The back is a part of the body that is important for both men and women. For representatives of the stronger sex it is a symbol of strength and masculinity, for girls it is a symbol of harmony and grace. It must be said that excess weight in the back area is concentrated on its own extremely rarely. Typically, unsightly folds are a sign of being overweight in general. Therefore, in order to lose weight in your back and shoulders, you need to reconsider your lifestyle as a whole and include exercises in your program aimed at working on this area.
Losing weight on your back: useful tips
Excess weight in the back area, although it appears on its own infrequently, is quite difficult to combat. It is located deep under the skin, so many standard exercises simply cannot reach it. Therefore, you will have to try.
Initially, you need to forget about all bad habits. The enemy of your figure is a sedentary lifestyle. Even if you work in a sedentary job, you need to exercise - without this, losing weight and tightening your back is simply impossible. Swimming is very useful for losing weight on your back . It has a beneficial effect on posture and the shape of the back. Water aerobics also gives very good results .
To lose weight in your back, arms and sides, you need to reconsider your diet . The basic rule is the following: you need to burn more calories than you consume. This is achieved in two ways: dietary restrictions and physical activity.
Find out how many calories you need to burn to lose 1 kg of weight!
A little about nutrition. There is no specific diet aimed at losing weight in the back and shoulders. You will lose weight in general, but your back will also go away. It is important to avoid fasting and losing too much weight, because otherwise the skin will hang unsightly, and it was quite difficult to tighten it. You need proper and balanced nutrition, with which you will lose weight smoothly and safely. Its basic rules boil down to the following:
- Stick to fractional meals. You need to eat 5-6 times a day and in small portions. If you want to have a snack, do not deny yourself this, but let the snacks be correct: not hamburgers and chocolate bars, but nuts, fruits, fermented milk drinks, and so on.
- Eat protein foods . Proteins are essential for muscles. In addition, they give a feeling of satiety and require a lot of energy to digest, which has a beneficial effect on weight loss. The best sources of proteins are lean types of meat: chicken, turkey, veal, rabbit, chicken eggs, cottage cheese and other fermented milk products, fish, seafood.
- Love fish. In addition to proteins, it contains healthy types of fats, valuable vitamins and minerals. For those losing weight, it will help maintain the beauty of hair, nails and skin.
- Eat complex carbohydrates such as grains. They fill you with energy for a long time. Porridge is the perfect breakfast.
- Love fruits and vegetables. They have very few calories, but a lot of vitamins that the body needs.
- Avoid a number of harmful foods. These are most sweets, white bread, pastries, sugar, smoked, fatty, fast food. It is recommended to replace frying with other cooking methods, such as steaming, boiling, stewing, and baking.
Drink enough regular drinking water. It will promote weight loss by controlling appetite and normalizing metabolic processes.
Exercises for losing weight on the back and sides: general recommendations
Initially, before planning a training program, consider the following tips:
- Training and nutrition cannot exist without each other - just one component will not give the desired results, so be sure to combine them.
- It is recommended to exercise 3-4 times a week, and the duration of one workout should be at least half an hour.
- During exercise, control your breathing and pulse.
- There's no need to rush. Be prepared that the first results will be visible no earlier than in a month.
- The body also sometimes needs to be given a rest. Muscles need rest for recovery, during which they also actively develop.
A little about the structure of the back muscles. It includes the superficial muscles such as the latissimus and trapezius. They are responsible for the movement of the shoulder blades, shoulders, neck, and the ability to lower the arms down. Deeper are the rhomboid, superior and inferior serratus posterior muscles, which move the shoulder blades and raise and lower the ribs during breathing. There is also the sacrospinalis muscle, which straightens the back and helps the body maintain an upright position.
Doing exercises to lose weight on your back
You can do exercises to lose weight on your back at home or in the gym. The program in these two cases will be different, but in any case it is important that it combines cardio training aimed at general fat burning, as well as strength training aimed at maintaining the tone of the back muscles and tightening it. For cardio, you can use whatever you like: running, swimming, cycling, aerobics, and so on. Exercise for at least half an hour to have time to activate fat burning processes.
Before moving on to the main exercises, do a light warm-up. This can be bending, turning the body, and so on.
