Seated Row & Twist Exercise to Increase Back Strength

Series Summary

Millions of people live with moderate to severe back pain everyday. Busy lives and our tendency to work long hours at a desk, in front of a computer make it difficult to maintain the healthy lifestyle we’d like, especially when it comes to back health. Many of the causes of back pain can be remedied with simple exercises that target specific muscle regions. You should always check with a physician before starting any exercise program.

In this series of free video clips, personal trainer and fitness expert Mike Colangelo demonstrates an exercise program that will focus on strengthening the back muscles. You’ll learn workout tips on how to strengthen the back using barbells, dumbbells and other gym equipment. These training techniques will target the lower and upper back regions, and help you build muscle to ease back pain.

Video Transcript

" Hi! I’m personal trainer Mike Coangelo. I’m here at Fit for Life Training Studio in Glassboro, New Jersey. In the clip, we’re going to demonstrate how to do a unilateral seated row with a twist. What you want to do is you want to start; again, with your legs and a slight bend, your back nice and straight, palms down, extend your arm where your scapula start to stretch. On the way back, you’re going to pull in. On the way in, half way in, you turn the palm up. Squeeze at the back. This gives you more of a contraction on your bicep and your lat muscles. Return, turn, squeeze. Now, when you return, you want to start that twist mid-way. You want to go back, twist again, just like so. You’re going to get more of a bicep and a lot of contraction when you’re doing it this way. Again, you don’t want to throw the weight around. Okay. Two seconds on the positive; 3-4 seconds on the negative. Squeeze the weight. We don’t want to do this kind of thing cause we’ll lose all the effectiveness of our exercise. Again, mid-way point; squeeze it, return at mid-way point. Now, when you do this exercise, you’re going to notice a big change in the way you feel the movement, because a lot more motor units is going to be fired up because of the change of the angle and the difference in the range of motion with the exercise. Twelve to fifteen repetitions. Squeezing; you’re starting to feel that burn, squeeze. Do one more, squeeze it, and return. That’s how you do a unilateral seated row with a twist. "