through your feet, and repeat for reps.

Back strength is important. A strong back supports every other muscle group in your body. As always, consult a coach to make sure you are performing with proper form, and enjoy the strength and aesthetic that comes from a great back workout.