Introduction
Building a wide and thick back is a characteristic of a strong physique, and a targeted dumbbell back workout can be a game-changer. Dumbbells offer a distinct benefit in back training by allowing for unilateral exercises that address muscular imbalances while improving overall symmetry.
This workout guide targets the back’s key muscles, increasing muscle growth, strength, and definition. To achieve the best results, perform each exercise with perfect form and control, focusing on the mind-muscle connection. You only need a pair of dumbbells and an adjustable bench to perform the below exercises. Before we delve into the exercises, let’s see the back anatomy.
The back is not a single muscle group, it’s made up of many muscles which makes it a lot more important to piece together a workout that is going to hit all these areas. It’s not just the lats we’re worried about, it’s all the other things we often can’t even see.
The traps are one of the most important muscles for posture and proper function of your shoulder. The lower back is critical to how we feel, function, and make the entire kinetic chain work properly.
1. Chest Supported Rows (Incline Bench)
Stability is crucial to grow whatever muscle you’re trying to grow and there is no better exercise than the chest-supported row in this regard. It is a mid and upper-back-focused exercise, mainly your traps and rhomboids. This is also a great exercise to improve your posture.
The key thing to focus on when doing a row is your shoulder position. Flare out your elbows and squeeze your shoulder blades on the top of the movement to hit the upper back better. It’s one of my favourite exercises and once you find the mind-muscle connection, it’s euphoric.
An old study by Lehman and colleagues found that rowing movements provide similar levels of lat activation as lat pulldowns but more activation in other areas of the back like the traps and rhomboids. You must include rowing exercises in your workout to help with back width and thickness.
Benefits:
- Lying face down on a bench with your chest supported, eliminates the option of lifting the weight with momentum or swinging your body. This isolation guarantees that the targeted muscles perform most of the work, which results in improved muscular engagement and growth.
- Chest-supported rows will provide better stability and take tension off your lower back. This can be particularly effective for people with lower back concerns or those prone to injury.
- This exercise promotes appropriate scapular retraction, which is necessary for shoulder health and stability. Squeezing the shoulder blades together at the top of the movement strengthens the muscles responsible for maintaining good posture and shoulder alignment.
2. Dumbbell Pullovers
A Dumbbell pullover is one of the best exercises to hit the lats. A lot of times we think that the only way we can work the lats is with pull-ups and lat pulldowns, but this is a great exercise that you can do with just a dumbbell. Pullovers will strengthen and lengthen your lats.
Although no longer as well-known today, the dumbbell pullover was once a favourite upper body exercise of Arnold Schwarzenegger, both for building more muscle and better mobility.
What I like to do is position my body perpendicular to the bench instead of lying alongside it, the bench is going to be right underneath your shoulder blades. It creates more stretch during the eccentric.
Focus on squeezing the lats when bringing the dumbbell back to the starting position and keep your abs nice and tight.
Benefits:
- Dumbbell pullovers also engage other muscles for stabilization, including the triceps, shoulders, chest, and core. This makes it a compound movement that engages multiple muscle groups simultaneously.
- To develop a well-rounded back, you should work both the upper and lower lats, which dumbbell pullovers do.
- Dumbbell pullovers provide a deep stretch of the lats, which can improve flexibility and range of motion in the shoulder and upper back. This stretch promotes muscle growth and overall back development.
Note: If you are a beginner, be very moderate with the weight when doing this exercise as it puts a lot of stress on the shoulders and the dumbbell is above your head so there is a risk of injury. Start light and patiently work your way up.
3. Bent Over Rows (Single Arm)
This exercise promotes back width and strongly engages the lower back. You can get a great squeeze in this exercise. However, it’s a little difficult to perform and master so you have to practice a lot to feel your lats in this.
According to a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, a standing bent-over row elicits large muscle activation symmetrically from the upper to lower back.
You can perform this exercise in a variety of ways, but my favourite is to plant both feet flat on the floor and place the left hand on a flat or incline bench, then alternating hands as seen in the image above. I have seen many people do this with one knee on the bench and experience pain in the lower back. You will feel a better lat activation with this variation.
Ensure that you keep your arms closely tucked into your body throughout the entire range of motion. Your elbows shouldn’t drift outwards and keep them at your side. Drifting your elbows will hit the rear delts and rhomboids more instead of the lats. Think about driving your elbows up and flexing your lats, your back should be neutral and flat.
Pull the dumbbell towards your hip. Retract your shoulder blades when pulling up and extend the arm as much as possible while going down for a full range of motion. Keep a slight bend in your knees and ensure that your head position is neutral and not hyper-extended, keep that neck relaxed.
Benefits:
- Single-arm dumbbell rows let you isolate each side of your back separately, reducing muscular imbalances.
- It provides a greater range of motion than most of the other back exercises, promoting muscle growth and flexibility.
- Progressive overload is easier to do in this exercise
Conclusion
Not only does a well-developed back look good on you, but it also helps with posture and overall strength. By incorporating the above dumbbell back workout routine you can effectively target all major muscles in the back and build a wide and thick back.
Just remember, Fitness is not a sprint, but a marathon. Take satisfaction in gradual progress and remember that the journey to strength is as important as the destination.
Thank you for reading! Comment below with your thoughts and suggestions.
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