If you are a regular user of our Exercise Library then you may have noticed a training point which appears regularly in the “don’t” section. It applies to many exercises and clearly states “don’t arch your back”. Arching the lower back during exercise is one of the most common mistakes people make in the gym during their exercise session and it can have a detrimental effect on your progress.

Two different arches

Everyone should be stretching a couple of times daily as everything we do to our bodies during the day results in short, tightened muscles – whether you have a physical job or a stationary desk job. Without stretching daily the muscles become tighter and shorter and it is this shortness that creates the inability to lengthen by choice or by some other outside force like tripping. When our muscles are suddenly taken out of their comfort zone an injury can quickly follow. Typically the back, especially the lower back is the first to get injured. This is because a lot of muscles when they become short will directly affect the back. So if you have a bad back or not this “Praying Stretch” could be well worth doing.

What is it for?

The Wide Grip Lat Pulldown exercise is gym based and uses the piece of equipment unsurprisingly called the Lat Pulldown machine (not just a clever name – Beeble). Due to its name you can probably guess that the main muscles it works are the Latissimus Dorsi ("Lats" highlighted in yellow) which, as you can see in the diagram, are situated on your back and are very large muscles. They travel all the way from the tops of your arms down to the base of your spine. The secondary muscles this exercise uses are the biceps (highlighted in red) these are used in close combination with the "Lats" to complete the movement. Other muscles are used as well but these two are the main ones.

What is it for?

The Bent Over Row is a good back exercise and as with all exercises there is one right way to do it and many wrong ways. This exercise focuses on the Latissimus Dorsi (“Lats” highlighted in yellow) which are the large wing-like muscles that travel from the top of the arms to the base of your back. The secondary muscles used are the biceps (highlighted in red) which nearly always team up with the lat muscles in pulling movements. We also use our core muscles in this exercise especially our erector spinae muscles (the small group of muscles that run along either side of our spines and support it) due to the use of the weights in this exercise wanting to pull the body forwards.

What is it for?

The Wide Grip Pull Up or Chin Up is another classic exercise and is a great way to develop strength to body weight ratio. I like this exercise but it is a difficult one to get completely perfect. The main muscles it works are the Latissimus Dorsi ("Lats" highlighted in yellow) which, as you can see in the diagram, are situated on your back and are very big muscles as they travel all the way from the tops of your arms down to the base of your spine. The secondary muscles it uses are the biceps (highlighted in red) these are used in close combination with the "Lats" to complete the movement. Other muscles are used as well but these two are the main ones.