Building a thick and wider back is crucial for an individual to look good in any outfit. Building back involves pulling exercises and lifting heavier compounds. Training back is important to increase your overall strength and fitness. With a good V taper back, you can look pretty damn good when you remove your shirt. Here are some barbell back exercises that will help you build a thicker and wider back.
Anatomy of The Back Muscles
The upper and lower back consist of various muscles, and it is important to know about their working to achieve a muscular, stronger, and wider back.
Latissimus Dorsi
Latissimus Dorsi, also called lats, starts from the lower back and covers a larger part of the back. It is attached and extended to the humerus with a small tendon. It Draws and medially rotates the arms and shoulders.
Rhomboids
Scapula adduction, scapula downward rotation, and scapula elevation are among their roles. They start at the neck, run diagonally, and join inside the scapula.
Trapezius
The main role of the trapezius is scapula adduction, scapula outward rotation, elevation, and depression. It is a large muscle on either side of the upper back, which is triangular. It comes from the cervical spine and all 12 of the Thoracic vertebrae.
Erector Spinae
The Erector Spinae is one of the largest muscle groups in the back. It has three major muscles and extends throughout the length of the spine. It covers the left and right side of it from the sacral region of your lower back and hips to the skull’s base.
Contribution of Back Muscles to Overall Health
Many don’t realize that back muscles are responsible for every daily activity. Most beginner bodybuilders focus on muscles that are highlighted outside, like the biceps, chest, core, and legs. Still, they forget about training the back muscles, which are crucial for their stability and strength. So, training your back muscles is very important because a strong back can indicate your quality of life.
Benefits of Training Back Muscles
Improved Posture: People spend most of their time in the office sitting in front of the desktops with a hunched back. This weakens the back muscles, leads to back pain, and inhibits shoulder mobility. You can improve your strength and overall health by strengthening your back muscles, ultimately improving your posture.
Improved Strength: The back muscles are one of the largest muscles in your body, and training them can help you gain lean muscle and strength. By training them, you can be more flexible and strong as you age; higher muscle mass increases strength and BMR, which helps you lose excess body fat.
Improved Spinal Stability: Back muscles play an important role in spinal stability. The spinal cord is the central support in our body and is surrounded by the back muscles. The spinal cord is responsible for most actions like standing, sitting, walking, and lifting. The weaker back can make these activities a challenge. So, training back muscles can help you to increase spinal stability and decrease the chance of spinal injuries.
Best Barbell Exercises
Here are some of the best barbell exercises to be done with a barbell.
Deadlift
Deadlift is one of the classic and well-known barbell workouts done to improve strength. It is one of the competitive lifts in Powerlifting. In deadlifts, almost all of our body’s muscles are somewhat activated. However, the primary muscles that work are the lower back and glutes. The next set of muscles activated are the hamstrings, quads, adductors, trapezius, and forearm muscles.
How To
- Reach close to the bar and place it over the middle of the foot
- Lean forward, grip the barbell, and inhale
- Lift the barbell by holding your breath with a tightened core
- Straighten the back and Pull the bar closely toward your body until you stand straight
- Lower the bar to the ground in a controlled manner and repeat for reps
- Breath control is the key
Barbell Bent Over Row
The barbell bent-over rows are a popular old-school exercise to improve your back. The lats, trapezius, and rear deltoids are the primary muscles involved during this exercise, and the lower back, forearms, and biceps are slightly engaged. To activate your back muscles, do bent-over rows in good form with a proper technique.
How To
- Use an overhand grip and hold the bar with shoulder-width apart
- Lean forward with the bar
- Inhale and pull the barbell as high as possible to your body
- Lower the bar back to the previous position in a controlled manner
Barbell Underhand Bent Over Row
Barbell underhand bent over row can be used to work primarily on the lats. It adds variety to your back workout schedule. The biceps and upper back are slightly engaged while doing barbell row with an underhand grip.
How To
- Underhand bent-over row can be done in 45-degree or 90-degree angles
- Target the lats by keeping the chest up and elbows in
- Use a supinated grip on the barbell to target the lats and reduce the rear delt movement
Barbell Pullover
A Barbell pullover can also be a great exercise to focus on the lats and chest muscles. Many people consider this workout as a finisher in the back workout schedule. But it can also be done as a beginning warmup exercise at your convenience. It mainly focuses on serratus and lats and improves the scapular stability required for heavier pressing exercises.
