Exercises for the back and chest

If a person trains his back and chest on different days, he is a beginner. Experienced athletes know that antagonistic muscles should be developed in pairs. Otherwise, you can get stooped shoulders: the back will not hold the pumped chest.

1. Standard push-ups

Lifting your own weight is not an easy task. And this is one of the safest ways to strengthen your chest muscles, since you definitely won’t drop the barbell on yourself. Let me remind you once again that the whole body should be tense, the stomach is pulled in, arms are shoulder-width apart, legs rest on socks, elbows are bent close to the body (and not to the sides). And do not try to reach the floor with your forehead – it seems that you are pushing out quite low, although in fact the load on the pectoral muscles is reduced!

2. Push-ups “Dolphin”

Starting position – pose “Dog head down” with an emphasis on the elbows. You begin to gently dive as if moving your body forward until your head almost touches the floor. Then, just as slowly and carefully, with the help of your hands, return to the starting position.

3. “Kick the donkey”

Get into the starting position for a standard push-up, feet together. Then you sharply push off simultaneously with both legs from the floor, bending them at the knees, and sharply straighten them in the air. It turns out something like the movement that donkeys and other artiodactyl animals do when they kick. Try to land softly on your toes with a slight bounce at the knees.

4. Push-ups in the “handstand” position

This exercise is for professionals, but if you are confident in your abilities and you have someone to back up, you can try to do at least a few. Stand on your hands near the wall so that you can rest your feet on it and at the same time there is no strong deflection in the back. And start pushing up from the floor, bending your elbows at an angle of 90 degrees.

5. Judo style push-ups

Starting position – standard push-up stand. You push back a little with your hands, lifting your pelvis up. Then start push-ups, moving the body forward, the elbows are bent along the body, the pelvis is slightly raised, the hips do not touch the floor. Keep moving down until your chin is almost touching the floor. At this point, you abruptly push your body up into a cobra pose. Then return to the starting position, doing everything in the opposite direction. At the same time, the hips and knees must not touch the floor!

6. Flight “in reverse”

Starting position – feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, body slightly tilted forward, holding dumbbells or plastic water bottles (for homemade ones). Begin to slowly spread your arms to the side, bringing your shoulder blades together. In the upper position, you can linger a little, then also slowly lower your hands. At the same time, the upper body is tense, the back is even, the shoulders are lowered. You should feel how your back is working and the muscles between your shoulder blades are tense!

7. “Superman”

Lie on a flat surface, stretch your arms forward. Raise your arms and legs at the same time to the maximum, linger in this position for a few seconds and return to the starting position. The exercise can be made more difficult by adding a little weight to your hands. In this case, the head should not be raised – you should look clearly down, and it is advisable to keep your arms straight in front of you.

I want to add one more exercise from myself, which is very similar to this. Lie on your stomach, stretch your arms to the sides with your palms down, slightly bent at the elbows. Then you lift the front part of the torso together with the arms, the arms are spread clearly from the side so that the shoulder blades come together. And lower yourself to the starting position. Then you do the same thing, only add more leg raises. If you feel that this exercise is easy for you, add some weight to your hands. But make sure that the weight rises precisely with the contraction of the back muscles, and not with your hands. This is checked very simply – if after the exercise your neck and arms hurt, then you did it incorrectly. Tension and fatigue should be felt in the area of ​​the shoulder blades and along the spine closer to the lower back.

You can diversify it with different counts: first 4 counts up and 4 counts down, then everything in two counts, then 8 lifts in one count, then linger in the top position, make 8 springs, freeze for 8 counts and relax.

8. Lifting arms and legs

Lie on your stomach face down, stretch your arms in front of you. Start slowly raising one arm without lifting your face. When the arm reaches its maximum point, continue to hold it and slowly begin to lift the opposite leg. Then lower your arm, and after it – your leg. Then do the exercise with the second arm and leg.