To practice at home or in the gym to stay in shape
Strengthening your back is important to strengthen yourself, improve your posture and reduce the increasing number of back pain. It is estimated that about 8 out of 10 people will suffer from back pain one day. It can be a pain in the cervical vertebrae, back pain, or the famous low back pain. In addition to the aesthetic side, strengthening your back is therefore really necessary for assiduous athletes but also for the most sedentary. Here are 7 effective exercises to perform in the gym or at home.
Some of the exercises offered to use fitness equipment, but you can just as easily replace them with elastic bands that can be found in sports stores.
Precautions: Back pain can lead to certain contraindications. Seek the advice of your doctor or a physiotherapist before practising the proposed exercises. On the other hand, movements should not hurt. Never force and give up exercise in case of pain.
Exercise 1: pull-ups, a great classic to strengthen your back
If you had to select only one exercise to strengthen your back, it would most likely be the pronation pull-ups (thumbs oriented towards one another). It must be said that this poly-articular exercise strengthens almost all the muscles of the back, namely, your trapezius, your rhomboids, your large round and the large dorsal.
The exercise uses a fixed bar. If you do not have one, you can attach 2 hooks to the ceiling and hang rings on it via straps.
Traction pronation or supination?
Beginners will have an easier time performing supination pull-up due to the intervention of the biceps.
Indeed, a study has shown that there are few significant differences in the recruitment of the great dorsal. Nevertheless, a supination grip puts more strain on the brachial biceps while pronation strengthens the lower Trapezius.
During execution, be sure to take out the chest in order to effectively solicit your backs and tighten your shoulder blades.
During pull-ups, there are two major errors. The first is to round your back at the top of the movement, hence the interest, for example, to look at the ceiling and not the floor during a pull- The second mistake is to completely stretch out your arms at the bottom of the movement. Whatever the exercise performed in bodybuilding, it is very often advisable to keep a slight flex. Completely straining your joints while handling a load will only increase the risk of injury. Also, be sure to perform the movements without blows, and without going too fast, in order to avoid injuries.
If you are a beginner, pull-ups are also for you! For this, simply get a rubber band. Attach the elastic to the bar and place your feet there, so that it is considerably or slightly lightened depending on the resistance force chosen. Thus, you will be able to perform your first assisted pull-ups to strengthen your back.
Exercise 2: Chest draw
If you are a beginner or expert, you will benefit from the chest draw. The exercise consists of grasping the bar to bring it back into contact with the chest. You can also use a rubber band attached to the ceiling.
The bust will be straight when drawing or slightly leaning back. When moving, remember to tighten your shoulder blades to gain efficiency and better feel your backs working. Again, it is advisable not to fully stretch your arms at the top of the movement. This position would put significant stress on the shoulder joint that could create trauma in the medium term.
What width of grip to muscle your back effectively?
We often hear that a wide grip is better to strengthen your back in width. However, scientifically, this is not the case. The researchers demonstrated that the grip width does not matter on the muscular recruitment of the backs. In addition, the wide grip does not allow to pull as heavy as a tight grip (shoulder width) or medium (slightly above the shoulders).
To strengthen your large back, the medium grip (or tight according to your preference) seems to correspond to the greatest number in terms of efficiency.
Moreover, the fact of not fully stretching your arms is beneficial for your joints and your muscle gain. Indeed, the time under tension, in other words, the duration during which your muscle is actually at work will only be improved.
It is estimated that to target muscle hypertrophy, it is necessary to obtain a continuous tension of 30 to 60 seconds per series, which usually corresponds to a range of repetitions between 10 and 15, with 1 minute 30 of rest. When making your chest draw, be sure to control the load on the rise and descent of the bar.
Finally, if you feel like trying your hand at the neck, pulling, neck traction or neck development, we strongly advise against it. This variant consists of bringing the bar behind the neck and no longer at the level of the chest. However, this position puts the shoulder in a very vulnerable position, without a significant gain in terms of muscle recruitment. When we know that among all injuries in bodybuilding, the incidence of shoulder injuries is 36%, we encourage you to take care of them through a training program and exercises adapted to your morphology.
Exercise 3: Horizontal drawing
The previous exercises are among the best to effectively strengthen your back. However, it is absolutely essential to vary your training program, whether to gain efficiency or preserve your health. Indeed, working a muscle continuously with the same angle is not recommended. For example, pull-ups and chest, pulling involve having your arms above your head. However, this position increases the risk of shoulder, clinging syndrome, which can result in rotator cuff tendinopathy, causing shoulder pain. Of course, if your job also requires you to be arm in the air all day like painters, the risk will only be increased. So it's all about dosage!
To vary your program and strengthen your back, we present the horizontal draw. When sitting, with your feet on the supports in front of you, be sure to keep your back straight while taking out the chest. Grasp the bar, inhale and then pull it horizontally towards the navel.
