This Back and Biceps Workout With Dumbbells Can Help Improve Your Posture

A back and biceps workout with dumbbells isn’t just an important option to add in some upper-body work to your strength training routine—it could possibly also carry some serious advantages outside the gym too.

That’s because plenty of us spend a ton of time sitting, whether we’re hunched over a desk at work or scrolling through our smartphones after. And the resulting poor posture can result in a number of issues: When your shoulders roll forward, your upper back muscles—particularly your rhomboids, mid and lower trapezius, and deep cervical flexors, plus a couple of others—lengthen, while your chest or pectoral muscles shorten, certified personal trainer Alicia Jamison, MA, a coach at Bodyspace Fitness and lecturer of exercise physiology at Brooklyn College, tells SELF. This may result in tightness within the front of your body, and weakness around your upper back, she says. Ultimately, it could possibly set the stage for muscle imbalances, which may up your risk of injury and result in general discomfort—think low back pain and achy knees and hips, explains Jamison.

That’s why adding pulling exercises into your workout routine is so crucial: They assist engage and strengthen your backside muscles. This is significant, because strong back muscles can combat the forward-slouching position by literally pulling your head and shoulders into the better-aligned positioning.

And there are an entire bunch of options on the market, no matter what kind of apparatus you may have at your disposal. Should you don’t have access to dumbbells, barbells, or kettlebells, body weight exercises like pull-ups, chin-ups, or inverted rows are great pulling options. Doing a house workout and have some free weights? Pullovers or row variations (say, just like the bent-over row and renegade row) work that very same movement. And for those who’re on the gym, specific machines just like the lat pull down or cable system can assist diversify your routine.

The pulling motion really works your back muscles, but your arms—especially your biceps (officially called the biceps brachii)—get in on the motion too: “Anything that requires you to flex your elbow requires your biceps to activate,” explains Jamison. In reality, depending on the grip you select—for those who go narrower quite than wider—you might actually hit your arms more than the larger muscles in your back. So to have the option to effectively execute pulling moves, you’ll want your biceps muscles as strong as possible, which is why it doesn’t hurt to indicate these upper-arm muscles some specialized love.

With that in mind, Jamison created a five-move dumbbell workout that may strengthen your upper back and biceps, while also engaging key muscles that may assist you stand (or sit) up straight. As an illustration, the mid and lower traps, deltoids, serratus anterior, and rotator cuff muscles all play a task in helping you maintain optimal positioning.

Before diving into this routine, do a warm-up first to loosen tight areas and activate your muscles, specializing in your chest and back. You’ll be able to try moves just like the pec doorway stretch, T-spine extensions, and banded pull-aparts.