All weight rooms are equipped with pulley machines. And thispulleyis essential for strengthening your back.

The exercises are numerous and stimulate your back differently from the free loads without restricting you. The continuous tension brought by the pulley is beneficial for working the back muscles in depth.

So what exercises for the back using a pulley? This article gives you a broad overview!

The muscles of the back to work on the pulley

The backmusclesare located on the posterior part which is essentially composed of four large groups of muscles:

• The latissimus dorsi
• The major circle / minor
• The trapezius and rhomboids
• spinal erectors

With a pulley, you have the opportunity to target each of its muscle groups and be able to perform a voluntary contraction in complete safety. This helps you recruit the muscle fibers in your back as well as possible and perform the movements well.

They offer their own advantages over barbells/dumbbells/machines that shouldn’t be ignored for a complete back workout. You can effectively isolate it and work it in many different ways and from different angles. Remember that you should always add variety to your workouts and therefore use an effective mix of equipment to force your muscles to adapt.

Pulleys help you improve voluntary contraction, movement technique, and back congestion. This allows movement all over the plane and it is easier to do your series with a fluid and controlled movement. Continuous tension and well-controlled full-range movements allow maximum stimulation with voluntary contraction; that’s the great thing about pulleys: you can localize the movement and visualize the muscle beautifully.

It is therefore one of the best tools to gain motor learning and contraction for the upper and middle back. And that carries over to all of your core exercises.

A pulley gives you the ability to perform more variations in your exercises as well as multi-directional movements than other types of resistance. Onlyelastic bandscan reproduce this, but changing the type of resistance.

But don’t base your entire training on the pulleys: think of them as assistive tools that allow you to finish well or learn to contract your back.

Top 6 exercises to strengthen your back on the pulley

High pulley, vertical pull

• This exercise is very popular withbodybuildingenthusiasts to widen the upper back and strengthen the muscles in this region. By working at full amplitude, you also obtain a better definition of all the muscles used.
• Sit on the machine so that the bar is directly above your head and in front of your body. With your feet flat on the ground, adjust the machine so that the supports are wedged between your thighs. Grab the curved parts at the ends of the bar, palms facing forward.
• Your back should be straight, your arms fully extended and your shoulders lifted to form a large “Y”. If you have to get up to grab the bar, remember to grab it before you sit down and start. Keep your torso straight and vertical by contracting your lower back muscles.

• To start the movement, inhale slightly more than normal and pull down with your arms while exhaling, the movement starting at the elbows. Pull the bar straight down in front of your head and toshoulderheight.
• When lowering, keep your elbows back, pointing outwards and in the same plane as your chest. Hold the bottom position for 1-2 seconds, then return to the starting position while inhaling and controlling the barbell. Pause briefly to really feel the stretch at the top and start again.

Make sure your arms are fully extended before starting the next repetition.

High pulley neck pull

• To put more strain on the trapezius muscles, this exercise is also a must in your back session.
• Sitting facing the machine, the sleeves well wedged on the thighs, grab the bar taken inpronation, hands very apart. Inhale deeply and pull the bar up to the neck while exhaling.
• Bring the shoulder blades together, pause and contract the muscles. Then let the bar rise slowly following the same trajectory. Inhale again while raising the bar.
  
  

High pulldown at the low pulley

• The posterior deltoids which pull the arms back and the middle trapezius muscles which help bring the shoulder blades together are the muscles that are mainly used in this exercise.
• Sit on the bench of the low pulley apparatus with the bar or rope attached to the end of the cable. Place your feet against the platform and hold the barbell with your hands in an overhand position. Initially, the wrists are in a neutral position.
• Move the bench back so that yourlegsare almost straight, but not locked. Keeping your shoulders vertical to your pelvis, open your rib cage and slightly arch your back. Arms fully extended in front of the body, bring the bar towards the shoulders using the strength of the posterior deltoids.
• Keep the elbows in the same plane as the shoulders and pull both ends of the rope as far back as possible while bringing the shoulder blades together in order to perform a maximum contraction. Briefly squeeze the posterior deltoids and trapezius muscles, then slowly return to the starting position and repeat.

Extension to the high pulley straight arms

• Position yourself in front of a high pulley, with your bust leaning forward and sheathed. Grasp the bar slightly wider than your shoulders, in an overhand grip, with arms straight with elbows slightly unlocked. The beginning of the movement is done at a height at least equal to that of the head, higher if possible.
• Keeping your arms straight, bring the bar closer to your thighs by rolling your arms back and pulling your shoulders back. At the end of the effort, bring the bar back to the initial position while keeping your arms straight. The inspiration will be done during the return, the expiration will be done during the effort.
• For those who wish to use the inspiratory function of the back muscles, it is possible to reverse the breathing. It will then be interesting to try to inflate the chest during the lowering of the bar. Be careful, this inversion of breathing will require a drop in the load used.

Low pulley chin pull

• Stand in front of a low pulley and take the bar attached to it, hands in pronation. You should hold the bar less than your shoulder width, to get a tight grip, which helps emphasize the traps.
• The tighter your hands are, the more the trapezius muscles will be used and the less the deltoids will be. However, the more the hands are tight, the more the wrists will be twisted at the top of the movement, so be careful to adapt your grip to your sensations.
• Bring the bar to chin level using thestrengthof your trapezius muscles and shoulders, without jerking or helping your back. Do not try to raise your hands, but your elbows. Throughout the movement, the elbows must be above the shoulders.
• You can possibly bring your elbows and shoulders back to accentuate the work of the middle trapezius and posterior deltoids.
• Also, you must keep your back straight and your body tight while performing the exercise. You must inhale during the descent and exhale during the ascent.

Low pulley ground pull.

• This exercise allows you to target various parts of the back by varying the grip. The lumbar region is also worked in static.
• Sitting on the machine with both feet resting against the supports, grab the handles and bring the pulling triangle toward you by bending your legs and keeping your lower back straight. Once well positioned, the trunk should be perpendicular to the bench, bringing the load against the abdominals by contracting the dorsals and leaving the chest well. Bring your elbows as far back as possible and tighten your shoulder blades tightly by contracting hard.
• Return to the initial position, letting your shoulders go a little forward but keeping your back straight. At the end of your set, bend your knees to rest the pull-up triangle on the rack, without rounding your back. Inhale, bringing the load against your chest, and exhale, bringing it back to the starting position.

In conclusion

Pulley exercisesare important for your back workout. They allow you to isolate the muscles and work in continuous tension, which avoids unnecessary injuries.

As presented in this article, the exercises are numerous, and the pulling variants are all achievable with the pulley for an explosive session!