The back muscles are by far the most important muscles in the human body. Not only do they protect many of the vital organs in your back, they also allow you to stand upright and move fluidly through life.
Proper back fitness will have a significant impact on your long-term health and well-being. One important part of this is maintaining good levels of muscle strength, but it’s just as imperative to maintain healthy back alignment so that you can use those muscles correctly and avoid pain or injury from developing.
Below we have curated a list of back isolation exercises:
Seated Lower Back Extension
The lower back extension is a great exercise to strengthen the lower back muscles. This exercise will strengthen your lower back extensor muscles as well as the erector spinae muscles. This is a great exercise to help relieve lower back pain and keep your back strong.
Equipment Required: Back Extension Machine
How To Do:
Start by sitting on the back extension machine and set to the desired weight. Using your feet to push against the platform, slowly push your hips back and hold for a second and return back to the starting position.
Cable Pullover
The cable pullover is a great exercise for strengthening your upper back muscles. This exercise allows you to isolate the upper back muscles and will help you support your upper body in a neutral position. The exercise premilary targets the lats as well as the mid back muscles. It is a great functional exercise that can be done at the end of your upper body workout.
Equipment Required: Cable Pullover Machine
How To Do:
Start by attatching a straight bar and stand in the middle of the cable machine. Next, grab onto the cable attachment using a wide grip and pull the cable attachment down to your chest with an overhand grip. Hold for a second before returning to starting position, repeat this movement for specified amount of reps.
Bent-Arm Barbell Pullover
A bent-arm barbell pullover is a great multipurpose exercise for strengthening your upper back muscles. You can use this exercise at the beginning of your workout to warm-up or as a finishing exercise for your upper body workout. This exercise allows you to isolate the upper back muscles and will help you support your upper body in a neutral position.
Equipment Required: Barbell, Flat Bench
How To Do:
Start by lying on the bench and placing the bar over head, hold it with an underhand grip with your elbow bent at approximetly 90 degrees. Next, while keeping your back extended, pull the bar down to your chest. Hold for a second before returning to starting position, repeat this movement for specified amount of reps.
Trap Bar Shrug
The trap bar shrug is a great exercise for strengthening Trapezius muscles. It is a great exercise for activating the upper traps and posterior deltoids. This is an often neglected muscle group that can help to stabilize the shoulder joint, rotate the head, and maintain posture.
Equipment Required: Trap Bar
How To Do:
Stand in the middle of the trap bar and grab on with a shoulder-width grip. Keeping your arms straight, raise the bar up in front of you until your arms are fully extended. Now shrug up with your shoulders so that they’re raised up towards the ceiling for each rep. Make sure that you don’t shrug too much or too little in order to complete each rep properly.
By performing isolation exercises you are better able to target and strengthen just one muscle group. This can be extremely beneficial for those of you who are trying to focus on a particular muscle group. By doing an isolated exercise you can isolate the muscles that work together to complete a certain task, and create an exercise that activates your target muscle group.
Isolation has many benefits and is very easy to do. It is a great way to increase your strength in a particular area of the body. Isolation exercises also have great value when it comes to rehabilitation from an injury or surgery that has created muscle imbalances. Many people perform isolation exercises without even realizing it because many of the exercises they do target a specific muscle group during their workout, and that is why those exercises are so effective.
Conclusion
Isolation exercises are great for building muscles and strengthening your body. They increase your muscular endurance and work on the muscles that you need to improve upon. Most are very easy to do, and anyone can do them. You can incorporate these into your daily routine by doing them at home or at the gym, with something as simple as a dumbbell or even just your own bodyweight. These isolation exercises can really help to improve the way you look and feel about yourself by using them regularly.
