How to Look Long and Lean Through Weight Lifting

If you want to look long and lean through weight lifting, the following exercises will help you achieve this look by improving posture. When your core is weak, your upper back is weak and slouching is inevitable. Weight lifting can help you achieve that long, lean look you're after. Read on to learn more.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Perform a Seated Cable Row

1. Sit facing a weight tower. Keep legs slightly bent, approximately hip-width apart. Feet should be firmly on the footpads.

2. Grab the grip attached to the cable and sit up tall. Be sure to pull your abs in.

3. Exhale and pull the grip toward the stomach, keeping the shoulder blades together throughout the entire movement.

4. Straighten your arms back to the starting position. Be sure not to lean forward or release the shoulder blades. Repeat.

Perform the Back Extension

5. Find the back extension station at your gym and stand in the middle of it, facing the large, flat pad.

6. Lean forward and rest the upper thighs on the pad. Hip bones should be just above the pad, and ankles under the smaller pad.

7. Place your hands across your chest (beginners) or behind your head with thumbs behind your ears to add more resistance. Advanced weight lifters can hold a weight plate against the chest to further increase resistance.

8. Inhale and lower your upper body at the waist until perpendicular to the floor. Be sure to do this move slowly.

9. Breathe out and lift your upper body back to the starting position, slowly. Repeat.

Perform the Medium Underhand Grip Pull Down

10. Hold the bar at the lat pull machine with palms facing you (underhand grip). Keep hands shoulder-width apart.

11. Take a seat and put your knees under the knee pad for support. Sit tall and be sure to look straight ahead.

12. Pull the bar down towards your collarbone slowly while exhaling, and hold.

13. Raise the bar back up to the starting position. Repeat.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not raise your torso into hyperextension; keep your back flat.
• Swinging the body equals cheating. Control the movement from beginning to end when weight lifting.
• Avoid doing too many chest exercises when lifting weights. Focusing too much on the chest muscles and not enough on the upper back and core muscles will cause your shoulders to roll forward, making your appear less lean and tall.
• Poor posture makes you look short and squat.

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