Home > Back Exercises
Back Exercises | Build Strong Back Muscles
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Back exercises are used to build a full, strong and powerful upper, middle and lower back. These exercises not only make you look a lot bigger by adding substantial width to the upper body but they also work to create and maintain a good posture. Performing exercises for the back also carry other advantages such as:
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- Enabling a better stance and technique when performing weight training exercises for all areas of the body.
- Giving much greater strength and power on all forms of pull movement, both with and against gravity.
- Developing muscular mass and thickness in the back.
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Image Credit: roonb's
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On this page you can learn all about building back muscles including the anatomy of the back, back strengthening exercises and tips for gaining a strong back.
You can use the quick links below to jump down the page to a specific category.
Back Anatomy
Your back is made up of several muscles and it's function is to add support, strength and flexibility to the spine. The major muscles are:
- The Trapezius or 'Traps' as they're commonly known, connects from the top of your neck and spans across the back of your shoulders and down in a kite shape to midway down your back. This muscle is the largest of your back muscles and is trained by using back exercises which involve elevating the shoulders such as barbell shrugs. The traps are often the most neglected muscle group in weight training due to the limited range of traps exercises. If you want a strong powerful back though, training the traps is a must.
- The Latissimus Dorsi or 'Lats'. is the number one back muscle that most strive to build as it's responsible for developing the classic 'v-shaped' look and adds masses of width to the upper body. The lats span from the rear of the shoulder joint and stretch down each side of the back and are trained through pull movements such as the lat pulldowns and bent over rows. .
- The Erector Spinae aka the 'lower back'. These muscles are situated down the sides of the spine at the base of the back and are worked through lower back exercises such as hyperextensions and back extensions.
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Tips For Building Back Muscles
Building back muscles requires using the right exercises. Your back workout needs to contain the main mass builders such as the lat pulldown and bent over barbell row for your lats / mid back and the deadlift and back extensions for your lower back. In tandem with a muscle building diet plan these exercises are guaranteed to add size and strength to the back.
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Back Exercises
Now you're familiar with the muscles of the back, lets take a look at some exercises for building back muscles. The following exercises can be incorporated into your workouts and training routines.
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LOWER BACK (Erector Spinae)
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Difficulty
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Other Muscles Worked
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Body Weight Exercises
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Back Extensions
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None
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TRAPS (Trapezius)
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Difficulty
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Other Muscles Worked
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Barbell Exercises
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Barbell Shrugs
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Neck
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Upright Row
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Biceps, Traps, Anterior Delts
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Can't find a back exercise on the list? Why not add it!
If you've got a back exercise that's not on the above list then why not share it with us!
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