Sets of exercises for losing weight on the back can be different. Here is one of them, designed to be done at home. It is recommended to perform each exercise at least seven times. Gradually increase the number of sets and repetitions. The main criterion that you are doing everything right is a feeling of light and pleasant fatigue in your muscles. If you feel very tired, you may be pushing yourself too hard. Now let's look at the exercises themselves that help in losing weight on the back, arms and sides.
Deadlift with dumbbells
This exercise is considered one of the most popular for working out the back, especially its lower part. You need to stand up straight and place your feet slightly apart. Take dumbbells in your hands and place them on the sides of your thighs. Lower your torso down, slightly bending your shoulders. Bend down, trying to touch your feet with your knees. The dumbbells should move from your feet to your hips. As you straighten your back, try not to lean it back too much. Keep it straight, maintaining a natural arch in your lower back. Perform the exercise at a measured pace.
Hyperextension
Hyperextension can be performed on a machine, but if one is not available, it can be done on a regular surface. This exercise works the extensor muscles of the back, promotes weight loss and creates an attractive posture. There are a large number of types of exercise, but the essence is almost always the same. Your arms can be clasped behind your head or extended along your spine.
Now about the actual execution of the exercise. Lie on your stomach. Slowly raise and lower your upper body. Having risen up, stay at the top point for a few seconds. Do not throw your head back, keep your back straight.
Plank
An exercise such as the plank works almost all the muscles of the body, in particular the lumbar and latissimus dorsi muscles. It has quite a few types, but we will consider only one.
You need to kneel, rest on your elbows and palms. Elbows should form a right angle. Straighten your legs and rest your toes on the floor. The body should form a single straight line. Stay in this position for as long as you can. To begin with, 15 seconds is enough, but gradually this time needs to be increased. Then lower yourself first to one knee and then to the other knee. The exercise requires strong muscle tension, so it is recommended to relax after each approach. You need to breathe calmly and deeply, perform movements smoothly.
boat
Works the abs and lower back. The exercise has two types - on the stomach and on the back. The first option is more popular. To perform it, you need to lie on your stomach, stretch your arms forward. Your feet should be approximately shoulder-width apart. As you exhale, raise your straight arms and legs at the same time. Try to raise them as high as possible.
"Cat"
This exercise perfectly works the back muscles, stretching the spine, which helps relieve pain in the lower back and promotes relaxation. Get on all fours, resting on your hands and knees. Slowly arch your back up and then bend it down. Do the exercise at least seven times.
Mill
This exercise, familiar to us all, is great for eliminating fat in the lower back area. In this case, all muscles are involved: trapezius, latissimus, lumbar, rhomboid. Stand up straight, while exhaling, bend over and alternately touch the toes of the opposite leg with your hands. The second hand should reach up. Perform the movements quickly so that they resemble the work of a mill. Can be done in several approaches.
What exercise machines are suitable for working on your back?
Before any exercise in the gym or at home, a person should warm up his muscles well for further work. Give this ten minutes. Then you can begin the main set of back exercises. If you are new to the gym, be sure to consult an instructor who will tell you which back exercise machines in the gym are right for you. Since these units look quite intimidating, and it is not entirely clear how to handle them, ask a fitness specialist to instruct you.
Take your time and do each exercise thoughtfully to remember how to perform it correctly. Speed will come naturally with experience. Also, don’t try to load yourself half to death from the start. For a beginner in the gym, one set of each exercise is enough. The number of repetitions in each approach may not exceed twelve times. Also use minimal weights at first. But with each new workout in the gym, try to improve your results by increasing the load.
Of all the equipment in the gym, a machine that simulates rowing is perfect for working out the back. This is exactly the case when it works great with your back and at the same time is cardio, which means it helps you burn fat in the body faster. Rowing uses 98% of all the muscles in the body, thereby stimulating weight loss throughout the body, not just the back. In particular, the rowing machine also strengthens the abdominal and arm muscles. If you are incorporating cardio into your overall workout, then row for about 15 minutes and move on to the next exercise. But experts advise that for best results, dedicate one day in the gym to exclusively cardio training. In this case, devote half an hour to exercising on a rowing machine.
An alternative to this could be a weekly trip to the pool. Swimming is also a cardio exercise and has a great effect on your back muscles. Then you can build your schedule in such a way that you work out in the gym three days a week and in the pool one day.
Exercises on a hyperextension machine are good for losing weight on your back. Use it as follows:
- Lie on the machine with your stomach down, with your legs behind a special roller.
