Shape Up Saturday Series: Favorite Back Workouts

It’s Shape Up Saturday! 
If you’ve been following along all week I did things a little different
this entire week.  I basically promoted
my Shape Up Saturday series because it’s all health and fitness related stuff
this week.  If you read Wednesday’s post
(here) it was all about my favorite at home workouts.  I shared all of the at home workouts that I’ve
uploaded here on the blog since I started this series back in September.  I also like to do this because I like to see
what my form is like (and of course point it out when it’s wrong) and I also
like to see my progress.  Since getting
into my car accident in September my progress has been SLOOOOOWWWWW.  I’m pretty sure I’d be rocking 6 pack abs by
now if it wasn’t for being told I can’t do certain things.  I’ve done a bunch of different workouts that
include abs, arms, legs, and booty.  A
lot of these workouts are actually similar because some workouts that you do
for your arms also work your back at the same time.  Targeting multiple muscle groups at once is
what I love because it means getting results faster!  For today’s post I wanted to focus on our
back.  You see a lot of times people don’t
really think to pay attention to their back because we don’t see our backs.  I didn’t start admiring toned backs until I
saw the difference in mine.  Here are
some simple at home workouts you can do to start toning up that back!

This one is super easy for me.  I actually couldn’t do this for a long time
because of my physical therapist, she said no lifting over the head.  Then we started lifting light weights and
everything seemed to be in order.  

Step 1

Start with your elbows bent and your palms facing in front
of you while holding your weights.  Make
sure your wrists are straight and not “hunching” over because you’re going to
injure your wrist.

Step 2 

Lift your arms up. 
When I do this workout with my 21 Day Fix DVD’s it’s always for 1 minute
and then you repeat for another minute.

Ok, so this is basically very similar to the tricep
kickback.  Same motions and
everything.  

Step 1

Start with your knees bent. 
Bend your back over but still keep it straight, so think posture but
bent over.  Have your arms down.

Step 2 

Lift your arms up towards your midsection-hips.  Repeat this for a minute if you can.

*Bonus* Step 3

If you want to once your done with the bent over row go for
another minute and turn this into a tricep kickback just extend your arms
behind you after Step 2 and basically just continue with Step 2 and 3.  You don’t need to start with Step 1 every
single time.

I love any workouts where you’re laying on the ground.  Call me lazy haha.  Maybe this is why I love ab workouts so much,
hmm.  Make sure that for any workouts on
the ground you are pressing your back into the ground.

Step 1

Before laying down make sure you grab your weights.  Grabbing your weights once you’re already
laying down can cause you to injure yourself. 
Bend your knees and bring your arms in.

Step 2

Push your arms up and bring them back down.  Repeat this for a minute.

I love this one.  I
think it’s because when I go back I almost give myself a nice stretch.  Make sure that for any workouts on the ground
you are pressing your back into the ground.

Step 1

Start with your arms straight up with your weights in your hand.  I usually have my weights touching each other, I have better control and stability, however if you can do this with your arms spread apart by all means try it.

Step 2

Move your arms past your head as pictured above.  Make sure when you do this your back is still
on the ground.  Repeat this for a minute.

This is similar to a chest press, but still a little
different.  I actually love this one
too.  Make sure that for any workouts on
the ground you are pressing your back into the ground.

Step 1

Start with your arms up and slightly bent at the elbows.

Step 2

Move your arms out to the side still slightly bent and push
them back to the center.  Repeat this for
a minute.