The back and biceps are two muscles that you need to train together. Whether you want to build mass or tone your existing muscles, it is important to create a workout plan. For best results, make sure you check this to learn more about how you can incorporate the diet into your quest to build muscles.
Working out your back and biceps is more than just to promote muscle. These are functional muscles that can benefit you in your daily life if you know how to make them stronger.
Use this guide to learn more about working out your back and biceps. You can choose from a wide range of exercises to ensure that you can develop these important muscles.
Why Is it Important to Build Your Back and Biceps?
Fitness experts believe that when you work out your back muscles, it requires your biceps and other tertiary muscles to work with the process. These two muscles are highly connected. Thus, it only makes sense to focus on workout routines that target them both. This is called efficiency because you hit two muscles at once.
As you know, the back movements require more than just one joint to work. This is true not just when working out but also performing actions that use your back muscles. The typical workout routines for your back and biceps would be rowing or pulling exercises.
Make sure you do these exercises at the start of your routine so you can target the larger muscle groups.
Once you have worked out the larger muscles, you can gradually make your way down towards doing exercises that target the smaller muscles (such as your biceps). Based on this, you can establish a better flow in your workout routines that would develop as many muscles as possible.
When exercising, you should not focus on targeting all key muscle groups. You can set aside a routine to target specific muscles for each day. For example, you can do pushing exercises one day and then pulling exercises the next, and so on. It is important to vary things up so your muscles will always be forced to work and they will never get used to it.
Best Exercises for Back Muscles:
There are several exercises that you can perform to achieve a more toned back muscle. You can try to do two to three of these exercises per day and then switch them up. You can choose the exercises you incorporate into your daily routine based on your fitness goals.
Horizontal Rows/Pull Exercise:
One of the best back exercises you can perform is horizontal rows (pull exercise). Picture this: you can assume any position, whether standing or seated. When you pull something towards your midsection on a horizontal plane, it causes your back muscles to contract and release, depending on the type of movement.
Thus, you can incorporate a lot of horizontal rows into your workout routine to increase the strength of your back muscles. Some exercises that involve horizontal pulls include seated cable row, one-arm dumbbell row, and face pull. You can use a suspension trainer or the barbell in your workout rack. Either way, it can help to build a more toned, stronger back.
Vertical Pull:
Another type of exercise that is good for the back is a vertical pull, such as lat pulldowns and pull-ups. This movement is characterized by pulling up or down in a straight line. This type of exercise can help to develop the upper back, as well as your upper lateral muscles.
Isolation Exercises:
For more exercises to strengthen muscles in your back and tone them, you can also do isolation exercises. Pullovers and straight-arm pulldowns are a few good examples of these exercises.
Best Exercises for Biceps:
Once you have developed the strength of your back muscles, it is time to focus on your biceps and other tertiary muscle groups. Working on your back is not enough because you need to work on the biceps and other muscles if you want to tone your body proportionately.
And as mentioned above, these muscles work together to perform basic functions such as driving, texting, carrying things, etc.. It is, therefore, important that they should all be equally strong.
Curling Exercises:
Curls are one of the best types of exercises that you can perform to promote stronger and more toned biceps. You can start with the simplest exercise – the standard curl, also known as supinated grip curls.
You can use a machine curl or a barbell to perform a curling motion. With your forearms in a supinated position, it will help to target your biceps with each curl.
Hammer Curls:
Another exercise that you can try to develop your biceps is hammer curls. Instead of assuming a supinated position, you must turn your wrist in so that when you curl, your palm is facing towards your body.
There are many variations to this exercise but it is designed to target the brachialis muscle – the one located right beneath your biceps. But still, the main target of this exercise is your bicep. You can also try this exercise on a rope attachment, such as a cable hammer curl.
There are more curl variations that you can do to develop your biceps. Among them are reverse curls, preacher curls, and incline curls. But before you move on to the more complex exercises, you must master the basics first. This will ensure that you get the right form so you can also maximize the benefits of the said exercises.
How to Maximize These Exercises:
Knowing what type of exercises to do is just one step to build your back and bicep muscles. Knowing how to do them correctly is another essential step to achieving more success.
Ideally, you need to do four back exercises and two isolated bicep exercises for each session. This will ensure that you can see the results over time. A lot of fitness trainers would recommend a one-to-one ratio in terms of exercising the back and biceps.
But this isn’t the correct approach because the back and biceps are not the same in terms of size and strength. You would not want to risk overworking your biceps and other smaller muscle groups.
More importantly, you need to listen to your own body. Nobody knows your body better than you do. Find a routine that works for you and stick with that.