How To
- Lie perpendicular on the bench with hips off the sides and chest slightly up
- The shoulder should be on the bench, and the head should be at the tip of the bench, slightly hanging
- Grab the barbell with the shoulder grip
- Reach the bar behind the back and stretch the lats by feeling tension on the shoulder blades
- Do the whole movement in an arching motion and repeat as reps
- Engage the core and chest for better stability
Barbell Back Extension
A strong mid and lower back is essential to perform various lifts. The Barbell back extension can be used as a warmup workout before the deadlift. This can be done to improve back strength and prevent back injury while lifting. For lifting heavy weights, Use lift from the ground variation. For a higher rep count, use the backloaded variation with lighter weights. You can also do the back extension without any weights (using your body weight).
How To
- You must have a back extension pad/set up to perform the barbell back extension. Set the pad height in such a way that the upper thigh is at the top of the pad, which will still allow you to flex the hip freely.
- Set the back extension pad
- Adjust the pad correctly till the top of the thighs reaches the top of the pad
- Make sure that the position allows you to flex the hip freely
- Lift the weights with a flat back upwards using the erectors, hamstrings, and glutes
- Lower the weights in a controlled back movement and repeat for reps
Meadows Row
Meadows rows are a great exercise for activating lats, rear delts, and lower traps. This workout improves your rear delts, lower back stability, and upper back muscles. Meadows rows are a great option when the weights are limited.
How To
- Setup a barbell in a landmine position
- Stand in a staggered stance with a width of the hips
- The front foot should be at right angle with the bar
- Bend over at the waist and hold the bar with an overhand grip
- Row the weight by ensuring that the bar ends up outside your chest
- Lower the weight in a controlled manner and repeat or reps
Landmine T-Bar Row
Landmine T bar is a great variation for activating back, traps, and erectors. The position is more upright than the bent-over row and targets the lats. T bar rowing is great for people suffering from discomfort and lower back pain or who cannot do bent-over rows.
How To
- Setup a barbell in a landmine position
- Use a handle attachment for a proper grip and straddle the barbell
- Keep your back on the other end after the straddle
- Hold the handles tightly and stand up
- Lower the weight by slowly bending the knees and pushing the hips back in a 45-degree position
- Row the bar with the handle by maintaining the body’s position and pulling the elbows back
Pendlay Row
Weightlifters mostly do pendlay rows to maintain tension in particular back muscles. In this variation, every rep starts and stops on the floor. The core and lower back will not be involved much as bent over rows.
How To
- Hold a bar with an underhand grip
- Lean forward at 90 degrees angle by hinging your hips
- Without moving the upper body, pull the barbell towards you until it touches your abs or chest
- Lower the bar on the floor in a controlled manner
- Do not bounce the weight in between the reps
Barbell Good Morning
Barbell Good Morning mainly focuses on the lower back, hamstrings, and glutes. In this workout, the barbell is placed on the shoulders, similar to performing squats. A barbell good morning workout can be performed to improve back strength and lower back mobility. Most people do this variation at the beginning of the deadlift as a warmup set.
How To
- Place the bar on your upper back. Inhale and tighten your core slightly, and unrack the bar
- Place the barbell on the shoulder
- Inhale and tighten the core
- Take a hip-width stance and lean forward with a straight-back
- Stop and reverse the movement by exhaling
- Repeat for reps
Barbell Shrugs
Barbell shrugs is an isolation exercise mainly targeting your traps and supporting shoulder muscles.
How To
- Set up the barbell with weights at both ends
- Place the barbell in the front of the body and hold it with a shoulder width
- Lift the shoulders as high as possible and keep the head firm
- Lower the shoulders in a controlled manner
- Repeat as reps
Conclusion
If you want to strengthen your back, these barbell exercises must be considered. By doing these exercises, we can achieve a wider and stronger back, which helps to overcome challenges caused by the weaker back muscles. Training back muscles not only increases strength when done correctly but also helps us improve posture, stability, and physical appearance and improves our overall well-being.
