Back Building Exercises:
How To Build Back Muscles

The back is the most important part of the body when it comes to bodybuilding. For one, the back is prone to injury, which makes it extremely crucial that every exercise is performed in the correct form. Secondly, it is essential to build back muscles if you are to train intensively. A strong back is also essential for day-to-day living and is good to show off as well.

The back is a general term, but in bodybuilding, the three aspects of the back are considered to be separate, and there are different back muscle exercises to target each part.

The three aspects are:

• Thickness of the upper back
• Wideness of the broad, flat muscle on either side of the back or lats
• A well-defined lower back

As a beginner, your focus should be on the following five back building exercises for achieving these goals:

1. Dumbbell shrugs for developing the muscles of the upper back
2. Pull downs for defining the lats
3. Seated V-bar cable rows for developing the mid upper back
4. Bent over barbell row for adding thickness to the upper back
   5. Pull-ups for strengthening the entire back

While you need to target 3 sets of 10-15 reps for the first four exercises, for pull ups, try to do 25 reps.

The back may well be the most important body part, but you should not ignore the rest of the body. For this purpose, you need to incorporate exercises for back muscles into a well structured workout program. Try the following routine on different days of the week:

• Back, abdominal muscles, and biceps
• Shoulders, abdominals, and hamstrings
• Forearms, calves, and quads
• Chest, abdominals, and triceps

As a beginner, start at the lowest level and check your tolerance. Gradually move upwards to reach the targeted sets and reps.