Free Weight Exercise - Upper Back Lifting

Hello, my name is Gene Sanders, Im a certified professional trainer. I have been in the business for over ten years, and today Im going to be demonstrating a home workout routine you can do, which is dumbbells and a ball. This is a Swiss ball. They come in various sizes. A good way to tell which ball you need is by sitting straight up on it and making sure that your knees are lined up at a right angle.

This particular ball is 65 centimeters. The dumbbells Im going to use today are going to be a set of heavier dumbbells for your larger upper body, muscle groups such as your chest and your back. The second set of dumbbells Im going to use are half the weight for your smaller muscle groups, such as your shoulders, your biceps and your triceps. First exercise Im going to do is a Low Row. Youre going to have to take your Swiss ball, and set up on it by having your arm directly down the middle. Put all your weight on the ball. Keep the front leg close to the ball and keep it bend, so youre forming almost like a tripod between the Swiss ball, your left leg and your back leg. Take the dumbbell in the same arm as the leg thats in front. Youre going to go ahead and do a row motion through your abdominals, just like that. When you pick out a weight, make sure you pick out the amount thats going to be able to allow you to do 12-15 repetitions, keep your chin tugged in, and continue with the rows.

You can also adjust your grip and row higher to get the upper back muscles, that you wouldnt be getting with the low row. Once you perform 12-15 repetitions, switch arms, do the other side, same thing; opposite leg is in front, put all your weight on the ball, start out with the pump facing in, and roll right through the abs.

So, you could do 12-15 repetitions this way, and then change the grip variation to your pump facing back, high elbow, right through the shoulder to get the Rhomboid. The back your shoulders and your upper back muscles as well. All muscles are that are in upper region of your back. Changing the grip variation allows you to hit different kinds of muscles in your upper back because its such a big muscle room. By doing the grip on the inside, you can be working more of your Erector Spinae muscles, which are the muscles that go along your spine, by changing the grip to your pump facing back, so youre going to be working more your Rhomboid and your Posterior Deltoid as well as your upper lats. All these muscles are located in the upper region of your back, supporting your upper spine, your neck, shoulders.