Meanwhile, athletes are still fed a steady diet of upper body presses if they are still pressing at all, and doing a lot of what is perceived as good for their “structural balance” although any study of push-pull intensities will suggest otherwise. These exercises are often regulated into the “necessary for structural balance” class of exercises. Upper back work is not forgotten, but it is often not loaded with the same intent or intensity.įunctional training has railroaded upper body pulling exercises into band flailing, contralateral and fractional plate-wielding abominations. This makes sense, as most athletes are about navigating the space in front of them. Strength coaches don’t help much either, as they put the focus on training force projection in a largely sagittal anterior direction-pressing and squatting (including single leg work) rule the roost from an exercise consideration standpoint. Heavy back training isn’t just armor building-it can also be a performance driver for some athletes, says Click To Tweet ![]() Disentangling back training from notions of “health” and/or “size” can be tricky. The problem stems from the fact that most of what we know about back training comes from either bodybuilders or physiotherapists. ![]() While it plays that role terrifically well, it can also be a performance driver in athletes whose sports require a strong back and/or find back strength a limiting factor.īack strength is not just for GPP and youth athletes. I’ve seen heavy back training referred to by some as armor building, bulletproofing, and other similar protective sentiments. The upper back is often considered the hallmark of a truly strong athlete.
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