Increase muscle mass and functional strength are the two reasons of primary importance to get into bodybuilding. Most important in both cases is the development of core strength; the muscles of the abdomen, upper, middle and lower back.

Your back are the primary stabilizing muscles in your body, and the ones easiest to injure when lifting weights. From a biomechanical perspective, your back consists of the spine, the ribs, the scapula and the ligaments that string them all together, like parts of a mobile or kinetic motion structure.

Injuries to the back are almost always compression or rotation injuries, they’re damage to the soft tissue that lets your back move. Good weight lifting practices and muscle group isolation are the key to avoid back injuries, many of which won’t show up for years after you’ve done them to yourself.

Muscle groups that you need to work on in the back are your traps, lats and deltoids, and you need to take them slowly. Yes, you can get a ripped looking back by overdoing it, but it’s better to focus on practical strength increases over physical appearance and muscle building when dealing with your back.

The trapezius muscles are the ones that form the bulk of your back. In Traps, the fundemental exercise is the shrug where you lift the dumbbells in both hands, shrug and hold then release.

Another workout that mostly works on your deltoids, but helps the traps a bit, is a straight-arm lift. Hold a dumbbell in your hand with your elbow at your side, and your forearm out level with the map. Extend your arm until it’s at shoulder height, in one fluid motion, and look down your arm at the dumbbell, like you’re sitting on a pistol range. Then bring it down slowly. This is a common exercise in martial arts groups that emphasize punching.

You will want to to complete a sitting down “V-bar pull down” in order to build up the lower trapezius muscle, in which you are pulling down against resistance. This is better than a straight pull up because it isolates the muscle thoroughly.

Building definition, and most importantly, strength, in the lower back requires shoulder arches. Hold a light dumb-bell over the back of your neck and lay down on your front. With your hands clasped, arch your back, lift, and hold for a count of three, then lower slowly. Do these sparingly; it’s very easy to overdo them.

Like all the exercises which help with muscle building, stretching and cardio exercise before and after are a must for maintaining flexibility.

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