Building strong back muscles can be incredibly difficult, especially for people that are new to training. As a three-time World’s Strongest Woman, we thought Donna Moore knows a thing or two about building strong and robust muscles. So, we caught up with Donna to discover her favourite exercises to build a stronger back.

Why Having a Strong Back is Important

Aside from Strongman, having a strong back is useful in all aspects of life. The back is a complex part of the body that plays a significant role in supporting posture, maintaining stability, and facilitating movement. Strengthening the back muscles not only improves physical appearance but also offers a myriad of health benefits.

First and foremost, a strong back can help prevent and alleviate back pain, which is a common issue for many people, especially those who have jobs that require long hours of sitting. Regular back exercises can improve muscle balance and posture, reducing the risk of developing chronic back pain and improving overall spinal health.

Furthermore, working on your back muscles promotes functional fitness, making daily activities such as lifting, carrying, and reaching easier and safer. Strong back muscles also enhance athletic performance in sports that require upper body strength.

The Muscles of the Back

Your back is made up of various muscles that all work in synergy to perform different pulling movements. Some of the key back muscles include -

• Trapezius (traps)

• Rhomboids

• Latissimus dorsi (lats)

• Supraspinatus

• Infraspinatus

• Levator scapulae

• Teres major and minor

• Erector spinae

The traps and lats are the biggest muscles in the back, but it’s essential that you do a variety of back exercises to target the smaller muscles and reduce the chances of muscular imbalance.

Donna Moore's Favourite Back Exercises

Donna Moore has given us a rundown of her favourite back exercises so that you can include these movements in your training.

Deadlift

There is always a deadlift variation in a Strongman competition, whether that’s for reps or max weight. Deadlifts target the erector spinae in your lower back whilst the lats act as stabilisers. To perform a conventional deadlift, you pull an Olympic barbell from the floor loaded with bumper plates. There are various things you can do to regress the movement, such as -

• Raise the height of the bar

• Reduce the weight

If you want to progress, you can -

• Add pauses

• Load the bar with resistance bands

• Slow down the tempo

• Lower the height of the bar

Romanian Deadlift

Romanian deadlifts are an accessory lift that you can use to improve your deadlift and strengthen the posterior chain. The movement is similar to a deadlift, except you start from a standing position and lower the bar down to your shins as opposed to lifting from the floor. It requires less bend in the knees too as you’re working the posterior chain and not the quadriceps. As well as targeting the hamstring, Romanian deadlifts require a lot of lat engagement to stay stable throughout the movement. 

Pendlay Row

This is one of several rowing exercises that target your lats, traps and rhomboids in particular. It involves lifting a barbell from a dead stop position off the ground to the chest while maintaining a strict horizontal body position, typically with a flat back and a slight bend in the knees.

To start, begin with a lighter load whilst you focus on the execution of the exercise, making sure to squeeze your upper back at the top of the movement. For Donna, during the first phase of training, the most important thing is to focus on lighter loads and executing the form correctly. As it gets closer to competition season, there is less focus on form and more focus on increasing weight. This is to ensure that she is strong enough to lift the competition loads.

Lat Pulldowns

Lat pulldowns are another back focused exercise that mainly target the lats. You can use different grip attachments such as the Lat Pulldown Bar and Straight Bar to focus on different muscles. The lat pulldown is a really good exercise if you want to work towards doing pull ups, or if you can’t do pull ups at a high volume and want to focus on building the same muscles.

Because the back is made up of so many muscles, it’s important to add a variety of posterior chain exercises into your training. Incorporating back exercises into your gym routine is essential for overall fitness and wellbeing. It helps prevent back pain, enhances functional fitness, improves athletic performance, and promotes a balanced physique. So, hit the gym and prioritise working on your back muscles for a healthier, fitter, and more confident you.

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Tags: Equipment > Bars and Weight Plates ; Equipment > Cable Machines ; Exercise Type > Strength