By: Geoff Rubin, Fitness Propelled, CPT/CIFT/TRX II
With an incredible Super Bowl XLIX now behind us, we may now focus on our own epic battle of crowning the “2” most effective back exercises. Our earlier posts set up this discussion, so if you’ve missed them and haven’t commented, check out………
- 6 “Back” Defining Exercises – https://fitnesspropelled.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/6-back-defining-exercises/
- 6 Trapezius Exercises You Will Love – https://fitnesspropelled.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/6-trapezius-exercises-you-will-love/
- 6 Result Driven Exercises to Sculpt Your Back – https://fitnesspropelled.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/6-result-driven-exercises-to-sculpt-your-back/
- 6 Must Do Exercises for a Well Defined Lower Back – https://fitnesspropelled.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/6-must-do-exercises-for-a-well-defined-lower-back/
From all of our readers comments it was clear that we narrow this match-up to “2” back exercises, that will compete for the @FitnessPropelled “Best Back Exercise”. The match-up is between the #Deadlift vs #Pull-Up’s.
Deadlifts
The deadlift is a compound movement that works a variety of muscles groups:
- The grip strength (finger flexors) and the lower back (erector spinae) work isometrically to keep the bar held in the hands and to keep the spine from rounding.
- The gluteus maximus and hamstrings work to extend the hip joint.
- The quadriceps work to extend the knee joint.
- The adductor magnus works to stabilize the legs.
The deadlift activates a large number of individual muscles, in particular the back being:
- Iliocostalis
- Intertransversarii laterales lumborum
- Latissimus dorsi
- Levator scapulae
- Longissimus
- Quadratus lumborum
- Rhomboideus major
- Serratus posterior superior
- Serratus posterior inferior
- Splenius cervicis
- Teres Major
- Trapezius muscle
How to do it:
- Make sure that your feet are hip width apart.
- Bend at the hip to grip the bar at shoulder width, allowing your shoulder blades to protract.
- Lower your hips and bend knees until your shins contact the bar.
- Look forward, keep chest up and back arched, and begin driving through the heels to move the weight upward.
- After the bar passes the knees, aggressively pull it back, bringing your shoulder blades together as you drive your hips forward into the bar.
- Lower the bar by bending at the hips and guiding it to the floor.
Pull-ups
A pull-up is an upper-body compound pulling exercise. The pull-up is performed with a palms facing forward position.
- A pull up is a closed-chain bodyweight movement where the body is suspended by the arms, gripping something, and pulls up.
- The wrists remain in neutral (straight, neither flexed nor extended) position, the elbows flex and the shoulder adducts and/or extends to bring the elbows to or sometimes behind the torso.
- The knees may be bent by choice or if the bar is not high enough. Bending the knees may reduce pendulum-type swinging.
The pull up engages numerous individual muscles. Again, with a focus on the back the pull up targets
How to do it:
- Step up and grasp bar with wide grip palms facing away.
- Pull body up until chin is above bar. Lower body until arms and shoulders are fully extended. Repeat.
Which of these two top notch back exercises gets your vote and why? Leave your comment below…..
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Sources:
- Bodybuilding.com
- Wikipedia.com
