The Best Exercises for Your Back
by Marc
David
zone3
Have you ever wondered what the most effective ways to build back
muscles are? There's so many exercises to choose from that it can be
confusing to know exactly which ones will make your back stronger. Here's
a list of the most effective and proven back exercises that will
strengthen your back and help build those wide barn door lats you always
wanted. Copyright 2006 Marc DavidHave you ever wondered what the
most effective ways to build back muscles are? There's so many exercises
to choose from that it can be confusing to know exactly which ones will
make your back stronger.
Over the last 16 years, I've done just about every back exercise.
Granted, not all the variations, heck, I thought I knew them all but I'm
continually shocked to learn a few new movements that make me sore again
like a teenager who hits the weights for the very first time (breaks into
Top 80's song by Madonna)....
After doing many back exercises myself, the most effective back
exercises you can do are the following:
- Assisted wide-arm chin up (or regular pull ups)
- Assisted chin up ( or regular pull ups)
- Barbell rows
- Wide-arm lat pull downs
- Close-grip lat pull downs
- Dumbbell rows
- Wide-arm cable rows
- Close-grip cable rowsMore important than that...
In that order! That's right. Not only are those a list of the most
effective back exercise but they are in order of overall back development
importance. Re-read this section again until it soaks in. While you might
have 10,000 exercises to choose from, not all of them will be as effective
in making your lats so wide it will be hard to walk thru the door.
Listen...
If you want big barndoor lats, then pull ups are the king. Followed by
barbell rows. You'll get a thick, strong back just with pull ups. Add in
the barbell rows and you are doing the exercises most professionals do.
You will probably see a lot of males/females on the cable row machine.
And much like squats, you'll only see a handful of people who can or will
do pull ups on a regular basis.
Those are the ones who will have bigger and better developed backs then
the cable rowers or the people who use those machines week after week.
There's absolutely nothing wrong at all with variety but a common mistake
so many people make is sticking with lesser known exercises and completely
missing out on the foundational exercises.
Hopefully you know that if you want the best leg development possible,
then you cannot beat squats. Just like squats hit all the muscle of the
leg, pull ups will work all the muscles of the back.
Between the exercises listed above, you will be doing the top notch,
fundamental exercises for overall back development and growth by doing
pull movements and row movements. Your muscles will be forced to grow!If
anybody has ever told you that you 'have a hole in your back.
' They won't after you start including these in your weekly line up.
And if you think you can only do one style of pull up it only takes a
little imagination to realize that even pull ups can be varied quite a lot
to hit the muscle from different angles. Even with rowing movements, you
can row to the stomach for a completely different focus on muscle then if
you row to the chest or row to the chin.
It's all back but the variety will really stimulate the area. Next time
you do any rowing movements, think about where the bar is going. Lower,
middle or higher. Each variation will help with development and keep you
from hitting that dreaded plateau!Not only will your back become stronger
but you'll experience full development. That's exactly what you want to
do. Variety and sticking with the basics.
Sound familiar? It is.
If you want the best back development, you'll include pull ups. And
then pick and choose from the list above in terms of effectiveness after
that. You can do any number of additional back exercises for variety and
variation.
The truth is...
Many people cannot or will not do pull ups. But they will spend their
time on every other machine or use all kinds of isolation exercises to
work the back muscles. They are simply missing the point. Make sure you
include pull ups and the other most effective exercises in your arsenal
and you are almost guaranteed to boost your back development by a notch or
two.
If you really want a challenge, see how
many high quality pull ups you can do or add weight. You'll bring yourself
to the next level.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fitness Related Articles:
 Fitness for Life
Fitness and Health
Fitness and Body Building
Fitness - Anaerobic Training
Fitness - Aerobic Training
5 Myths about the fitness exercises
Breathing – an Important Factor in Fitness
How to Exercise Correctly
Increase your Fitness Program Efficiency
Outdoors Sports in Winter
|
Go to Page: 