A strong back usually means a strong person and a strong woman is sexy. Here are 4 exercises to build a strong woman’s back.
Deadlifts
Deadlifts are awesome and will add muscle to all the bikini parts (back, glutes, hamstrings, and calves), not to mention burn more fat by using more muscle mass.
The best way is to approach the deadlift by training for strength in the 4-6 rep range with some lower intensity sets in the 8-10 rep range as a secondary lift or back down set.
Chin ups
Chin ups are great for shaping your lats and upper back. If you can do a chin up there’s also a pretty good chance that you’re carrying less body fat and your muscles will show up all the better. However, if you’re not ready to do chin ups yet there are a few options.
You can do them with band assistance which will help you out of the bottom and allow you to practice your technique.
Or you can do them with your feet on the ground. I got this variation from Geoff Girvitz, where you hold onto the bar in a squat rack or rings and lower yourself into the bottom with assistance from your legs. With this variation you still the get the core activation benefits as you would with a chin up.
Sets of 6-8 reps work great.
Rows
Row are a staple in all of our programs and definitely shape a nice upper back. They can be done with dumbbells, a barbell, or on a cable machine. Drive with the elbow and shoulder blade to get those most out of the movement. Allowing the shoulder blades to protract a little to pre-stretch the muscle works well.
We usually do at least 4 sets in the 10-12 rep range.
Make sure you’re doing your rows correctly by watching this video.
Rear delt work
The rear delts get no love, but they can really transform the way your back looks. There are many variations but we like the chest supported rear delt fly with dumbbells and high rep band pull aparts.
For the rear delt flys 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps works well, and for the band pull aparts 100 total reps per day is great for muscle and shoulder health.
Include one of these after, or supersetted with, your rows/chin ups.
Bring Sexy Back
The back usually falls to the wayside because we don’t see it, but guess what? Everyone else does. A strong back makes a strong person. Get to building those strong backs!
