TORQ UK Fitness Consultancy

Purpose: This exercise strengthens, tightens and tones the muscles of the upper back, biceps and forearms, providing greater control and power to all pulling movements.

Muscles Used: Rhomboids (centre of upper back), upper Latisimus dorsi (large fan-shaped back muscle), posterior Deltoids (back of the shoulder), Biceps and the muscles of the forearm.

Start Position: Sit down on the floor with legs together and straight out in front of you. Wrap centre of band around your feet leaving an even amount of free band either side. Grasp the free ends of band and take up the slack. Start with back straight and arms straight ahead in front of you.

The Movement: Slowly draw your elbows backwards, keeping back straight and ensuring that forearms remain parallel to each other throughout the movement.

Finish Position: Your forearms should still be parallel and your back straight. You elbows should be as far behind the centre-line of the body as possible.

Return to Start Position: Slowly release the tension in the band, being careful to retrace the path of the original movement back to the start position.

Additional Information: Always maintain good posture with this exercise, keep the forearms parallel and squeeze the elbows back as far as you can for maximum range of movement. This encourages greater Rhomboid involvement. To increase the resistance/weight, either select a thicker resistance band or take up more slack on your existing band.

Do you want to buy some exercise bands? TORQ resistance bands are available in a variety of resistance strengths from the TORQ shop.

© Matt Hart. TORQ 2004