The 30-Minute Back Workout for Building Muscle
This article originally appeared on Oxygen
If you're like me, you always have a handy "to do" list at the ready. It's an absolute essential when your life is full of appointments, errands, projects and the million other little things that need our constant attention. By keeping everything written down, you eliminate the risk of something slipping out of sight, then out of mind, right?
"Out of sight, out of mind" is a danger when it comes to our back training, as well. After all, unlike your legs, shoulders, arms and abs, your back is often out of sight -- at least yours. It's easy to forget that for everyone else, your back is often on display, whether you're showing it off in that new backless dress or you've tossed on your favorite tank top for a particularly busy day.
To make sure your back workout never falls off your "to do" list, we've tabbed BODi trainer and health and fitness coach Jenny Jaucian to design a hyper-efficient back workout, squeezing in all the benefits of an hourlong session in just 30 minutes while touching all the key areas: the upper back, lats, rear delts, midback and your lumbar area.
"Performing these various back moves in a circuit offsets the problem of building up too much muscular fatigue in one area of the back, allowing you to get more work done with less recovery time," Jaucian explains. "Also, doing all the movements with a tempo pattern -- one count for the concentric portion of the rep, three counts for the eccentric -- puts the target muscle under greater tension overall, which ultimately helps build more strength and lean mass."
Better yet, you can do this workout pretty much anywhere: home, health club or otherwise. If you've got dumbbells, that's perfect, but if not, Jaucian suggests getting creative by using gallon water jugs, cat litter containers or even full laundry detergent bottles.
Whatever weights you ultimately end up lifting, remember this final piece of advice. "No matter how many reps you can manage in 45 seconds, make sure you're practicing good form," Jaucian says. "Don't break your back trying to lift more weight than your strength will allow -- pun intended."
The 30-Minute Back Circuit
Perform the following exercises as a circuit, doing each move for 45 seconds. Rest between each move as needed, up to 30 seconds. Repeat the circuit for four to five rounds total.
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