Back It Up | My Life As Maya

Happy Monday loves! I hope that you all had a glorious (and restful) weekend. It was gorgeous here and in the mid 80’s, totally felt like summer! Annnnyways, on to today’s topic of discussion: your back, specifically, your upper back (and shoulders). The upper back is so often neglected when it comes to weight training, and it’s time to change that. In general, men tend to focus on their chest, biceps, and triceps, while women have a tendency to focus on legs and glutes (we all know that I’m a sucker for a butt-kicking leg day). The issue with focusing on just certain muscle groups instead of the body as a whole, as we have discussed in previous posts, is that we tend to neglect the rest of our bodies, which in turn leads to all sorts of issues. Life (as I’m coming to understand) is all about balance and harmony, and strong legs and a weak back or vice versa is a problem just waiting to happen, not to mention that aesthetically you will appear imbalanced. Ever see those guys strutting around the gym with super swole arms and chest and teeny little chicken legs? Prime example of how being imbalanced can lead to aesthetic issues. Having a strong upper back not only helps keep your body in balance, it also pulls back your shoulders and seriously improves your posture; well developed shoulders will give you some nice rounded curves. So, without further ado, here is a great upper back and shoulder workout to get you going!

Good Mornings 4×12 (video here)
Seated Cable Row 4×15 (video here)
Lawnmowers (video here)
Smith Shoulder Press 4×15 (video here)
Reverse Flyes 4×20 (video here) try doing these on a bosu ball for added difficulty
Slide T Reverse Flyes 4×20 (video here)
Barbell Row 4×15 (video here)
Kneeling Landmine Press 4×12 (video here)
Assisted Switch Grip Pulls Ups (wide grip pull up to underhand narrow-grip chin-up) 4×15-20 (video here) -obviously the woman in this video is a beast and doesn’t need the assisted machine, but I do.