Importance of Back Strength and How to Improve

You need to understand the importance of back strength and the role it plays in athletic performance. A strong back is the base for maximal progress and success in training. A stronger back will increase the sustainability of your training, better your posture and lower your risk of injury. 

Quite simply, a strong back will help:

• Increase your max strength
• Improve your posture
• Decrease your risk of injury

If you want to jump higher, sprint faster or throw further, a great base of maximal strength is needed.

To allow progression in your training it’s often your back which will be the limiting factor and therefore when starting to lift serious weights, it’s not your legs or arms which will hold you back in increasing your squat, deadlift or bench press, rather your back.

Chin Ups and Pull Ups are two of the best upper body exercises to build strength quickly. If you can’t do them yet, here is a simple progression guide on how to start.

5 Steps to Mastering Chin Ups

1. Chin Ups ISO Hold

This exercise starts in the top position, chin above the bar, bar close to chest. We don’t recommend jumping up as you will lose control. Use a neutral grip (palms facing in) and hold for 30 seconds, once achieved move on to Step 2.

2. Eccentric Chin Up

Again, this exercise starts in the top position. Keep a neutral grip and step up to the bar. Try to lower yourself slowly for 30 seconds until you reach full arm extension. If this is to hard and you are not able to get up to 30 seconds yet, start with a shorter timeframe and increase every session, even if it is just 1 second more – progression over perfection.

3. Loaded Eccentric Chin Up

Once you have achieved 30 seconds lowering, start adding external load. You can use a weight belt, dumbbell between your feet or a weight vest to add extra weight. Keep lowering for 30seconds until you are able to achieve 10 percent of your body weight.

4. Chin Up

Once you succeeded in lowering yourself for 30sec with 10% external load try and execute your full chin up. Hang with full extension, neutral grip and start pulling yourself up towards the bar. 

5. Continue to progress

As soon as you have achieved your first chin up – DO NOT STOP –  keep progressing by playing with tempo and varying grips (hand positions) when performing your chin ups.

This post on the importance of back strength for athletes, was written by Precision Athletica Head of Performance Nils Hestermann, is you would like to know more or seek specific guidance from Nils, you can contact him by email here.

How Do I Book An Appointment with Precision Athletica for Help?

We’re taking the health of our clients, members and staff very seriously and our preference would be for you to call to book an appointment so that we can make sure to explain our approach to keeping you safe. You can call our bookings team to schedule a session:

• Customer Support Centre: 02 9764 5787
• OR email us at: olympicpark@precisionathletica.com.au

Online Consultations

Evolving with the current environment, we are also now offering online appointments, meaning that we can support anyone who is unable to leave their home. Sessions are done via our state of the art Telehealth system and as long as you have a laptop or tablet with an inbuilt camera, or a phone with camera, we can help! Online consultations would be especially effective for guiding you in how to use your foam roller.

To learn more about online consultations, please call us on any of the numbers listed above.