A person’s health directly depends on the lifestyle he leads. If some organs or parts of the body weaken or begin to hurt, this is only the result of previous actions. In order to avoid back health problems for many years, you need to pay attention to the spine and muscles, maintaining their activity and mobility. That is why strengthening the back muscles is of great importance so that the musculoskeletal system functions correctly and comfortably.
Strengthening the back muscles is a prerequisite for the health and active lifestyle of any person. This is especially important for those who have suffered from disease and treatment of the spine. Strong and healthy muscles are the key to comfortable mobility and activity of a person.
Sedentary work, low activity, uneven heavy loads, an uncomfortable bed - all these factors can negatively affect the health of the spine and muscle strength, especially the lower back, since this is the area that bears the greatest load. Physical therapy can help strengthen the back and activate the muscles and joints of any person. Exercise therapy plays a particularly significant role for people who have suffered from illness and treatment of any spinal problems.
However, you cannot prescribe exercises for yourself to treat spinal diseases; only a doctor can prescribe exercises. To prevent problems from occurring, you also need to carefully and competently strengthen your muscles so as not to cause more harm to your health. Therefore, you need to know the features of gymnastics, indications and effectiveness of certain exercises.
Is it possible to pump up your back at home?
It is possible to pump up your back at home, but subject to certain conditions. Firstly, it would be ideal if you had some barbells, weights or dumbbells . If this is not the case, then it doesn’t matter, a horizontal bar will do, there should definitely be enough of them in the area.
In addition, you will need to train as if you watched motivational videos on YouTube and are being trained by Rocky Balboa himself, and that same track is playing in your head around the clock.
And you should eat as if you were an African child who for the first time in 5 years saw food not in a photograph.
If you follow these unspoken canons of all jocks with huge backs, then your back will become so powerful that even the ninja turtles will envy you.
Basic rules for any charging
In order not to make your body worse with exercise or stress, you need to take into account several recommendations from experts before starting any gymnastics:
- if exercise therapy is done to eliminate pain or treat any disease, it must be prescribed by a doctor and carried out in strict accordance with the prescription;
- exercises to strengthen the back muscles should begin with warming up and preparing the body for the load;
- You should not load your muscles beyond your capabilities; it is better to increase the pace of exercise gradually as your muscle corset strengthens;
- If you feel any discomfort in the body or pain, especially in the lumbar region, the exercise needs to be changed to prevent muscle overload or spasm.
When trying to strengthen your back muscles, you need to understand that this can be done not only with exercises for the spine, but also for the whole body. General strengthening of the body and muscle corset will be more beneficial for health than targeted work of any specific muscles.
You can perform exercise therapy both in the gym using special exercise equipment, and at home, using improvised means and furniture.
In what ways can this be done?
Firstly, the best exercise for the back is pull-ups .
There are horizontal bars in almost all yards, and it won’t be too difficult to hang a horizontal bar at home.
Do a lot of pull-ups. Pull up nicely. Pull up correctly and half of your success is guaranteed.
Plus, you'll need dumbbells or barbells if you want your back to be truly spectacular.
You can do the following exercises at home with dumbbells and barbells :
- Bent-over barbell row.
- Bent-over row of dumbbells to the waist.
- Dumbbell row to the waist with 1 hand.
- Shrugs with barbells/dumbbells.
- Pullover with dumbbells.
To do this, you will only need set dumbbells. The more weight, the better.
Training program
Let’s say you’re a lucky guy and your mother’s bodybuilder, so you have dumbbells at home. So your program will look like this:
- Wide grip chest pull-ups: 4 sets of 6-12 reps.
- Bent-over dumbbell rows: 4 sets of 8-12 reps.
- One-arm dumbbell rows: 4 sets of 8-12 reps.
- Dumbbell pullover: 4 sets of 10-12 reps.
- Shrugs with dumbbells: 4 sets of 10-12 reps.
- Boat: 4 sets of 10-15 repetitions with a delay at the peak point for 1-2 seconds.
Similar exercises can be performed with a barbell.
Is it possible to pump up your back at home without iron and what exercises will help with this?
If you don’t have dumbbells, and there’s no way to get them anywhere, then you can use water bottles that have handles. It won’t be so convenient with them, but if you have a goal, you have a desire, then this shouldn’t stop you.
If you only have a horizontal bar and parallel bars at your disposal, and you don’t feel like swinging with water bottles, then I advise you to read the article on how to pump up your back on the horizontal bar. There I gave an example of a program that does not require any equipment other than a horizontal bar and parallel bars.
Even if you don’t have a horizontal bar or parallel bars nearby, you will only be able to see a wide back in your dreams. Or you can just imitate it. To do this, you just need to spread your elbows wider and do not lower them under any circumstances. Many schoolchildren successfully use this method and do not see anything wrong with it.
Anatomy of the back muscles
Looking from behind at a healthy person, but not at an athlete, one gets the feeling that the muscle frame is monolithic. But, of course, it is formed by several muscles at once. And understanding how they intertwine with each other is necessary in order to understand the features of back training. And on the bodybuilder’s torso you can clearly study the anatomical structure of the muscles: this is how its different groups are effectively drawn after pumping.
