We’ve all seen her… that woman entering the room rocking a sexy backless dress with strength and confidence. Gone are the days of low cut jeans and short mini skirts (thankfully). Ladies, we have entered the era of low cut back, cut out back, and all things backless. With recent trends emphasizing the fact that a strong, muscular back is feminine, sexy, desirable and achievable, we will outline a practical approach to help define and strengthen this muscle group.
The great thing about your back is that it essentially works in every physical thing that you do. The back (latissimus dorsi (lats), rhomboids, and erector spinae) is constantly working, whether you are consciously working the muscle group or if the muscle group is working while stabilizing. The muscles in your back are critical to the movement of your spine. This muscle group is also responsible for movement of your head, neck, shoulders, arms, hips and pelvis. Your back also helps stabilize your vertebrae and helps with your hips and pelvic tilt.
In addition to building a strong sexy back, there are numerous health related benefits to training your back. Incorporating back exercises into your workout routine can improve posture, enhance performance, correct muscular imbalances and help prevent injuries.
Whether you are a beginner in the gym, or more advanced, anyone can incorporate back exercises into their workout program.
Here are a few practical tips to help reap the benefits of training your back:
Never Skip A Warm Up: Warming up is critical to your workout regimen. Warming up correctly helps decrease the risk of injury while helping to enhance overall performance. Warming up before your workout helps increase blood circulation. This encourages a higher output of blood flow throughout the body to activated muscle tissue, which enhances energy/exercise output and performance.
Focus On Proper Set Up And Form: Proper form will help ensure long term success when training your back. Keep your core muscles tight and engaged while setting up and focus on making smooth movements while executing the exercise (nothing abrupt, jerky or forced). With proper set up and proper form, you can move through the full range of motion with minimal risk of injury. If you aren’t sure how to set up correctly, ask a fitness professional for help.
Train With The Appropriate Weight: Form should always be your focus, but when it comes to selecting the appropriate weight when beginning a strength training program, start with lighter weights. Focus on making slow and controlled movements while isolating the targeted muscle group. When you feel ready to progress, slowly increase your weight. Choose a weight that fatigues the targeted muscle/muscle group while still allowing you to maintain proper form. If you can’t complete the repetitions of your set, decrease the weight and complete the set with good form.
The Mind Muscle Connection: The mind muscle connection is a fascinating yet extremely effective tool when training. While activating your target muscle/muscle group, visualize the action of the targeted muscles being trained. Then as you consciously activate, visualize AND feel each muscle working in unison through the complete range of motion during each repetition. The purpose of the mind muscle connection is to make a very conscious, purposeful contraction of the intended muscle. You are activating the muscle from the beginning to the end of each repetition (rep), not just lifting, pushing, or pulling.
Tip: To develop and/or improve your mind muscle connection, try implementing tempo work and isometric contractions.
Rest, Rest, Rest: Rest periods are essential for any workout program. If you are new to working out and strength training, its best to start out with a foundation of stabilization exercises. Ideally, when training with a stabilization focus, you’ll want to keep your rest period between 0-90 seconds. If you are more experienced in strength training and building muscle is your goal, you’ll want to keep your rest periods between 0-60 seconds(depending on fitness level, load and volume).