- We keep our legs and back straight, and then bend forward at the waist, lowering our torso down.
- Raise your straight back from the bottom point to the starting position.
The next effective exercise for the back is the deadlift, which can be performed by both men and women. Only in the latter case should the load be less. This barbell exercise works the muscles of the back, hips and buttocks. You need to ensure that your back is always straight. It is done this way:
Exercise with a gymnastic ball
For this exercise you will need a fitball - a large gymnastic ball that can be found in fitness centers and sports stores. It will help strengthen and stretch the muscles of the back and spine.
You need to put the ball on the floor and lie on your stomach on it. Lower your legs and arms freely. You should feel the spine and lower back stretch. You need to lie down like this for a few minutes, while pumping the ball over your stomach. Then you need to raise and lower your body, leaning your stomach on the ball. Your arms can be extended or held below your head, as shown in the photo.
Pull-ups are also good for the back. In the gym, you can use various exercise machines to strengthen her muscles, for example, a block, an incline bench, and so on. Girls should not use too heavy weights - they are more suitable for those who want to increase muscle mass. The hula hoop will also be useful, as it perfectly “breaks” deposits in the abdomen, sides and lower back.
In addition to physical activity and nutrition, auxiliary methods such as body wraps and massage . You can do the massage yourself. It improves blood circulation and metabolic processes, thereby promoting weight loss. For wraps, you can use the same mixtures as for other parts of the body.
Thus, you can lose weight in your back if you approach this issue responsibly and comprehensively. By doing the exercises regularly, you will soon notice tangible results.
Working on your muscles at home
A large number of exercises for the back do not require any special devices, and therefore they can be done not only in the gym, but also at home. They only need a floor, a rug and free space around.
To perform the first back exercise, push-ups, you will also need two-kilogram dumbbells. Lie on your stomach, toes pointing up, and your hands resting not on the floor, but on the dumbbells. Tighten your abs and start doing push-ups. Beginners can focus on their knees to make the task easier. And the more physically developed ones will move further: during push-ups while lying down, lift one hand off the dumbbells from the floor and bring it to the press. The next time you do a push-up, do the same with your other hand. Ideally, you should perform twenty push-ups and ten rows with your arms. You need to do three such approaches.
After this, lie on your stomach and stretch your arms forward. Lift your arms and straight legs off the floor, bending at the lower back. Hold this boat exercise for a few seconds. Slowly relax your muscles. You need to repeat it seven times.
Then extend your arms forward in the same way, raise your shoulders and legs. Swing all your limbs as if you were swimming crawl style. This exercise is performed for a minute. There are also three approaches.
The following exercise will help straighten your back. Lying on your stomach, lift your body up and lean on your hands. It is important that you lift using your back muscles, not your arms. Lock the top point and then smoothly return to the starting position. You need to do 5-10 repetitions.
The “plank” exercise is quite simple, but at the same time it requires remarkable endurance, as it works a whole group of muscles: the back, abdomen, thighs, buttocks. It works as follows.
- We lie on our stomachs on the floor, then rest our feet on the surface and our arms bent at the elbow (all the way on the forearm, not on the elbow itself).
- The back and legs should form a single line, the buttocks should not protrude, and the lower back should not be rounded.
- We hold this position for as long as possible, but not less than 30 seconds.
In a more complicated version of this exercise, which is within the capabilities of more trained people, you can lift one leg during the “plank” and maintain balance. Also, experienced athletes can do the “plank” not with bent, but with outstretched arms. Tighten your abs and try to stand like this for a minute or at least 40–45 seconds. Then stay in this position and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Then lift one hand off the floor and place your elbow behind your back. Change hands and repeat the exercise ten times on each. To begin with, one approach will be enough, but then perform this complex three times.
The back exercise “plank” is highly recommended for office workers, as thanks to it you can relieve tension from the shoulder girdle and neck muscles. Despite the visual simplicity of this element, its beneficial effect can hardly be overestimated. Planks are even recommended for people recovering from injuries to strengthen their back muscles. After just one ten-day course, if you increase the time you stand in the plank, you will notice how much better your back feels.
Strength exercises must be diluted with cardio training. At home, this could be jumping rope, squats, or active running in place. They need to be performed at a fast pace, one after another, for 60 seconds. It is necessary to do three approaches, between which a minute's rest is provided.
