BACK EXERCISES
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TONING
- Glute Kickbacks
- Position yourself on the floor resting on your hands and knees.
- Bend and pull your right knee in to your chest.
- Straighten your leg, lifting it upwards and backwards, extending
your knee and hip as far as possible. Be careful to complete the movement slowly and
deliberately.
- Perform one set of repetitions, then repeat with the opposite
side.
- Strengthens glutes, hamstrings and lower back.
- Isometric Lat-Pull
- Stand with your shoulders low and relaxed, chest and rib cage
lifted, and abdominals contracted. Raise your arms over your head and cross your wrists.
Make two fists with your hands.
- Contract the muscles in your arms, shoulders and upper back and
hold the contraction.
- Press your elbows down slowly to each side, squeezing your
shoulder blades together, until your fists are level with your shoulders.
- Continuing to contract the muscles, raise your arms to the
starting position.
- This exercise works your upper back, shoulders and arms
without weights, so you can perform the movement anywhere, anytime. Imagine you're holding
a heavy object in each hand and use your mind to work the muscles.
- Pull-Up - Behind the Neck
- Hang from a chinning bar, using a pronated grip with either wide
or medium spacing.
- Pull yourself upward until the back of your neck touches the bar.
- Return to the starting position with your body hanging at arm's
length.
- Strengthens the upper back and biceps.
- Pull-Up - To Chest
- Hang from a chinning bar, using either a pronated grip or a
supinated grip, with your hands spaced at either close, medium, or wide spacing.
- Pull yourself upward until your chest touches the bar.
- Return to the starting position with your body hanging at arm's
length.
- Strengthens the upper back and biceps.
- TONING WITH RESISTANCE
- Lat-Pull
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Using tubing or
resistance bands, hold one end of the band in each hand and raise your arms straight over
your head.
- Press your elbows down slowly to each side, squeezing your
shoulder blades together, until your fists are level with your shoulders.
- Slowly straighten your arms up until they are back to the starting
position.
- If you don't feel resistance when you press your elbows down,
adjust the band/tube so there is less slack.
- Strenghtens the shoulders, arms and upper back.
FREE WEIGHTS
- Dead Lift - Power
- Assume a half-squat position with your feet parallel and about
shoulder-width apart.
- Grasp a barbell with your hands and arms outside your legs,
keeping your back straight, lower back arched and your head up. Stand to an erect
position, keeping your arms straight and your shoulders moving directly upwards.
- Dead Lift - Stiff Leg
- Stand straight with feet about shoulder width apart. Hold a
barbell, hanging at arm's length, using a palm down grip.
- Bend at the hips with your back straight and your head up. Do not
bend the knees.
- Lower the weight until your torso is about parallel with the
floor.
- Straighten up to return to the starting position.
- Dead Lift - Straight Back
- Stand straight with your feet about shoulder width apart while
holding a barbell or a dumbbells at arm's length using a palm down grip.
- Keeping your knees slightly bent, bend at the hips with your back
straight and your head up.
- Lower the weight until your upper body is parallel with the floor.
- Straighten up to return to starting position.
- Deltoid Raise
- Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, grasp a barbell or
dumbbells with an overhand grip.
- Let the weight hang at arm's length against your upper thigh.
- Raise the weight straight out in front of you until it is just
above shoulder level.
- Lower the weight to the starting position.
- Good Morning
- While standing, place a barbell behind your head and rest it on
your shoulders.
- With your hands on the bar, your head up and back straight, bend
at the hips, keeping your knees slightly bent and lower back arched, until your upper body
is parallel with the floor.
- Return to the starting position.
- This is an advanced exercise and has been contraindicated by
some fitness leaders.
- Incline Row
- Lie face-down on an incline bench with your chin over the edge.
Straddle your legs on either side of the bench and rest your feet on the floor.
- With a dumbbell in each hand, reach your arms straight down from
your shoulders, palms facing the rear.
