Find out how to do exercises to strengthen your back

Our mentor Cecilia Zonta shows us which exercises are useful to strengthen the back muscles

Women at the gym come to train their backs just as a remedy for any pain, discomfort or as a remedy for bad posture. And if we started training the back as a preventive measure ? To make you strong enough to avoid the pain often caused by a weakness of that musculature? To make you toned to the point where even everyday postures benefit from it?

As they say, it’s never too late, so today we’re going to see together some Exercises that you can value both to enrich and make your workouts more varied, but also and above all to benefit from them in their consistency.

Let’s see for a moment the back anatomy and what are the main muscles that make it up:

• the erector spinae: the muscles that extend and erect the spine
• the scapula adductors: trapezius and rhomboids (bring the shoulder blades together and thus bringing the scapula closer to the spine)
• the latissimus dorsi and latissimus dorsi muscles (they handle adduction or bring the arm laterally to the trunk and extension or bring the arm back)

The exercises I propose will touch all those muscles that we have just described briefly, so by performing both circuits, you will be sure that you have trained your back comprehensively.

Do 10 reps for each exercise, recover 30” before moving on to the next.

Repeat the entire circuit 2 to 4 times.

Tools: long open band, foam roller/towel, 2 dumbbells 1-2 kg, 2 loads 3-5 kg

upper back

• reverse crosses : we start standing, with loads in hand (one in each hand); bend the knees and bend the trunk forward (if possible parallel to the floor) keeping the back straight without arching or bending. It helps keep your abs active so you can support your back. The arms are stretched under the shoulders, we slightly flex the elbow. From here we will open the arms bringing the loads up, bringing the shoulder blades together and then closing them again. I breathe in when loads go up, breathe out when loads go down. We can perform the same exercise in the quadrupedal position if we feel discomfort in the back; in this case we will do one arm at a time.
• Quadruped Y-traction with elastic: We pass on quadrupeds, fingers spread wide, hands under shoulders, knees under hips, back in neutral, active abdomen. Let’s keep one end of the elastic band under the hand that is on the floor, taking the other end with the arm that will do the repetitions first; creating more and more tension on the elastic, let’s bring the arm up (as if to draw the upper part of the letter Y); in a slow and controlled way we will bring the arm back to the floor. I inhale when the arm goes up, exhale when the arm goes down.
• Pulled up to the chin : we start in an upright position, with our feet flat on the ground, we hold our load with both hands in front of us with our arms extended; the abdomen is always active, the chest open and the shoulder blades closed; Breathing in, I bring my hands (and therefore the load) just below my chin, raising my elbows above my shoulders and keeping my shoulders away from my ears. Breathing out, I bring the load down by extending my arms.
• Pull over : initial position equal to that of the inverse crosses; we started standing up, with the load in both hands; bend the knees and bend the trunk forward (if possible parallel to the floor) keeping the back straight without arching or bending. It helps keep your abs active so you can support your back. The arms are stretched under the shoulders, we slightly flex the elbow. Inhale, let the arms go up bringing the load above the head, while exhaling, bring the load back under the shoulders; keep your shoulders relaxed and away from your ears. We can perform the same exercise in the quadrupedal position if we feel discomfort in the back; in this case we will do one arm at a time.

Reinforcement in the back

• Superman prone: we started in the prone position, with the head resting on the mat, arms extended above the head, thumbs towards the ceiling. The abdomen is active so as not to arch the back; now let’s imagine that someone pulls us by the wrist and another by the ankle: maintaining this stretch, we take off from the ground with the opposite leg and arm; hold the position for a moment and place both limbs back on the floor. I inhale when the leg and arms come off the floor, exhale when I put them back.
• Rowing : initial position u as for the inverse crossings and the pull over of the previous circuit; we left standing, with our loads in hand; bend the knees and bend the trunk forward (if possible parallel to the floor) keeping the back straight without arching or bending. It helps keep your abs active so you can support your back. The arms are stretched under the shoulders, the exercise consists of bringing the elbow up, keeping it adherent to the trunk; I inhale when the load goes up, exhale when the load goes down, extending the arm; We can perform the same exercise in the quadrupedal position if we feel discomfort in the back; in this case we will do one arm at a time.
• Alternate pull with elastic : we put the elastic under tension above the head with the arms semi-stretched; the abdomen is active and the shoulders relaxed and away from the ears: alternately we lower the elbow, adhering to the trunk, pulling the elastic and making it more and more tense as we approach the end of the movement; in a slow and controlled way, we bring the elastic back to its original length. Inhale bending the elbow, exhale extending the arm.
• swan with sliders : We start in the prone position, with the head resting on the mat, the arms extended above the head supported on our foam rollers or towels. The abdomen is active so as not to arch the back; Breathing in, we raise the head and upper back in a slow and controlled manner; exhaling, we return to support ourselves on the ground; the degree of extension depends on the mobility of each one.

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