Ok the back muscles !

[TzuChan]

Ok, this is just something I need to ask, I'm thinking I'm entering that lopsided zone (or whatever :)) if I keep training like this. My front looks great, well I mean it looks nice and healthy. My back doesn't, it's just skin :) The back of the shoulders and the top of my shoulders etc.. is getting a good workout too now thanks to you guys. But the rest isn't .. I mean how do you make a back look good ? I know it sounds pretty gay, but what the heck =] I read all over the internet about working the back muscles, and I found some exercises, none of them with dumbells, which is a big problem for me. So this is not a spine thread, this is about the muscles on your back .. I'm pretty sure a person that works out has a better looking and healthier back then somebody that sits in front of a desk all day long, so help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Cyborg]

Dude what's up with you?! You asked that recently and got several answers, why aren't you trying those? :confused:

[TzuChan]

That was the muscle stuff, I keep carefull track of what I ask here about exercises cause they are all valuable posts. And I double checked, the only thing I ever asked here about a back thing is what I could do to releave lower back pain for a girlfriend, how to train the back of my shoulders and that area bellow the back of my head/neck. But nothing about the lower big back muscles you got hanging there (under the deltoids), those things have a really long latin name I forgot what it was. But so I'm wondering if you can work these things out with only dumbells, so no gym or anything. Nothing is wrong with you, you're just confused =] Also I made a post like a couple of months back about how to prevent back pain, and then I got stuff like sit ups etc.. but I have a strong feeling that situps don't target those specific muscles all that well from what I know. Those situps just help to build a kind of belt to support your back, but that's not what I'm looking for.

[Cashier Graham]

i know push-ups and cat stretch's don't use dumbbells but maybe you could give em a try, and chin ups (maybe you could hold a dumbbell between your feet:) ). Dumbbell press and rows will also help.

[abobo]

Here's a general guidline for upper body exercises:

Anything that involves pushing / pressing / arm extension is going to use the 'front'

Anytime you have pulling / arm flexion you are using the back.

Pull your shoulder blades together - see? You are flexing the upper back.

So that's how to figure out what muscles you are targeting. Compountd movements are going to involve almost all of the muscles to some extent.

And then the muscles on the other side will be used for stabilizing only.

So, for the upper back, pullups and bent rows are good movements. Try to pull with your back first, and then your arms. And I don't mean swaying. All I'm saying is that you should feel like you are doing more than just flexing at the elbow when you pull. Especially during rows - pull the weight up toward your waist, not your shoulder.

[abobo]

It might be useful to learn all the names of the muscles. Spend a few minutes a day learning them and you'll have memorized before you know it. Then you can figure out what muscles are involved in different exercises by a) trying some isometric exercises to feel which muscles are contracting b) looking it up in books or on the web or c) physical intuition.

[IronFist]

Are you talking about the big muscles along the side of the back? The ones that make you have a V shape? Those are called latissimus dorsi, but you can call them "lats" for short.

Can you do pullups? If you can, your lats will be more than taken care of.

IronFist

[TzuChan]

Hey Ironfist I was hoping you were gonne reply ;)
Yes that's the muscle I'm talking about, the name slipped my mind. So pullups will do the job ? Wow .. When I do pullups I feel it in my arms and shoulders and even my abdomen, but never noticed anything working my lats. I'll do 15-10-8-8 tomorrow, thanks alot guys

[Shaolin-Do]

We used to do these bad ass pull ups when I pole vaulted in middle school....

Hang from the pull up bar, but as best you can, make your abs and legs form a 90 degree angle, feet facing the sky. Pull up until your chest is touching the bar, then extend your feet all the way up, trying to make yourself completely perpindicular to the ground. let back into a 90 degree angle, and lower yourself again. repead.

*note, never drop yourself below the 90 degree bend at torso to legs.