Wedding Times

Photo by  {teegan}

Building and toning a sleek back is not as difficult as you may think. Even if you have never concentrated on your back muscles before, you can whip them into shape with a few months of hard work.

Before you begin any workout, you need to keep in mind that you are attempting to tone your back muscles, not make them larger. You want a sleek back so that you look good in your wedding gown; not a muscular back that will make you uncomfortable.

Here are several steps that you can follow if you are interested in building a sleek, toned back before your wedding.

1. Put together a workout plan with the proper exercises. You want to know what you need to do during each workout in order to achieve the proper results. If you have never worked your back muscles before, take the time to learn which exercises will work best to your advantage.

2. For a sleek back, you will want to add lat pulldowns to your workout routine. More specifically, you will want to pull the bar down to the front of your body. This is not only a more natural and comfortable position, but it will also help to target the proper muscles.

Lat pulldowns concentrate mainly on toning the latissimus dorsi muscle. If you are going to be wearing a strapless gown, this is the best exercise for you. Lat pulldowns will allow you to tone the area that commonly falls over the back of a strapless dress. By firming these muscles, there will be no excess flab to get in the way.

In addition to strengthening the latissimus dorsi muscle, this exercise will also help to slightly broaden the upper back. While this may not seem like a big deal, a more toned and broad upper back will result in the appearance of a slimmer waistline. And what bride isn’t interested in looking slim?

3. In addition to lat pulldowns, you will also want to add the seated row to your pre-wedding workout. This is another great exercise for toning back muscles. The seating row focuses in on the rhomboid muscle of the back. This muscle is located between the shoulder blades, and is exposed if you are wearing a strapless dress. By toning this muscle in correspondence with the latissimus dorsi muscle, it is safe to say that everything above the back line of your dress will look good. This is especially true as you use lat pulldowns to tone upper back muscles.

In addition to the rhomboid muscle, seated rows will also work the erector spinae muscles and the abdominal area. The erector spinae muscles are those that run along the spine.

One of the main benefits of the seated row is that you will have the ability to work more than just your back muscles. During this exercise, you will also be putting a lot of strain on your biceps; which is another muscle that you will want to tone before your wedding.

Now that you know which exercises are best for a sleek back, you now need to know how many reps and sets to complete. For the most success, you will want to start with 3 sets of 15 reps of lat pulldowns. Immediately following these, move onto 3 sets of 15 reps of seated rows. By moving from one to the next in succession, you can be rest assured that you are going to push your muscles to the max. In the end, the harder you push yourself the more results you will see.

As far as how much weight or resistance to use, this is a personal choice. Obviously, some women are going to be stronger than others. You want to make sure that you are using enough weight to get a good workout, but not so much that it puts unnecessary strain on your muscles, risking injury. Gauge this by your form. Leaning a long way back on a lat pulldown or arching your back on a row and you’re probably lifting too heavy. If you feel like you are pushing yourself without your body being bent into awkward positions then you’re probably about right.

As you can see, building a sleek back for your wedding day is not as hard as many think. With 45 minutes per day, three days a week, you are sure to see results that you will be proud of.