When we talk about our upper back muscles, they often tend to go unnoticed by us. It may also be that we may be more concerned with building or shaping up other muscles such as our arms or chest. However, if we could strengthen the muscles present in the upper back of our body, we would be benefitted tremendously, as it can assist you in the form of improved mobility, when it comes to doing your regular exercises every day as well as in helping you manage your daily routine work easily.
Upper back exercises can play a vital role in helping you attain a proper posture. Hence, it becomes all the more important not to skip the exercises for your upper back, which can help to enhance your mobility and strength as well as decrease your chances of being affected by any back injury.
Following are some of the exercises that you can start doing in order to train your upper back:
1. Renegade Row:
Renegade Row is one of the exercises for your joints that target your back particularly your upper back, including your shoulders as well as your triceps. This exercise also targets the core of your body. You would also be requiring adequate core strength in order to perform this exercise properly. Your abdominal muscles, including other muscles such as the hip and spine muscles are engaged when you are performing this exercise in a plank position. On the other hand, you will find that in the row portion of this exercise, your upper back, shoulders and arms, apart from the muscles present in the upper back are targeted. There must be enough strength with you to hold on to a plank position for the entire period of this exercise. You will be literally holding your entire body in a plank position by taking the support of one arm at a time.
Equipment Required:
• A pair of dumbbells
How to do this exercise?
• Firstly, take a pair of dumbbells in your hands and keep them on the ground and position them in such a way that when you set yourself on to a plank position, the dumbbells are placed at around shoulder-distance apart.
• Now, begin by keeping your hands as well as knees into a position similar to a tabletop and holding both the dumbbells firmly in your hands. The hands must be lined up below the shoulders, while the knees fall beneath the hips.
• Start stepping the feet behind you so that you get yourself onto a complete plank position. Further, the body must take support of the hands and the balls of the feet.
• Now, your body must be able to get into a straight line starting from the head right up to the heels, while your core is kept stiff as well as engaged.
• Start breathing in and begin to shift the body weight to your left a little. In this way, a lot of your weight would get the support of the left palm. Try to ensure that the body does not twist in the process.
• Now, the right shoulder blade must be squeezed on to your spine. Start bending your right elbow as the dumbbell in the right hand is being drawn towards your chest. Start breathing out as the dumbbell is lifted by you.
• The dumbbell should be lowered steadily on to the floor, thereby coming back to the starting position.
• In the same way, the weight must be shifted on to your right by drawing the left dumbbell on to your left chest.
• You have completed one rep.
You can try and do any number of reps as you are comfortable with in the beginning and slowly increase the count once you are comfortable after getting adequate practice over a period of time.
2. Dumbbell Rear-Delt Fly:
Dumbbell Rear-Delt Fly is a strength exercise that is performed by getting yourself seated on a bench. Get on to a flat bench, so that you can perform the exercise correctly and in a much better form. By performing this exercise, the back would be able to get into a proper shape. Apart from toning your back, this exercise can help in building your muscles present in the upper back, including your shoulder muscles. Further, it helps to strengthen and stabilize your spine as well as your deep abdominal muscles.
Equipment Required:
• A pair of dumbbells
How to do this exercise?
• First, you could start by standing and keeping your feet about hip-width apart. Keep your knees bent a little and grab a set of dumbbells on to your hands firmly. Keep your palms in such a way that it faces your body.
• Your back must be kept flat and start bending to your front at your hip joint at an angle of around 90 degrees.
• Now, you can start raising your arms out on to your sides and try to keep your elbows bent a little. Continue upward, till the elbows get even along with your back. Subsequently, start squeezing the shoulder blades jointly.
• Start lowering the dumbbells again on to the starting position.
• You have completed one rep.
You can try and do about 2-3 sets comprising of 10 reps.
Remember to use dumbbells that are of lighter weight at the beginning, so that you can perform the exercise in the correct form. Also, avoid swinging the upper body while performing this exercise.
3. Skull-Crusher Press:
This is an excellent exercise that can train your upper back, particularly for those attempting to improve the strength as well as size of their triceps and also build their muscle mass. The triceps would actually cover at least more than half of your upper arm. Moreover, you would be performing this exercise with a weight in both your hands. While individuals are performing the skull crusher press, they will be able to observe an improvement in their raw strength. By doing this exercise regularly, you will notice that there is an increase in size of your arms, making these arms bigger than what it had been earlier. It is suggested to get a warm up done before you start doing this exercise.
Equipment Required:
• A pair of Dumbbells or a Barbell
• A flat bench
How to do this exercise?
• First, you can start off by lying down on your back on a flat bench and keeping your feet stiff on the ground.
• Now, grab both the dumbbells on to your hands and hold them over your chest and begin to engage the core, while at the same time make sure that your palms are facing each other.
• Begin to hinge the elbows after keeping them in a specific position in order to bring your dumbbells down right behind your ears.
• Start shrinking your triceps in order to extend the arms straight on to the top.
• You have completed one rep.
You can try and do at least 3 sets comprising of 10 reps for better results.
As a beginner, you may try and do as many numbers of reps as you feel comfortable and slowly increase the number of reps after getting enough comfort and practice. Also, please try to use dumbbells that are light-weight in the beginning and slowly with enough practice, you can do this exercise with dumbbells that are of heavy weight.
Image Source: https://www.openfit.com/upper-back-workouts-exercises
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
