Training your back is essential for the purposes of undoing all of our heavy anterior posture.  While many of us sit at desks, or simply hunch or roll our shoulders forward, it’s easy to subconsciously train our backs to be weaker. Here, I’ll be sharing a few tips plus my favorite back exercises that are used within The Three Day Program.

We were created to hunt and gather, not to sit, stand, and lean over patients all day. But it’s part of what we have to do.  Even myself being a therapist for 20 years and leaning over clients on tables, I too have to strengthen my back to balance this out.

More than likely, how you spend majority of your time is subconsciously training your anterior (front side) to be stronger and tighter, and the opposite muscles to be weaker.  This is why people sitting at desks have neck problems and usually end up having to have surgery if this isn’t corrected soon enough.

When looking at a screen, your neck is in an unnatural position, shoulders are rolled forward, upper back starts to hunch, and the right shoulder blade and right side of the neck worsen from clicking the mouse. I bet you noticed it just as you read this!

Obviously, you need to work.  It’s not like you can just live for free. Instead of leaving your job or living in pain, learn to balance it out. Breathe, stretch the front, and strengthen the back.

SET AN ALARM FOR EVERY HOUR

When you set an alarm every hour, consciously bring your attention to your breath.  Take in a deep breath, feeling your lungs fill, your ribcage expand, and your shoulders lower down and away from your ears.

Do a simple 20-30 second stretch to the front of your shoulders or neck.  Get yourself out of being hunched over all day. Maybe you can’t take a 10 to 15 minute break every hour, but you can at least breathe deeply, remember you are a human, and alternate stretches for the anterior side of your body (anterior delts, pecs, hip flexors, and neck).

If not, years of neglect will catch up to you and you’ll have to pay for it later. So take good care of yourself now while you can.

STRETCH THE FRONT AND STRENGTHEN THE BACK

Those anterior muscles get tight because they are pulling and hunched most of the day.  No perfect human can maintain perfect posture all day, but what you can do is balance it out.  That’s why training your back is so important.

If you haven’t already signed up to simplify your training and nutrition with The Three Day Body, you can sign up here and get the entire program.

We focus on activating your lats, not just your traps.  It’s easy to put too much energy and focus into the upper traps while executing movements where the lats need to be doing the work.

SMALLER WAIST

Another great part of training and developing the muscles in your back, is that a stronger back leads to less injuries in the future, and also creates the illusion of a smaller waist.  Most guys and gals love that!

The wider your back is, the smaller your waist appears. Don’t worry about the bulking. You won’t look like the Hulk by training your back. Don’t be silly.  It takes a great deal of extra work and extra food to get to that. If anything, training your back once a week will have you stronger and leaner.

TRAIN AND FUEL FOR YOUR GOALS

Train for you. Nobody else. And don’t waste time either, that’s why I’ll only train 3 or 4 days a week, even if I’m prepping for a show.

If You Want to Lose Fat: Get the Fat Loss Stack from Granite. You get protein to use as your snacks during the day that taste delicious, Essential Amino’s that you sip while training, a pre-workout, and a fat burner. Also check out my blog post on how to carb cycle.

If You Just Want to Maintain: Use the Weight Maintenance Stack from Granite. You get delicious protein, Essential Amino’s to sip with training, and a fat burner.

If You Want to Gain Muscle: If you want more muscle mass, then look into the Muscle Building Stack through Granite Supplements. Drink Recovery and Intra-Carb while training, along with the simplified nutrition that you receive in The Three Day Body. Use Promo Code BaileyD10 for a discount.

If You Want More Performance for Your Workouts:  Check out the Performance Stack from Granite. It’s the Muscle Building stack but with a pre-workout and Joint Care supplement. It comes with a Pre-Workout for awesome energy, Joint Care to protect your joints, Protein to use as snacks through your day. Sip Recovery Blend and Intra-Carb for ultimate recovery and slow down muscle break down from training.

However, between you and me, something I will always use, is Granite’s Essential Amino’s.  By far my favorite supplement aside from a quality fish oil, protein powder, and probiotics. If I wanted more muscle, then I’d combine EA’s with Recovery or Intra-Carb.

BURN MORE BODY FAT WHEN TRAINING LARGER MUSCLE GROUPS

Don’t lie. We all want to feel good and look good. Everyone has their own goal or standards. You do you, whatever that is.

When wanting to lose body fat, most people think they need to do lots of cardio and eat salads to get there. They run a lot, eat salads, add in healthy smoothies, and get frustrated because they don’t get to their goal.

That’s because the you need to fuel yourself. Food is fuel.  Salad is not fuel.  Starving your muscles is not fuel either.

It’s actually eating more than you realize, and focus on lifting weights on the larger muscle groups.  The larger muscle groups burn more fat, so that’s why in the program we focus on one day for legs, one for chest, and one for back.  You’ll accomplish much more training those three days then doing cardio every day and eating some health food diet.

STUDY BACK TRAINING VIDEOS BELOW

If you are already training with The Three Day Body, here are my favorite back exercises that I describe.  Each week is completely different, but it’s crucial to know what you are doing and walk into the gym with confidence.  Form is everything, so don’t get sloppy.

If you are like me and train solo, you don’t have a someone yelling at you and correcting your form.  It’s up to you to get into your own head, visualize perfect form with these videos, and go make it happen. I am very descriptive in the training program, but if you need more of a visual, I’ve shared my favorite back exercises below.

Visualization is important.  Doing it well and doing it right, you can actually spend much less time in the gym than you think you need, and have phenomenal results.

YOUR NEXT STEPS

1. Know your workout in advance.
2. Visualize and study the videos below that you need. Cement them into your mind even more.
3. Follow your customizable meal plan from the training program whether you are using macros or portion control guide.
4. Use Granite Supplements for your own goal to get maximum results (use discount code BaileyD10).
5. Fuel yourself well!

Back Exercise Videos