Overview
Many different kinds of gym back machines can help you train various angles of your back and shoulders. Machines often put you in a fixed position and isolate those muscle groups, such as the seated row and lat pulldown machines, but they do little or nothing to improve movement or athletic performance. They do, however, provide a good stimulus for your back muscles and for muscle hypertrophy.
Types
One type is the stack machine, which uses the cable, pulley and weight stack system. You change the amount of resistance by inserting a pin in the weight stack.
The plate-loading system uses the traditional weight plates, which are loaded on the bar ends of the machine. This type of machine usually allows you to lift more weight than the stack machine because you can load more weight onto the machine. Bodybuilders commonly used this type of machine in the 1970s.
Functional Anatomy of Back
According to author Thomas Myers of “Anatomy Trains,” your back muscles are part of several movement systems that work with other muscle groups (shoulders, hips, legs) to produce a variety of movements, such as twisting, throwing, bending and squatting. The back muscles also stabilize your spine and hip to prevent excessive range of motion, which can cause muscle tears and dislocations of your joints.
Benefits
Back exercise machines help muscles grow bigger by isolating them to stimulate hypertrophy. Back exercises help increase balance and awareness of the posterior muscles. This method is also good for beginners for the first month of their training and for disabled people who lost function of their lower body.
Disadvantages
Most real-life pulling movements are done in a standing position, using your entire body to generate force and balance. Because back machines put you in a fixed and seated position, you are not using your core muscles to work and move in three dimensions.
If you have weak core muscles, training in isolation will not strengthen them, and you might develop abnormal movement patterns and poor posture, which can cause low back and hip pain and strained shoulders.
Expert Insight
There are other methods and tools to train your back while gaining the benefits of core and balance training.
The standing cable column allows you to train your back in different positions and angles by adjusting the height of the cable column and how you stand. You can do rows and pulls with two arms, one arm, or alternating arms. You can stand with your feet apart like you are skiing, one foot in front of the other, or on one leg. Once you get the basics down, you can add a torso rotation in the one-arm pulls.
About this Author
Nick Ng has been writing fitness-related stories since 2003, focusing on nutrition, injury prevention and exercise strategies. He received his Bachelor of Arts in communications from San Diego State University in 2001 and is a certified fitness coach from the National Academy of Sports Medicine since 2002.
