The Best Back Exercise

 

If you are looking to develop strength in your back then there are a variety of different exercises you can pursue. Most people will attempt to put together a mixture of rows, pull ups, and shrugs, but the single best back exercise to develop strength is by far the dead lift. This is a challenging but incredibly rewarding exercise to attempt, and will help you greatly strengthen your lower back, as well as giving benefit to your legs, core, and shoulders. In today’s article we are going to look at why this is the case, and what the exact benefits of the dead lift are.

Simply put, the dead lift is the most effective exercise for developing lower back strength. It allows you to maintain a rigid back under strain, and this in turn helps you with both power transfer and safety, two elements that are critical in most athletic endeavors.  Why is lower back strength critical for your body? Think of your core.

When people think ‘core’, they think usually about your abdominal muscles, but they must be partnered by equally strong lower back muscles.

The reason is simple. A tight and rigid lower back allows you to transfer power through your trunk. The muscles of your core and back function in this through isometric contraction, which means that they remain tense and rigid when used, so as to prevent your skeleton from moving or shifting under the pressure of the weight. A rigid trunk allows you to use your legs and hips to transfer power to your shoulders, allowing your lift and carry loads of far greater weight than you would otherwise be able to handle.

How do you perform the deadlift? It looks simple, but has many subtleties. At its most simplest, you pull the barbell off the ground, pulling it up the length of your legs with straight arms until you lock your knees, hips and shoulders, the bar resting against your thigh.

In this fashion you can lift incredible amounts of weight. The world record for how much has been lifted is 461.3 kg, which is a little over 1,000 lbs by Benedikt Magnusson.

It is hard to emphasize how strong a man is when he can lift that much weight. Lifting massive amounts of weight like that can absolutely wear a man out, and that is why proper technique is absolutely essential if you are going to perform at your best.