Many people get confused when it comes to choosing the right back exercises. A lot of the other body parts are typically easy to find the right exercises for. Let’s take the chest, for example. The bench press is a very obvious and easy choice for a great chest exercise, and for those who workout at home, push-ups are a great alternative. The back, however, is a little bit harder to figure out.
There and BACK Again
When I first started working out I had no equipment so I went and bought two fifteen pound dumbbells. I only knew a few exercises and so I would do those exclusively. I remember I would mostly do curls with those dumbbells and then use other exercises like push-ups, and jumping jacks to fill in the remainder of my workouts. I knew that I should exercise all of my muscles but I had little knowledge as to how I would do it. Eventually I learned about exercises like bent over rows and dead lifts so I integrated those as well.
Unfortunately when we workout at home we don’t always have the right amount of weight or resistance that we need. However, good back exercises don’t need to be complicated. It will be a more difficult if you don’t have any weights to work with, but it will be far from impossible. When creating a back workout at home, keep in mind that there are at least two areas of the back that need to be addressed. These are the lower and the upper back. It’s important to include at least one exercise for each of these areas.
BACK to the Future
The bent over row is an example of a great upper back exercise. When you bend over, make sure that your eyes are looking forward and your back is straight not curved. You have to use a weight for this exercise but that doesn’t mean that it has to be a dumbbell or barbell. You can use cinder blocks, stacks of encyclopedia, or even jugs of water. If you don’t have water storage you can kill two birds with one stone by stocking up on some and then working out with it.
Another good back exercise that you can do at home is the single leg Romanian dead lift. This one doesn’t require any extra weight to do, although, you can work your way up to using more weight. The single leg Romanian dead lift sounds more complicated than it really is. Stand on your right leg and lift your left leg lifted a few inches off of the ground just to the side of your right leg. Put your left hand on your left hip and put your right hand at your side. Now bend over without curving your back and as you do reach with your right hand down to your right foot.
Make sure that when you do this exercise that you, breathe in on the way down and out on the way back up. Once you have finished your repetitions for one side, proceed to the other. Although, it is not complicated to understand, the single leg Romanian dead lift can be very difficult to do. You just have to keep at it, and soon you will be great at it.
