Back Exercises Boston MA

Seated Cable Rows - Exercise for the Muscles of the Back

The Cable Row is a good exercise for developing the thickness of your middle back area. It is done on a low cable machine with a flat bench attached and foot plates to set your feet on. Do not mistake using momentum with proper form in this exercise, as is the temptation. This will reduce the workload on the target muscles and can lead to injury.

How to do it:

Sit facing the weight stack with a grip on what will probably be a V-bar, though you can use a straight bar or handles for this movement as well. Keep your knees bent throughout the movement. With the upper body vertical and lower back straight and tight, allow the shoulders to stretch forward. Do not lean over at the waist as this puts unnecessary stress on the lower back. Begin the motion by first drawing the shoulders back without bending the arms.

Row the weight back towards your abdomen. As you continue the motion, concentrate on pulling from your elbows. As you pull back, arch your lower back and puff your chest out. Pull into your lower abdomen. Lower the weight slowly, allowing the shoulders to stretch forward but without losing tension in the back. Do not lean forward to get a better stretch. Stretch forward, keeping the upper body relatively vertical.

Tricks:

As you pull back, lean back slightly. Imagine you are leaning over a ball that you are wrapping your back around. This arching and leaning will help to activate the lat muscles.

Hold the contraction at the top of the movement where the handle is near your abdomen and try to squeeze your shoulder blades together behind your back.

Common errors:

This error stems from leaning forward at the waist at the start of the rep. In order to get into proper position for the exercise from that bent-forward position, you must lean back, tempting you to use that momentum to keep the movement going. Do not do this as it can strain the lower back.

While this does stretch the lower back, it does so in a very harmful position to the lower back. It doesn't, however, increase the stretch on the target back muscles. The stretch should occur at scapulae (shoulder blades) by letting your arms stretch forward.