The upper back of the body is literally wrapped in muscles that are grouped in pairs. Conventionally, one can distinguish external and internal tissues, located both longitudinally and transversely. That is, the former are visible on the surface, and the latter are hidden deeper. The following muscles require special attention and development:
- widest;
- toothed;
- trapezoidal;
- extensors.
But this does not mean that you should work exclusively with the groups of the upper frame. If you properly pump your back, strengthening the internal muscles of the lower back and other segments, you will get a spectacular and expressive relief.
The longest fibers that stretch along the entire spine also require work. These are the so-called dorsal extensor muscles. By developing them, a person is able to maintain a straight posture, giving a load with weights.
Bodybuilders work a lot on the latissimus dorsi muscles, since they occupy the lion's share of the surface of the body at the back. Therefore, the training program certainly includes pull-up movements. In the process, the latissimus muscles located in the upper back are activated.
However, trainers recommend expanding the set of exercises to target different muscle fibers of the back and neck in more than one plane. Then the back of the body will be formed harmoniously, starting from the lumbar region.
When can I expect results?
The speed at which you achieve results depends on how you not only train, but also eat.
Yes, a large share of success depends on nutrition. You can fidget with a dumbbell in front of a mirror for days on end, but if at the same time your nutrition is like that of a sick sparrow, then you can forget about a wide back once and for all.
I wrote about how a strong and independent man should eat here.
And a lot depends on your recovery. If you sleep well, if you don’t have stress that will lead to terrible and terrible catabolism, then your muscles will grow much more willingly.
If you do everything correctly, you will be able to see the first hints of muscles within a month.
Gymnastics exercises
Any exercise should consist of three stages: warming up, maximum load, relaxation exercises. Without the first, it is dangerous to load the muscles; without the second, there is no point in doing exercises at all; without the third, the effect will be minimal, because rest and relaxation will consolidate the result and return strength to the body.
Warm-up exercises
So, physical therapy to strengthen the spine and the entire back begins with warming up, which helps to tune the muscles to work, increase blood circulation, and add flexibility and elasticity. To do this, you can perform the following exercises:
- Circular movements of the head in different directions.
- Circular movements of the shoulders forward and backward.
- Swing with straight arms up and down, to the sides, rotate with arms bent at the elbows.
- Tilts left and right, forward and backward, circular rotations of the pelvis, activating the lower back muscles.
- Squats without lifting your heel off the floor.
All exercises should be performed calmly, maintaining even breathing, without jerking or sudden movements of the spine. The pulse should speed up, but not pound too much. Warming up during exercise therapy involves preparing the body for further stress.
Basic charging
After warming up the body, you can begin the main load. Despite the fact that the entire body and every muscle should be strengthened, the main emphasis should still be on working the back muscles.
To keep them active, you can do the following exercises:
- Twisting position - lying on your back. They can be performed with fixed legs in a bent position. In this case, the hands can be either on the back of the head or crossed on the chest. This exercise can be performed both on a flat surface and on an inclined plane.
- The position is the same. The exercise consists of raising straight legs to an angle of 45 or 60 degrees. You can do the scissors or bicycle exercise, which is familiar to everyone from childhood. In addition to strengthening your back muscles, lifting your legs makes your abdominal muscles work well.
- Lying on your stomach, you can lift your arms and upper torso or legs off the floor. To make it more difficult, this should be done simultaneously, changing legs and arms, bending the spine as much as possible in the lumbar region of the back. Such deflections effectively influence the strengthening of the lower back muscles.
- Exercises that are performed in the position of standing on all fours, placing your hands and knees on the floor, help strengthen your back muscles. You can take turns raising your straight legs and moving them back, then add your arms. At the same time, moving your right leg back, you need to add your left hand, and, conversely, lift your right hand off the floor with your left foot.
A very important part of exercise that strengthens the back muscles are stretching exercises for the whole body. They allow you to open the hidden reserves of the body, activate the work of joints and tendons, and give the muscles a greater amplitude of work.
You need to start stretching with simple exercises, feeling how your whole body is slowly stretched. Even when bending the torso forward with straight legs, trying to touch the floor with your hands, a person will feel the work of the muscles of the back of the legs.
Relaxation and completion of exercise
At the end of exercise therapy, you must do several exercises that restore breathing and pulse, as well as relax all muscles. This can be shaking, rotating, stroking or patting. Leaving the body after the culmination of exercise, doing other things, is undesirable, since warmed muscles are most susceptible to damage and injury.
By slowing down at the end of the exercise, a person signals the body to stop the load and complete the exercise. This will also help maintain strength and keep the body in the correct position: straight posture, toned stomach, no arching in the lumbar region.
It is better to do any exercises for the spine daily, unless your doctor prescribes a different frequency. At the same time, you need to remember that such gymnastics can only be done for a healthy back; for any disorders, there is physical therapy with an individual set of exercises that a specialist can prescribe.
Strengthening a healthy back and maintaining its strength is much easier than treating any disease. Therefore, from a young age it is worth paying attention to yourself and your health, so that for many years you will not know what spinal disorders are.
