Back workouts increase your core strength, give your body that sculpted v-shape so many fitness buffs strive for, and help give your body an overall toned look. Some of the most common back exercises include cable rows, barbell rows, and of course, pull ups.
However, some gym rats may not be seeing the development with their back muscles that they hoped for. This may be because of some common back training mistakes.
If you want to make the most out of your back workouts, then you definitely need to know the biggest back training mistake we’ve seen so you’ll know what to avoid, and which activities are a waste of your time.
The Worst Mistake You Can Make When Doing Back Workouts
What’s the Biggest Mistake You Can Make During a Back Workout?
The worst mistake anyone can make while doing back strengthening exercises is failing to target their back muscles. It may seem silly, but it’s a very common mistake we see all the time in the gym.
The root of the problem here is that many fitness buffs don’t know what the muscles of the back are and how to work them. In fact, many gym-goers mindlessly hop on a cable machine and start pulling with terrible form.
What Are the Back Muscles?
If you want to build a wider back, you need to know exactly what muscles are being targeted with each exercise. Back workouts must target your traps, lats, teres major and minor, rhomboids, and the upper and lower back muscles.
Back Muscles and Their Workouts
Lower Back Muscles: The best lower back exercises include deadlifts, hyperextensions, Atlas stones, rack pulls, and good mornings. These lower back workouts are important for strengthening your lumbar and fixing your posture.
Upper Back Muscles: If you’re aiming for a perfect V-shaped body, you can’t afford to skimp out on doing upper back exercises. These include chest-supported rows, wide grip rows, lat pulldowns, close-grip lat pulldowns and straight arm pulldowns.
Lats: The lats or latissimus dorsi are the largest muscles in the back. They form a triangle from your shoulders down to your hips. Some of the best lat exercises include pull-ups, lat pulldowns, seated rows, and bent-over rows.
What’s the Most Important Back Muscle?
While all back muscles are important to create a well-balanced physique, the lats play, perhaps, the largest role in giving you that V-shaped body you want. Some common lat exercises include seated rows, dumbbell rows, and barbell rows. Basically, any exercise that involves rows, whether they’re machines or free weights, most likely targets your lats.
The Most Common Back Workout Mistake
Sadly, the biggest back workout mistake happens on cable row machines. The main issue is that most people who use the machine pull the cable too high. They bring their elbows up and end up targeting their traps and rear delts rather than their traps.
How to Fix This Mistake?
Fixing it is actually pretty simple, instead of bringing your elbows up, keep them down as you pull the cable. Also, instead of pulling the bar up to your chest, pull it toward your belly button.
Remember to contract your lat muscles as you’re doing the exercise.
Here’s the biggest back workout mistake you can commit:
If you’re not doing back workouts with proper form, you won’t be seeing gains any time soon. If you want to learn more common mistakes such as this, join the V Shred University. It’s our very own membership site where we give out monthly meal plans and workout routines to users. Remember, the key to maximizing any workout is to practice the proper form.
What are your favorite back workouts? Share them with us in the comments section below!