Top 5 Back Workout Tips by Gladious

After you’ve been going to the gym for a while and the noobie gains start slowing down, going to the gym can become frustrating. The progress gets addicting. When you’re starting out your technique could be bad, but the gains still come. After the noobie gains, however, you need to focus more on acing each movement for an optimal amount of progress. With that said there are a few tips to keep in mind to get the most of your workouts.

Today we’re going to cover back workout tips.

 Tip 1: The Pause

With every exercise you do, you need to focus on the range of motion throughout the movement. Doing so will strengthen that mind-to-muscle connection. It is important to know when to pause, squeeze and hold. Learn how to squeeze and engage the middle and upper back muscles in your workout it is critical when it comes to maximizing growth to your back muscle

For example:

when doing pull downs you want to bring the bar to your sternum, (not your clavicle) while focusing on driving the movement down with your elbows. When you’ve reached your chest pause and hold the bar for at least a second while squeezing the muscles.

Tip 2: The Grip

Unlike with our chest workout tips where we talked about your hand placement for grip, for back workouts, we’re going to go over grip strength (although placement matters too). We’ve all been there. You’re in the middle of a heavyweight set and you know you could squeeze out a few more reps when your grip fails and you drop the weight. It sucks. But there are options on how to improve and strengthen your grip. For starters, you can try using chalk or straps But if you really want to work on your grip strength you should build your biceps and forearms. For biceps it’s pretty simple, you can build them up by doing a variation of curls. For forearms, try incorporating forearm curls or farmers walks. 

Tip 3: The Form

Whether it’s a back workout or any other muscle group, your form matters. For back exercises (like rows, pull-ups, and lat pull-down variations) the general rule of thumb for proper form consists of keeping your chest out, shoulders pulled back, head tall, and your abs tight. Again you want to focus on pulling with your middle – upper back. You want to avoid or minimize your shoulder and trap usage. When your shoulders or trap take over the movement, it promotes internally rotation, which can cause scapular instability that may lead to injury. 

Tip 4: The Routine

Back days are fun days. Because the muscle group is so large you have so many options on how to build them. However, like with other muscle groups, we tend to find a routine we like and stick to it. Obviously, if you are not incorporating compound movements in your back muscle workout, you should. If your back workout already consists of compound movements and fundamental movements, try isolated exercises. As we said, the muscle group is large. Every small muscle counts. Try incorporating straight arm pull-down to fry up your lats. Also, change the grip placement to target different muscles in your body. If you normally do pull-ups, try doing inverted pulls. For that V-tapper, train your upper lats with a wider grip. 

Tip 5: The Stretch

If you’ve ever trained your back hard, you’ve probably questioned if your back is just sore or if it’s injured. Having a sore/achy back can make training other muscle groups difficult too. Of course, being sore is part of the program. But if it can be reduced, you can keep training on. What this means is making sure you’re doing a few things; sleeping well, eating enough protein, and warming up/ stretching. For your back workout, and really all workouts, you should consider foam rolling. Foam rolling is kind of like a DIY massage except not as relaxing.

What it’s going to do is help break down fibrous tissue, improve circulation, relieve adhesion, reduce muscle soreness and increase range of motion.