You all must be knowing that back and shoulders together give the crisp and smart posture and demeanor to your whole personality. Since your back supports your entire body and makes all your body parts work wonderfully, strengthened muscular back doubles up your body’s power. Back involves multiple muscles and hence, it is important to work on all of them for building up your back. No one exercise can bring the required results in this case, club it with sets of different ones. Any exercise you do requires your proper position and form which forms the base of the workout. If you don’t follow then entire efforts go waste. In most of the back exercises, the shoulders are moved backwards making the upper and middle back plus lat muscles contract and tighten to their limits with consecutive reps. Throughout your lower back remains slightly arched and doesn’t round over.
Let us know some important facts about back muscles before listing the exercises. If you are like Pradeep, your aim should be to develop a back which has well-developed traps which form the centre for the upper back, Rhomboids that gives clear-lined indents when flexed, wide and long lats that give [V] shape that is loved by all, strongly developed teres and infraspinatus muscles and thick erector spinae that form a concrete base for the lower spine.
Pradeep Bhatia reveals how to build up a bull-strength back with these four workouts. You need to do 5 sets with 12 to 15 reps of each exercise listed below.
Bent Over Row
He started off with Bent Over Row holding a barbell with his palms facing down, he bent his knees a little and brought his torso forward, bending his waist. He kept his back straight, coming parallel to the floor. One has to keep the head up. The barbell should linger directly in front of you as your arms come perpendicular to the floor and your body. Further, without moving your torso, breathe out and lift the barbell towards you. Elbows should be kept close to the body, forearms should hold the weight. At the top, in the contracted position, he squeezed the back muscles and held it for a while. Now, inhale and slowly bring the barbell back. He cautioned that this exercise is not for people with back problems. If your back is healthy, you have to ensure appropriate form without slouching the back at all. Beginners must start with less weight.
Lat Pulldown
Second workout was Lat Pull Down. Pradeep kept his chest tall, bringing it to the bar. He said to keep your elbows pointed straight down. Squeeze your lats that is pulling from your armpits. Lower to your chin. Grab just outside your shoulders or a slightly wider. You can also use ‘V-grip’ handle for the same exercise.
Seated Row
Third one is Seated Row. This works upon the middle back. For this one you need a low pulley row machine with a V-bar. Keeping the natural alignment of your body, lean over and grip the V-bar from handles. With you arms extended pull back until your torso is at 90 degrees from your legs. The back should be a little arched and your chest must come out. Feel the stretching pull in your lats as you hold the bar in front. Further, keep the your torso stationary, pull the handles back towards your torso while keeping the arms close to it till you touch your abdominals. While doing so, breathe out. You must squeeze you back muscles as much as possible, holding the contracted position for at least a second. Afterwards, slowly go back to the starting position, breathing in.
Reverse Lat Pulldown
The fourth and the last exercise done by Pradeep is Reverse Lat Pulldown. He said that it not only strengthens and enhances the back but also works on your lats, forearms and deltoids. To do it, atta che a wide-grip bar to the cable pulldown machine and then take sitting position. Make sure that your knees are adjusted to a level that fits your height. Place your hands at a distance which is a little closer to your shoulder width, hold the pulldown bar using an underhand grip so that the palms face your torso. While both your arms are extended in front, bring the torso back at an angle of 30 degrees, thereby, bending the lower back and thrusting your chest out. This is starting position. Further, draw your shoulders and upper arms down to pull the bar towards your body till it touches your upper chest. Hold in this contracted position for a second. Gradually, bring the bar to the position where your lats are stretched and arms are completely extended.
| NAME |
SETS |
REPS |
| Bent Over Row |
5 |
12 |
| Lat Pulldown |
5 |
15 |
| Seated Row |
5 |
12 |
| Reverse Lat Pulldown |
5 |
15 |
About The Author
He is Mumbai based ex-bodybuilder and celebrity personal trainer and director of Elixir fitness. With more than 14 years of experience, he is also known as transformation specia..
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