Having a muscular back is great, but the process of getting there is not enjoyable the least. The best back exercises, such as pull ups, are tough movements that take quite long time to master. We have an alternative that doesn’t involve you hanging from the best pull up bar and significantly reduce the chances of injury too.
The Chinese back plank – as the name suggests – is a plank variation and therefore strengthens the core muscles but due to the unique position, it also works your upper back and especially the back of the shoulders. You should definitely include Chinese back planks in your best core workout routine.
Better still, you won’t require the best home gym equipment either to do Chinese back planks: all you need is three elevated points, not too far from the ground, arranged in a T-shape. Make sure you warm your back up before you start exercising, maybe by doing with some seated rows or bent over rows using the best resistance bands.
Also, if you want keep track of your workouts, we recommend using best heart rate monitors as even the best running watches tend to struggle with tracking heart rate during full body HIIT workouts.
How to do Chinese back planks
IMPORTANT: this is not a beginner move and requires some base strength to perform correctly, just like pull ups. Be careful and if you happen to have a weaker core, you might want to start off by doing easier core exercises first and gradually introduce this plank variation into your core workout routine.
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As you can clearly see from the video above, you will need to flex all your back, core and leg muscles to hold the Chinese back plank position, even just for a short period of time. To be on the safe side, try practicing Chinese back planks on slightly elevated surface as opposed to going all out and climbing on top of the best multi gym.
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To perform a Chinese back plank, lay down in between the three elevated surface points you previously arranged in the a T-shape. This could be anything, as long as they are strong enough to support your bodyweight. In the video, not surprisingly, they use a Mirafit Heavy Duty Weight Bench (or something very similar) which is on top of our best weight bench guide.
Place your heels on top of the object at the bottom of the T and the elbows on the other two points, then squeeze your muscles and lift your hips off the ground. Much like during standard planks, the aim is to hold…