5 Exercises for Building Back Muscles

Our back muscles play a very important role in the functionality of our bodies, but for many of us, our workouts lack targeted back exercises.

The muscles in our back promote optimal posture, core stability and most importantly, they protect our spine, so skipping out on back exercises is a big no-no!

So if you want to start implementing back exercises into your workout routine, let’s have a look at some Exercises for Building Back Muscles.

Pull-Ups

Pull-ups are a great exercise to work your back muscles such as your lats, trapezius, and even works your biceps and triceps muscles in your arms. Pull-ups are easy to master the exercise, and with practice and hard work you can become a pull-up pro with excellent back muscles in no time.

How To:

  1. Start by standing directly below a pull-up bar. Place your hands in an overhand grip with palms facing away from your body keeping your hands slightly further than shoulder-width apart.
  2. Lift your feet up from the floor so that you’re hanging from the bar, and engage your core by pulling your belly button in toward your spine.
  3. Engaging the muscles in your arms and back, bend your elbows and raise your upper body up toward the bar until your chin is over the bar.
  4. At the top of the movement, inhale. Then extend your elbows and lower your body back down to the starting position

Deadlifts

Picking something up and putting it back down sounds easy right? Deadlifting is a very popular exercise that works the lower body and builds back muscles (when performed correctly), deadlifts can also help to improve posture to prevent back pain.

How To:

  1. Stand with the middle of your foot underneath the barbell.
  2. Bend over and grab the bar with a shoulder-width grip.
  3. Bend your knees until your shins touch the bar.
  4. Lift your chest up and straighten your lower back.
  5. Take a big breath, hold it, and stand up with the weight.

Lat Pulldown

As its name suggests, this exercise targets your lat muscles and it involves a similar movement to the pull-up by challenging your mid and upper back muscles while also working your arm muscles. The Lat Pulldown allows you to have more control over how much you lift and can slow the tempo right down to help increase muscle size.

How To:

  1. Hold the bar with a wide grip with an overhand, knuckles up grip. Other positions and grips are possible but start with this standard position.
  2. Pull the bar down until it’s approximately level with your chin. Exhale on down motion.
  3. While shifting just slightly backwards is OK, aim to keep your upper torso stationary. Keep your feet flat on the floor and engage your abs as you pull.
  4. Squeeze the shoulder blades together while maintaining square shoulders.
  5. From the bottom position with the bar close to your chin, slowly return the bar to the starting position while controlling its gradual ascent.

Back Extension

The Back Extension exercises both stretches and strengthens the muscle groups in the back, especially the lower back, to improve overall health, mobility, and core strength.. It’s the perfect complement to crunches to develop a strong, balanced midsection.

How To:

  1. Lie on your stomach, facedown, arms straight out in front of you, palms down, and legs straight out behind you.
  2. Pull your abs in, as if you’re trying to create a small space between your stomach and the floor.
  3. Lift your left arm and right leg about one inch off the floor, and stretch out as much as you can.
  4. Hold this position for five slow counts and then lower your arm and leg back down.
  5. Repeat the same move with your right arm and left leg.

Bent-Over Row

This movement is popular among those looking to build strength and also stabilize muscles along your spine. It can be performed with a bar, dumbbell, or even bands. Essential parts of the movement are bending the knees slightly and bringing the torso forward while maintaining a straight line down the back.

How To:

  1. Grab a barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  2. With your legs slightly bent, keep your back perfectly straight and bend your upper body until it’s almost perpendicular to the floor.
  3. From here row the weight upwards into the lower part of your chest. Pause. And return under control to the start position.
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