Your back is a very important part of your body- more specifically, it is a very important part of your body’s movement. There’s hardly anything you do, movement wise, which does not involve your back. Unfortunately, this realization usually does not hit people until they have an injury or chronic back problems- then they feel pain in their back doing things they never thought had an impact on that area. Turning your neck, lifting your arm, moving your leg to take a step- go ahead, try to do those things without involving your back, it is not possible! Your back is used to lift, stand, sit, walk, and even lay-down. Knowing all this, why would any of us take the muscles in that area for granted and let them become weak?
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Build your back muscles
The most common back problems are in the neck and lower back. The first and easiest way to prevent them is by consistent stretching. This keeps tendons, which attach each end of the muscles to a bone, flexible and more resistant to pulling or tearing. It’s especially important for the shoulder area, where rotator cuff problems are so common for upper body athletes such as basketball and volleyball players.
Here are three good back stretches: 1. Sit in a chair or even better, on an exercise ball, with legs spread slightly wider than shoulder width. Lean over and reach between the feet to touch the floor. 2. Lay on your back, flex knees to chest and grip hands together behind knees, pulling the thighs towards the head while rounding the lower back. 3. Standing with hands lightly clasped over the chest, turn upper body to one side, then the other. Hold each position for 30 seconds.
Several of the smaller back muscles can be a source for nagging aches that can last for years without being correctly diagnosed. The worst of these is the rhomboid, which goes from the backbone to the shoulder blade. It’s located UNDER the bigger and thicker trapezius muscle, which starts at the back of the neck and goes over the shoulders and down to the middle of the spine.
Work the rhomboids by forcefully squeezing the shoulder blades towards each other. Add resistance with seated rows, where you pull back hard with a two-handed grip attached to a cable, while again squeezing the shoulder blades towards each other. Do bent-over rows, picking up a weighted bar from the floor while again squeezing the shoulder blades. For bent overs, bend at the hips, not the waist, and keep the back straight, not curved.
The latissimus dorsi, or lats, are large muscles which go from the front of the underarm to the backbone, can be strengthened with the well known lat pulldown, found at every gym. Vary your grip to work the entire muscle. Move your hands from wide to narrow on the bar; do it with fingers turned both outward and inward.
Another important set of muscles to build and strengthen are the spinal erectors, two thick columns of muscle on either side of the spine. Building them gives greater protection to your backbone, but just as important, strong spinal erectors give an athlete more stability and force. The best exercise for these muscles, providing you have no back problems, is the good morning. Place a bar on the back of your neck and shoulders. Holding your back straight, slowly bend over until the bar is parallel to the floor, then slowly straighten up. Check with your doctor to see if you’re in shape to do this exercise.
Finally, don’t forget your obliques, important core muscles on the side of the body. They are rarely thought of as back muscles, but their involvement with twisting motions include a lot of involvement with the back. While most gyms have an oblique bench, you can get the same benefit at home, simply by holding a dumbbell or weight plat against your chest while twisting from side to side and bending over from side to side.
When your back muscles are strong, your athletic results will improve dramatically.
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Athletes all know that working on your back muscles will make you stronger and will increase your stamina and performance. A strong back will help reduce the incidence of injury and chronic pain. Well-built muscles protect bones during stress and impact, build this area’s muscles and you will develop the padding needed to protect your frame from permanent damage. Let these muscles go and become sedentary and you will likely feel the result every day for the rest of your life.
Common areas of chronic pain are at the neck and lower back- the easiest way to work these out is by regularly stretching. Stretch out the tension in the back and you will feel more relaxed and loose.
Another common cause of back pain is the smaller back muscle, worst of all the rhomboid. This muscle can be worked by forcefully squeezing your shoulder blades together. Add rhomboid building exercises into your strength training.
Other areas to work include the spinal erectors, (two thick columns of muscle on either side of the spine) and the core muscles.
Watch this video for a complete back muscle building routine for the gym…
Are you already using back building moves in your routine?
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