The 3 best exercises for a big and strong back
We often see avid gym visitors with the goal of gaining more muscle mass and strength. Not surprisingly, sports/fitness has many positive effects on the human body and is a great way to achieve this goal. But what really are the best exercises for creating a big and strong back? Especially for you, we have compiled a list of the best exercises to make your back big and strong. The muscle mainly responsible for the width of the back is the latissimus dorsi muscle. This muscle starts at the pelvis and along the spine, and goes from here to the upper arm. To create thickness in the back, we need the musculus rhomboideus, musculus trapezius (descendens, transversus and ascendens) and the musculus teres major.
1. Pull-up:
With a pull-up, all of the aforementioned muscles are trained in one exercise. Super convenient! This exercise provides both an increase in muscle mass and muscle strength, provided of course the right conditions are met. Despite the fact that the pull-up can be a very effective exercise to add to your workout, performing a good pull-up is not that simple. Because the pull-up can be very difficult for a beginning athlete, you can build it up by starting with assisted pull-ups or the lat pulldown with a wide handle. Performing a negative pull-up can also help you get stronger. When performing the pull-up, it is important to use proper technique. Therefore, make sure you start from a fully extended position. From here, you start by placing your shoulder blades down and back, followed by pulling your own body up. The movement ends when your chin rises above the bar. Make sure that the movement is performed in a controlled manner and as you return to the starting position you provide a slight stretch in the back again.
2. Cable row:
The cable row appears in just about every (split) schedule. It is an exercise that trains the latissimus dorsi, teres major, rhomboideus, trapezius, back of the shoulders, biceps and back extensors. A whole mountain of active musculature in other words! The standard version of the cable row starts with the arms extended and the back in the neutral position. You may even feel some stretching at the back. From here, the handle is moved toward the body with the end point being the handle in line with the cable. In the last part of your movement, you really start looking for that extra muscle tension. So make sure the shoulder blades are moving toward each other in the end of the pulling movement. If you want to put a little more emphasis on the mid-back instead of the latissimus dorsi, you can choose to perform the rowing movement with the arms horizontal. Ruben, there is no consensus on how best to counter the lats in the endrange. well or not a slight extension thoracically?
honor provides a slight stretch in the back.
3. Lat pulldown:
The lat pulldown is an exercise that virtually everyone who has ever done strength training has had some recurrence of in their workout. It is an exercise that, as the name suggests, lends itself to training the latissimus dorsi muscle (broad back muscle). Most effective here is a performance with the palms facing outward (pronation position) where the bar is pulled toward the chest. Pulling the bar toward the chest provides more activation than pulling the bar behind the head, toward the neck. The width of the handle (close grip or wide grip) does not seem to make a difference in activation of the latissimus dorsi muscle. So with this, do mainly what you feel comfortable with.
In addition to performing the above exercises it is important to realize that it is not just about choosing the right exercise. To get results, several factors are important. For example, you need to pay attention to your posture, movement speed, and training frequency. In addition to these aspects are food And sleep, of course, is also essential for recovery and muscle building! Research has shown that if we want to focus mainly on increasing strength, it is efficient to train with heavy weights and thus at a higher percentage of your 1RM (repetition maximum). If you mainly want to go for hypertrophy (muscle growth), a heavy load appears to be less important. You stimulate muscle growth with training between 1 and 30 repetitions, with a matching weight of course. Practice shows that the average fitness enthusiast wants something of both.
Would you like more guidance in training or to go from complaints get rid of it? Contact Fysiofitaal directly and make an appointment With a physical therapist!