Back Workout at Home

You must have heard about the importance of back workouts. You might think that those exercise can be performed properly only at the gym under the supervision of an expert. Well, you are right to some extent. You need to do back exercises the proper way to derive all the possible positive effects from them. However, you don't need to lose heart or spend your time and hard-earned money at a gym. There are some back exercises that can be easily done at the comfort of your home and can benefit you the same way.

Back Workout Benefits

By performing back workouts at home on a regular basis, you will derive numerous health and beauty benefits. To mention a few, you will improve your body posture over a period of time. Secondly, you will make your back muscles more strong and toned. Thirdly, you will increase the flexibility of your back, which in turn, will tend to reduce the chances of injuries while lifting heavy objects. Fourthly, you will be able to unwind and relax with the back exercises. Lastly, due to all the above improvements in your strength and appearance, you will feel more confident and positive about yourself. Therefore, including back exercises to your regular exercise regimen is very important and highly beneficial.

Back Workouts

From the above section of the article, you have learned about the benefits of back workouts. You can derive all the given benefits only when you perform the back workout the right way. Or else, you will end up with muscle cramps, muscle pulls, and various other forms of injury. The correct way to do back workouts, at home as well as at a gym, is to warm up your body for at least 5 minutes. Do some kind of cardiovascular exercises to loosen your body. In this manner, you will better be able to derive all the benefits of back exercises. Once you feel sufficiently warmed up, do some of the following back exercises at home.

Dumbbell Rows: Straight erect on the floor. Bend your torso at the waist such that the upper part of your body is parallel to the floor. Keep the stomach pulled in and knees slightly bent. Hold the dumbbells (3-4 pounds to start with) with your hands. Make sure that your hands are straight down and the elbows are not locked. Now, bend the elbows and lift the weights up till the elbows come in level with the torso. Try to keep your shoulders relaxed and away from your ears. Come back to the starting position in a controlled motion. Wait for a 2-3 seconds, and then repeat this workout for 1-3 sets of 10-16 repetitions. Here's more on dumbbell exercises.

Back Extension: Lie down on your stomach on the floor. Place the arms either at the sides or at the back of the head, whichever is more comfortable to you. Pull the abdomen in and keep it as such throughout the exercise. Squeeze your back so as to enable yourself lift your chest to a comfortable height off the floor. Hold the posture for a 3-4 seconds. Come back slowly to the starting position. Do the back extension exercise for 1-3 sets of 1-14 reps total on each hand.

Reverse Fly: Sit on the floor and keep light-weight dumbbells on the floor. Bent over with your arms hanging down. Keep the weights under your knees. Make sure that you don't collapse on the legs. Instead, try to keep the back straight. Involve your abdominal muscles. Hold the dumbbells with your hands and lift them to the sides. Bring the arms up to the level of the shoulder with the shoulder blades squeezed together. You may have to bend the elbows slightly to form the suggested posture. Return slowly to the original posture. Perform this back exercise, reverse fly, for 1-3 sets of 12-14 repetitions. You can increase the count as you get confident and comfortable at doing it.

Dumbbell Pullover: You need a ball to perform this back workout called dumbbell pullover. Lay your body on your back on the ball such that your head and shoulders rest on it. Contract the glutes and keep them as such so as to lift the body into a bridge position. You are supposed to make a straight line from knees to head. Bring the dumbbells straight up over the chest. Keep your arms slightly bent. Keep the elbows slightly bent and body taut and stable. Lower the dumbbells behind you. Do not push yourself to do it. Lower the weight as far as everything is comfortable to you. Contract the muscles of the back to pull the weight back up over the chest. Do this back exercise for 1-3 sets of 10-12 repetitions.

One-Armed Row: Place a platform, about 6 inches high, in front of you. Place your right foot on it. Rest the right hand or forearm on the upper thigh of the right leg. Hold a dumbbell, approximately 6 pounds of weight, in the left hand. Let the dumbbell hang down towards the floor while keeping the back straight and abdomen pulled in. Bend the elbow and lift it up with a rowing movement so that it comes in level with the torso or a bit above it. When you are at the top of the movement, squeeze the back and keep the hips square and the abdominal muscles engaged. Come back to the starting posture in a controlled manner. Repeat this particular back exercise for sets of 1-3 with 10-14 reps in each.

All the above mentioned upper and lower back workout are safe-to-perform. These workouts will certainly help you in keeping yourself healthy, fit and beautiful for long. But, they may fail to produce expected results if you do not take all the necessary nutrients to stay healthy. Therefore, follow a balanced diet to assist any form of exercise and that will work wonders for you.