The muscles in your back are some of the hardest-working and least-appreciated parts of your body.
Back muscles serve as stabilizers for other critical muscles and joints like your shoulders, which allow you to increase your capacity in those areas as well.
Working out your lower back with dedicated lower back exercises also helps to limit stiffness and improve your posture- a critical aspect of our health that many people overlook.
Today we’ll be going over some of our favourite bodyweight back exercises to help strengthen the muscles in your upper and lower back.
1. Superman
This exercise starts chest down on the floor. Squeeze your glutes and use the muscles of your lower back to lift your arms and legs off the floor.
Hold it, then slowly and with control drop your limbs back down to the floor.
It’s one of the easiest and most effective exercises for our lower back.
2. Pullup Superman
This twist on the superman is a great way to switch up your floor exercises.
It starts in the regular superman position, but with your palms on either side of your chest instead of straight out in front of you. Instead of lifting the arms and legs straight off the ground, the arms form a ‘W’ position.
3. Wide Grip Push Up
This is just a regular push up, but with the arms in a wide stance. Start with hands placed a few inches out from the normal position, and balance on your toes.
Press down, and keep your spine straight by using your glutes and core. To push back up from the ground, squeeze your chest until you’re in the same position as before.
4. Plank Row
For a plank row, start in a high plank position. Keep the entire body as straight as possible, and one at a time lift the hands from the floor.
Reach the hand up to the shoulder by bending your arm and pulling the wrist upwards. Alternate sides.
5. Crab Walk
This fun children’s playtime game is actually a pretty great back workout. Start by sitting on the ground with legs bent and feet flat on the floor.
Straighten your arms, and place your palms on the floor behind you. Use your hands and feet to walk forward, starting with the right foot and left hand, then left foot and right hand.
Walk on your hands and feet as far as you’re able, then reverse back to your starting position.
6. Seated Reverse Fly
This is a great exercise for people with limited mobility. Sit on a chair with your legs bent at a 90° angle, then bend your torso forward until it’s at a 45° angle with your thighs.
Without moving your legs or torso, stretch arms down towards the floor, then bring them up towards the ceiling so you’re making a wing shape.
Hold at the top for a moment, then slowly return arms towards the floor.
7. Good Morning
This is basically a crunch, but standing up.
It’s a great exercise because it can be done absolutely anywhere. Start by standing with your feet directly under your hips, and bring your fingertips back to rest behind your ears. Lock the upper body, and bend at the hips, bringing your torso towards the floor.
Reverse the movement with your glutes until you’re fully standing again.
8. Wide Grip Pull-Ups
This is a great exercise, and can even be done at home if you have a pull-up bar safely installed. Instead of doing a pull-up with the arms in the regular position, open your arms into a wider stance. You’ll use the same grip that you use for a regular pull-up.
Just make sure you’re not ‘scooping’ into it and narrowing your lats. Reach up through the chest, and keep elbows pointed out to the sides throughout.
9. Back Extension
This is a great exercise for opening up the chest and strengthening the muscles between the shoulder blades.
Lay face down on the floor, with the spine straight, and arms and legs outstretched. Raise the upper body, and bring it back down. Engaging your abdominals can help.
10. Body Drag
This exercise is a great replacement for the type of lat pull-downs you usually only get from a weight machine.
All you’ll need is a clean tiled, wooden, or concrete surface.
Put yourself in a pushup position, with feet together and the hands extended in front of you as far as they’ll go. Keep your core tight, and use the muscles in your back to drag your body towards your extended hands. Then reverse the motion.
11. The Stick Up
All you’ll need for this exercise is a wall.
Stand with your back up against a flat wall, and raise your arms overhead in the classic ‘stick-em-up’ position. Keeping arms and back flat against the wall, pull elbows down until your arms form two 90° angles with your head.
It should take at least four seconds to pull down, and four seconds to reverse back up.
12. Seratus Punch
Start in a regular standing position with feet under hips, and bring the arms forward in front of the body. Make fists, then use the muscles of the upper back to push your fists forwards and back. Keep your body entirely straight- don’t move your torso or waist forward at all.
13. Bird Dog
Start on all fours, putting your wrists under your shoulders and knees directly under the hips.
One at a time, lift one arm and the opposite leg until they’re straight and parallel to the floor. Squeezing your glutes will help.
Repeat with the opposite arm and leg.
14. Single-Leg Deadlift
Start this exercise standing straight with feet together under hips.
Bend torso forward, lifting your right leg straight behind you and touching the floor with the right hand. The right arm should be straight.
The left knee may bend slightly, but back and hips should be straight as you bend forward, and reverse.
15. Renegade Row
Standing in a top push-up position, and with two dumbbells shoulder-width on the floor, proceed to row one weight up towards one side.
This should be done while balancing on the other weight in your hand and on your feet.
Hold. Then, repeat to the other side.
Need Some Help with Your Back Workout Routine?
When you’re first starting out, it’s easy to get stuck in bad habits or neglect whole areas of your body without realizing it. A personal trainer can help you perfect your technique, and can even help build and model a personalized back workout that you can easily do by yourself at home.
At HouseFit, we understand that fitness doesn’t stop when you leave the gym.
That’s why our trainers and our personalized training journey that ranges from meal planning to fun and exciting workout plans, help you with every step of your fitness goals.
Contact us today to learn how you can get started.
