Re: - any advice on best back exercises?

[Guest guest]

,

I'm not but wanted to give you my two cents. Rows are better than lat

pulldown in this aspect, b/c they force you to do " scapular retraction " ... a big

word for the motion of pulling your shoulder blades together which forces your

chest out, shoulders back. This scapular retraction is what encourages good

posture and you can do this anywhere. I do it at my desk, sometimes with my

hands in front, side or resting. Just draw your shoulder blades back like you

are trying to squeeze and hold an object in the middle of your upper back. This

really stretches out your chest too. Hope this is helpful!!

heather

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goes everywhere you do. Get it on your phone.

[Guest guest]

The hunch issue tends to come from a tight chest and a weak back, so

the chest muscles pull the shoulders forward and, voila, hunch. Of

course, a big part of correcting it is the posture/awareness issue and

just making a point of keeping your shoulders pulled back and not

slouching.

A good chest stretch a lot of people don't know is the straight-arm or

door frame stretch:

http://exrx.net/Stretches/ChestGeneral/StraightArm.html

When I do lat pull-downs, I tend to do them differently each time -

wide grip

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBFrontPulldown.html

close grip

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBCloseGripPulldown.html

reverse grip

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBUnderhandPulldown.html

in front of the neck

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBFrontPulldown.html

behind the neck (careful with those)

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBRearPulldown.html

and standing straight-arm pull-downs:

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/LatissimusDorsi/CBStraightArmPulldown.html

Set-for-set, I tend to do a lot more rows than pull-downs. And for those I do:

seated row machine

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/LVSeatedRow.html

low cable rows

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/CBStraightBackSeatedRow.html

single arm dumbbell bent over rows

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html

barbell bent over rows

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html

one-arm high cable rows

http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/CBOneArmHighRow.html

t-bar rows

(if you don't have a t-bar, you can back the end of the barbell

against a wall so it doesn't move and wrap a towel around it for the

" handles " )

http://www.netfit.co.uk/bac9.htm

And probably a lot more that I'm not thinking of at the moment. But

you get the idea, I'm hitting my back in every way and from every

angle possible. I don't rely on the same couple of exercises.

> Hi , I wonder if you have any ideas on the best back exercises to

> pull my shoulders back and prevent hunching? I read somewhere to make

> sure that exercises for the chest and back were balanced. I guess

> there are gym rats (usually guys?) who do crazy amounts of bench

> presses and ignore their back. lol I don't do that, I always do chest

> & back exercises.

>

> I also read that rows were better than lat pulldowns. I wonder if

> there is any truth to that? Your thoughts?

>

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[Guest guest]

I was reading about this hunch thing in a book I just picked up. It's

called Yoga for Regular Guys by Dallas Page. It's pretty funny, trying to

entice men into doing yoga. It's fairly straightforward to follow if you

are interested.

Anyway, he speaks of a yoga exercise for the hunch too. It's lying flat on

your back and tilting your head back till you feel the stretch in your

upper back. There's probably an online source for this pose, but that's

basically it.

Since I read that I've been noticing people's posture more. It definitely

seems to get worse over time if you don't work at it.

Diane

At 02:21 PM 4/25/2006, you wrote:

>The hunch issue tends to come from a tight chest and a weak back, so

>the chest muscles pull the shoulders forward and, voila, hunch. Of

>course, a big part of correcting it is the posture/awareness issue and

>just making a point of keeping your shoulders pulled back and not

>slouching.

>

>A good chest stretch a lot of people don't know is the straight-arm or

>door frame stretch:

>

><http://exrx.net/Stretches/ChestGeneral/StraightArm.html>http://exrx.net/Stretc\

hes/ChestGeneral/StraightArm.html

>

>When

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