Advantages of a Strong and Muscular Back
Strong back muscles will allow you to:
Get leaner. Adding back muscle allows you to burn extra calories by raising your metabolic rate.
Become stronger. A strong back increases your overall strength. When working in unison with the legs, a strong back allows you to pick up heavier objects off the floor or ground.
Become more symmetrical. Many people will build their chest muscles, but do not build their back muscles enough or at all. As a result they develop muscle imbalances.
Back Anatomy
For this discussion we are going to focus on the mid to upper back.
There are two main back muscle groups that are visible with and without shirts on. These are called the trapezius and latissimus dorsi.
- The trapezius (traps) are the muscles that start in a point at the base of the skull, sit to either side of the neck, above the shoulders, and extend in a diamond shape to a point in the middle of the back. A muscle called the levator scapulae works in conjunction with the lats and traps. Typically if someone has completely flat traps it means that they probably do not engage in significant free weight complex exercises like deadlifts, bent over barbell rows, and shrugs.
- The latissimus (lats) are the muscles that run from the armpits to the waist. This is what you see when people flex their backs as with a lat spread bodybuilding pose.
Smaller Back Muscles
Some of the smaller upper back muscles include teres major, teres minor, infraspinatus, supraspinatus, and rhomboideus (rhomboids). These are considered secondary back muscles and are stimulated when you train the larger latissimus dorsi with both vertical and horizontal movements.
The serratus is another back muscle which wraps around the body and also visible from the font. If you desire to train the serratus directly, the best back exercise for that are dumbbell or barbell pull overs.
Best Back Exercises
Barbell Bent Over Rows Bent over rows with a barbell is arguably the most important back exercise you can do for pulling strength and thickness in the upper body. This is a compound movement that works everything from traps to lats to lower back and hamstrings. Using proper form, bent over barbell rows will help you stand apart from other people with increasing both thickness and strength. Variations: close grip, wide grip, medium grip, two arm dumbbell rows, supinated rows (palms facing away).
Barbell Deadlift. Deadlifts are one of the primary, fundamental exercises for all serious back building programs. Deadlifts works your legs and require functional stability from all muscles in your body including back. Using proper form, deadlifts will help you get stronger, gain more muscle, and burn more calories than any other single exercise other than squats. Variations: close stance deadlifts, wide stance deadlifts, sumo style deadlifts, deadlifts in the rack.
Pull Ups and Chin Ups – Vertical training. Pull-ups and Chin-ups are the best strength training exercises you can do for upper-body strength and muscle mass. Variations: wide grip, medium grip, narrow grip, neutral grip (palms facing each other), pull ups, chin ups, towel pull ups to blast your grip and finger strength.
One Arm Dumbbell Rows – Horizontal training. Dumbbell rows are a great way for you to isolate each side of your back. Because the dumbbell row does not restrict your scapula from fully retracting on each rep, you get a fuller contraction with a greater range of motion. Variations: you can use a machine or a cable row exercise for this, but it’s best to stick with free weights.
Barbell Shrugs – Upper back. Shrugs are specifically a traps only exercise. Shrugs help give your back that dense look. Variations: dumbbell shrugs.
Back to the Basics Bottom Line
Whether you are a man who wants a strong muscular back or a woman who wants sexy well defined back, you can achieve them both by performing these 5 back exercises. If these back exercises are done correctly, you will see your upper body taking on a whole different form in just weeks.