To be more effective, be sure to pull your elbows back, tighten your shoulder blades, and don't use back-and-forth momentum. Your bust may oscillate slightly to engage the shoulder but within reason. Exhale when the bar returns by controlling the movement.
If you do not have a device to perform this exercise, you can use elastic bands to attach to the foot.
Even though we have a preference for the horizontal draw in a tight grip, there are dozens of variants to test. Among them, unilateral or elastic work is possible if you train at home. Regarding the unilateral, hang a handle on your pulley in order to pull on one arm, the elbow stuck to the side. For the elastic, hang it on a solid support at chest height facing you. Standing, legs slightly bent, pull the elbows back to bring the elastic back to you with both arms and strengthen your backs.
Exercise 4: Rowing
Rowing at the right bar is a great classic for the back. The exercise consists of leaning his bust forward, between 90 ° and 145 °, grabbing a straight bar and pulling it in the direction of the navel, keeping it close to the body. The shoulders are pulled back, then the elbows before holding the contraction for 1 second. Control the load during the descent and then leave immediately for a new repetition.
If you do not have a straight bar, you can use elastics to be fixed under the shoes.
The widespread mistake is to want to put too much weight on the bar. Thus, your bust will straighten up repetition after repetition, deteriorating the quality of execution and recruitment of the backs. If this is the case, review your ambitions downwards to have a fluid movement from the first to the tenth repetition, during 3 to 5 sets of work.
The back muscles are difficult to feel. To improve the sensations, you can use the variant with dumbbells. This dumbbell rowing, also called "lumberjack" can be done at home with a simple dumbbell, standing or leaning on a flat bench. The exercise consists of pulling the shoulder and elbow back to recruit his backs unilaterally.
Exercise 5: Reverse rowing
This bodyweight exercise can be performed anywhere:
- In the weight room, in a guided setting
- Outdoors, at TRX
- At home, with two chairs and a broom handle.
This is one of the best exercises to strengthen your back. It strengthens the upper back, the back of the shoulders, the back but also the biceps. It also acts as a sheathing by strengthening the musculature of the waist.
Lie on the ground and grab the bar with your full hand, pronation. Thus, you will only have the heels in contact with the ground. The goal is to stay well sheathed during execution. The exercise involves keeping your body straight and pulling on your arms to bring the bust back towards the bar. This action will have the effect of strengthening your back. Control the descent without touching the ground and then leave for a new rehearsal.
Also called inverted pump, it will therefore be a question of hoisting oneself to the force of the back and arms. To increase the difficulty, you can use a weighted vest or perform this exercise in Bi-set. For example, you can perform 10 pull repetitions and then immediately follow up with reverse rowing.
Although visually easy, reverse rowing is not. Thus, it can be practised from beginner to expert. The advantage of inverted rowing at TRX is a work of balance and posture in parallel, which makes it possible to increase the difficulty. If you decide to try this exercise at home, it is doable. Just position a solid broom handle between two chairs.
Exercise 6: Deadlift
This last exercise requires a certain level of practice before being carried out properly. The deadlift is therefore useful for intermediate and experienced practitioners. The exercise consists of standing, the supports spread by a shoulder width. Grab the bar on the ground and then raise the load as you descend on your thighs while maintaining a natural arch. Be careful, the back should never be round.
Exercise is very effective in strengthening your lumbar, back, glutes and thighs. However, the error does not forgive. Poorly controlled, this exercise presents obvious dangers for the back. It is therefore essential to be supervised by a sports coach to acquire a correct execution, first empty bar and then gradually increasing the weight over the months.
If you are a beginner, we direct you to extensions to the lower backbench to strengthen your lumbar and back. If you train at home, you will be able to strengthen your lumbar on the ground, through the exercise commonly known as "Superman" (see the next exercise)
Exercise 7: Superman
Lie on your stomach, on your lumbar bench or directly on the ground. The exercise consists of oscillating his bust-up and down to strengthen the erector muscles of the spine. The feet will be blocked thanks to the device or will remain on the ground for the "superman" exercise. The exercise can be performed in the form of sheathing. In this case, hold the position for the allotted time to use an isometric contraction regime and feel you're lumbar burn second after second.
Finally,
Strengthening your back should be a necessity for everyone. Regardless of age, level, whether you are sedentary, athletic or bodybuilding, everyone has an interest in strengthening their back regularly to improve their state of health. A muscular back improves his posture as well as his sports performance. Muscle weakness in the back can induce back pain of all kinds. To finish with this, we offer these 7 exercises as well as variants to strengthen your back in the gym, at home or outdoors:
- Pull-ups
- The chest draw
- The horizontal print
- Rowing
- Reverse rowing
- The deadlift
- Superman
Practised 1 to 2 times a week, 3 to 5 sets of 10 to 20 repetitions, these exercises will directly participate in drawing your back, strengthening it and improving your overall well-being.
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