Upper back/shoulders

[chilove]

Hello all,

 

I am very new to weight training and would love to get some suggestions on specific ways to target the upper back/shoulder area. Any body weight exercises or routines to do at home are greatly appreciated. I will be joining a gym soon, but haven't done so yet.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Audrey

[Marcina]

Go ATVing.

[VelvetVoices]

I'm just gonna paste this here http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=article_beginningbodybuilding

(scroll half way down)

[Zack]

Go ATVing.

 

How is this helpful to her?

 

 

Anyways, Chilove some of my favorite exercises for upper back:

 

-Barbell Rows (with the bar pulled to upper chest rather than stomach area)

-Reverse Flies (with dumbbells)

-Dumbbell Shrugs

[chilove]

Go ATVing.

 

How is this helpful to her?

 

 

Anyways, Chilove some of my favorite exercises for upper back:

 

-Barbell Rows (with the bar pulled to upper chest rather than stomach area)

-Reverse Flies (with dumbbells)

-Dumbbell Shrugs

 

 

Thanks so much! That is very helpful!

[Marcina]

Go ATVing.

 

How is this helpful to her?

 

 

Anyways, Chilove some of my favorite exercises for upper back:

 

-Barbell Rows (with the bar pulled to upper chest rather than stomach area)

-Reverse Flies (with dumbbells)

-Dumbbell Shrugs

 

Have you ever gone ATVing?? Your upper back and shoulders will hurt the most. I guarantee you. Why are vegans so bloody touchy?

 

Besides, she said BODYWEIGHT exercises. She doesn't have access to barbell rows.

 

Edit to add: Although ATVing isn't technically bodyweight exercise, you use your muscles a lot to just stay on the machine and maintain stability. If you don't have an ATV, there's always mountain biking or swimming which will require you to use all your muscles for an even better workout.

[Eksster]

I just worked that zone for 3 hours tonight. I found a real simple and effective means very similar to what Zack said, is to do bent over rows. The plates at my gym for the bench and such have handles. I bent my torso forward and lifted the two plates. So at home you could grab anything heavy enough for you, bend over and repeatedly lift that ****!

[Pegesus]

Damn 3 hours is a heck of a long time to workout.

[Marcina]

It's obviously working well for him though.

 

Impressive avatar!

[ambetious]

Hi chilove,

The best body weight exercises for your shoulders and upper back would be push ups(as they target three main muscle groups i.e: chest, triceps and shoulders) and pull ups (for back). It is good to know that you will be joining a gym soon because it gives your a lot more options for targeting that area.

[Richard]

As ambetious says, pull-ups / chin-ups for your back (if you can get a chin-up bar installed, or have another appropriate bar in your area, maybe at a play park or something), and for your chest, push ups. However, you can do elevated push ups (where you put your feet up on a chair, or a table {be careful}) to target higher up on your chest, and put more focus directly onto your shoulders. Those two exercises are the best bodyweight ones that I can think of, especially as they are compound exercises.

 

Even if you don't have weights, you can do some other things for your shoulders. Using bags or tins of food and doing shoulder raises will work, since you won't need much weight for that exercise. Targeting your back is trickier at home, you need to do exercises that involve pulling things towards your body, or pulling your body towards things, using your arms, to contract the back muscles.

[vegan_bohemian]

I was going to ask this question too. do lateral pull downs work well enough?

 

sorry to semi hijack the thread but can you successfully work this area with a home multi gym?

 

pull ups may work, but they dont when you cant do them (like me!)

[Adena]

I was going to ask this question too. do lateral pull downs work well enough?

 

sorry to semi hijack the thread but can you successfully work this area with a home multi gym?

 

pull ups may work, but they dont when you cant do them (like me!)

 

A lot of people do lat pull downs when they aren't able to do even one pull-up yet, so I think that yes, they target that area.

[Jason X]

since no one said it, I'll say that inverted rows are awesome.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gEyOuw7eZkA/SAVMyva1aEI/AAAAAAAAAEU/c11OiJCzZkY/s400/inv_row.JPG

 

how could you do them at home?

 

hmmm. that's alittle tricky, let me see.

 

you could perhaps grab onto the edge of a table and pull yourself up to it?

 

if you've got a place you can hang a rope (or other similar long thing) you can do them from handles (grip, knotted, or otherwise). Maybe a window over a door or something? perhaps you've got a sturdy closet rod or something?

 

OR, in a perfect world you could lower some rope (or rope substitute) from your pullup bar (since you're only doing bodyweight stuff, you should have one of these).

 

that would probably be the most back specific.

 

do some handstand press negatives (since I imagine you're not strong enough to push yourself back up. I know I'm not...) Get against the wall in a handstand, lower yourself down slow, push off the wall back to your feet. repeat as necessary.

 

that'd be a good start.

[Eksster]

Inverted rows... Great idea!!! I like the pulling yourself up to a table idea! It's like the inverse of push ups. I would say definitely do them slowly to feel the back muscle tension and burn or whatever. Doing quick reps could be dangerously problematic depending on what you're holding onto. Everyone has a welder and steel bars at home to make your own contraption right?

[Ducati]

I was going to ask this question too. do lateral pull downs work well enough?

 

sorry to semi hijack the thread but can you successfully work this area with a home multi gym?

 

pull ups may work, but they dont when you cant do them (like me!)

 

 

Put a chair under you and help your pull up with you legs. Move the chair farther from you to increase difficulty. With in a couple months, you will be able to do unassisted pull ups:)

 

Another technique is to wrap the two ends of a band around the bar and place you hands over the ends. You then place your feet or knees on the band depending on its length. It will give you some assistance during your pull ups.

 

Or, you could blow $150 on a power tower like I did. You can change the assist very quickly and easy. I can start with no assist, but as I continue reps, I bump up the assist so I can do more.

[Jason X]

Static holds and pullup negatives will help get you there as well.

 

(Static hold, in this case would be to get up into a pullup and the hold there as long as you can. Negatives would be to get on a chair up to the bar, grap it, and let yourself down slowly.)

[vegan_bohemian]

The chair idea is brilliant in theory, but impossible with my chairs. il have to find some other way

[fuscia]

power cleans and overhead press will work shoulders and upper back (as well as just about everything else).

[medman]

Not to be a spokesperson or anything, but I have one of these at home: http://www.exercise-equipment-review.com/images/perfect-pullup.jpg

 

It also swings down so you can do inverted rows on it: http://www.bigleagueskills.com/images/strengthtraining/perfect-pullup.jpg

 

That said, when I'm at the gym I do Pendlay rows, weighted pullups/chinups and overhead presses as my main upper back and shoulder exercises, standard Stronglifts fare.