The Importance of a Strong Upper Back

The upper back (the thoracic, scapula and surround musculature) are one of the most neglected areas in most people’s training regimes…

A strong upper back allows for healthy posture, strength in day-to-day tasks like carrying, and sporting movements like swimming. A strong upper back is also essential for healthy pushing exercising, like the bench press or the shoulder press.

It is therefore essential that you get strong in any upper body pulling movements, of which the upper back muscles are associated with. If needed, check out our guide on What is a superset workout?

The Ultimate Upper Back Superset

1 - Pull Ups

• Position your hands just outside shoulder width, facing the wall, on a Wall Mounted Pull Up Bar.

• From a hanging position, initiate the movement by pulling your shoulder blades down towards your bum.

• Then pull your chest to the bar, before slowly lowering yourself back down, and going again.

What if a Pull Up is Too Difficult?

People often find it difficult to learn to do a pull up and, as such, use a variety of machines and rows to try to bridge the gap. Now, the theory of specificity says that the more specific we are to the task, the greater the carry over. So why not just do pull ups?

Simply make it easier, using a Resistance Band, which delays the sticking point in the lift and provides a non-invasive, self-sufficient way to learn to complete full pull up reps.

2 - Dumbbell Row

• Grab yourself a Hex Dumbbell, and a Flat Weight Bench or Wooden Plyo Box to support your bodyweight.

• You are then going to assume a bear crawl position, with one hand supporting your bodyweight on the bench or box, and the other hand holding the hex dumbbell in a relaxed position.

• In this position, and throughout the movement, imagine you are balancing a tennis ball on your back that you don’t want to fall off, to encourage stability.

• From this stable base, pull your elbow past your torso, and then slowly lower the weight back down.

• Complete all your reps on one side before swapping over.

What if One Side is Weaker Than the Other?

A universal tip for any single limb movements… Always start with your weaker limb and then simply match your efforts with your stronger limb. This will allow your weaker limb to catch up, instead of contributing to the issue you are trying to fix, if/when your stronger limb storms ahead and your weaker limb is unable to keep up.

This is a fantastic superset to hit your upper back through both a vertical and horizonal orientation and thus a time efficient way to strengthen a common weak link.

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Tags: Equipment > Dumbbells ; Equipment > Pull Up Bars ; Exercise Type > Conditioning ; Misc > Workout