- Pull the weight up toward your shoulders, squeezing your shoulder
blades together. Rotate your palms inward and keep your elbows in close to your body.
- Pause at the top and then lower the weight to the starting
position.
- Pullovers
-
- Lie face up on a flat bench with your head at one end of the
bench.
- Grasp a barbell with your hands spread about 24 inches apart.
Place the bar at arm's length above your head. If using a dumbbell, place your hands flat
against the inside plate of the dumbbell and raise the weight to arm's length above the
chest.
- Lower the weight overhead, keeping your arms straight.
- Return to starting position.
- Rear Dumbbell Raise
- Sit on the edge of a bench with knees bent and feet flat on the
floor, a set of dumbbells on the floor behind your heels.
- Bend from your hips until your chest is resting on your thighs and
back is flat.
- With arms at your sides, grasp a weight in each hand, palms facing
each other with elbows slightly bent. Bring your hands together behind your heels
- Maintain torso and arm position and, leading with your elbows,
lift weights up to shoulder height in an arc so palms are facing the floor. Squeeze the
shoulder blades together.
- Keep elbows higher than weights and use your upper back muscles,
not your arms, to do most of the work. Keep the chest against the thighs and the elbows
rounded.
- Return to the starting position and repeat.
- Strengthens chest and upper back.
- Row - Bent Over
- Place a barbell or dumbbells on the floor in front of you.
- With your feet about shoulder width apart, bend down and grasp the
weight with an overhand grip, approximately 12-14 inches apart.
- Bend your knees slightly and keep your back parallel to the floor
as you lift the weight to your chest.
- Lower the weight down in front of you until it is at arm's length,
then raise the weight back to the chest.
- Do not let the weight touch the floor as you exercise.
- Keep your head up and your lower back slightly arched.
- Row - Single Arm, Bent Over
- Place a dumbbell on the floor in the front of the bench. Put your
right leg back, keeping your knee straight.
- Bend your left leg slightly as you bend down and grasp the
dumbbell with your right hand with palms facing inward.
- Place your left hand on the bench and keep the arm straight.
- With the dumbbell in your right hand, hanging straight down, bend
you elbow and raise the weight straight up to the side of your chest, keeping your arm in
close.
- Return to the starting position and repeat with the opposite side.
- Row - Upright
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grasp a barbell or
dumbbells with an overhand grip.
- With the weight at arms length and your back straight, inhale and
raise the weight to just below chin level. Keep your elbows out to the side.
- Pause momentarily, then exhale and return the weight to the
starting position.
- Shoulder Raise - Bent Over
- Bend over from the waist with your knees slightly bent.
- Grasp the dumbbells, keeping your elbows and arms straight and
palms facing one another.
- Raise the dumbbells laterally (outward from your body toward the
side) until the arms are parallel to the floor.
- Slowly lower the arms back down and repeat.
- Shoulder Raise - Lateral
- Sit on the end of a bench with your feet flat on the floor, or
stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
- Grasp a dumbbell in each hand, and place at arm's length to your
side with palms facing inward.
- Raise the weights laterally (to the side) and upward until
slightly higher than shoulder level.
- Your elbows should remain slightly bent.
- Lower the weight to the starting position.
- Shrug
- Grasp a barbell with both hands using an overhand grip about 24
inches apart. If using dumbbells, hold them with your palms facing inward and the weights
hanging at arm's length at your sides.
- Drop both shoulders down as far as possible, and then raise your
shoulders while rotating them in a circular motion from front to rear.
- Keep your spine straight throughout the exercise. You can do this
exercise standing or seated at the end of a flat becnh with your feet flat on the floor.
- Straight Bar Pullovers
- Lie supine (on your back) on a flat bench holding a weighted
barbell over the chest with an overhand grip. Lift the legs, bending the knees and
crossing the ankles. Keep the arms nearly straight at all times.
- Lower the weight back behind the head, stopping when the arms are
about parallel to the floor.
- Lift the bar back up to the starting position, concentrating the
effort in the lats.
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