A strong back benefits the whole body. It helps you maintain good mobility, balance, and posture. It protects your bones and every muscle group that attaches to it. There are many back workouts for women that are designed to keep you strong, and the best ones contain ten basic exercises.

Ten Exercises for the Best Back Workouts for Women

These exercises target every area of your back, which is one of the largest muscle groups in your body. You don't have to include each move in every strength training session. If you find time for each of them at least once a week, though, you can rest assured that you are targeting every muscle for balanced strength.

1. Good Morning Reps

This is a good exercise to start your workout. Create a stable stance by placing your feet hip-width apart and bending your knees slightly. Keeping your back straight, place your hands behind your head and then hinge forward from the waist until your upper body is parallel to the floor. Rise slowly to the starting position, and repeat 10 times.

As you gain strength, you can add weights or extend your arms straight over your head for a challenge. Always make sure you engage your core muscles for support.

2. Plank Variations

The classic plank is well known for its benefits to core muscles, but it is also a great addition to the best back workouts for women, too. This isometric exercise is a powerful move to build and maintain strength.

A basic plank is essentially the height of push-up position. There are many different variations, though:

• Put weight on forearms instead of palms
• Lower knees to the floor
• Pinch shoulder blades together and release for 10 reps
• Balance hands on dumbbells and alternate lifting them
• Alternate raising feet off the mat

3. Rows

A row is any move in which you are pulling your arms toward your body. You can use an actual rowing machine at the gym, but you can easily create the movement at home. Either bend from the waist or start in a plank position. Then bend your elbows toward you slowly, feeling the resistance created by gravity.

The first few times you try these exercises, experiment without weights to get a feel for them. Then add enough weight to give yourself a challenge. If the exercise doesn't become noticeably more difficult as you move through your 10-12 reps, you need to add more weight.

4. Presses

During a press, you are pushing weight away from your body. The most common press used in back workouts for women is the overhead press. Start by holding dumbbells at your shoulders and slowly press your arms up. Experiment with pressing in different directions, noticing the different muscles that engage when you do so.

5. Lateral Raises

Lateral raises are great for developing strong shoulders. You can either use dumbbells or resistance bands during these reps.

Start with your hands down by your side. Lift your arms straight out to the side until your hands are a little lower than your shoulders. Slowly lower your arms and repeat 10-12 times.

6. Superman Variations

The basic Superman maneuver starts with lying face down and then lifting your arms and legs off the ground. Don't be fooled by its simplicity, though, especially if this is one of the first back workouts for women you have tried. This seemingly easy move packs quite a punch.

Fortunately, a beginner's modification can help you start strong without a high risk of injury. The first level introduces your body to the arm movements, and you can progress from there. Once you get the hang of it, there are several variations you can try to give yourself an extra challenge:

• Pull-ups - While keeping your arms and legs elevated, pull your elbows back toward your body, mimicking the movement of a bar pull-up.
• W Pull-ups - When your elbows are back during your pull-up, squeeze them toward each other for an extra pulse.
• Swimmer - Alternate diagonal pulses of your arms and legs (i.e., as if swimming).

7. Bird Dog

The bird dog is great for not only strengthening your back and core muscles but also for improving balance. As its name implies, you are going to start on all fours with your palms and your knees touching the ground. Lift your right arm and left leg, extending them out from your body until they are straight. Lower them and repeat the movement with your left arm and right leg for 10 reps on each side.

8. Pull-Ups

Pull-ups are most often used to build biceps, but as they engage the back muscles, too, they often make an appearance in back workouts for women. You will likely need a pull-up bar to do a set of these. Simply grab the bar and pull yourself up as far as you can. You may barely get your feet off the ground on your first try, but you're still getting stronger every time you do it.

9. Lat Pullovers

For this exercise, lie on your back, holding the weights directly above you. Slowly move them toward the floor above your head. It's especially important to engage your core and keep your back as flat as possible to avoid injury. If you get to the point where you feel like you can no longer control your core, stop and bring your arms back to center.

10. Rotator Cuff Rotations

Small movements often make a big difference in mobility, and this exercise is designed to do just that. Bend your elbows, holding your dumbbells in your hands (palm up) in front of you. Maintaining the bend in your arm, rotate your forearms out to the side and then bring them back to the front. Repeat 10 times.

Get Great Results With Complete Back Workouts for Women

There are many back workouts for women that will give you the results you're looking for, and these 10 exercises are a great place to start. As you work on your chest muscles and biceps, use the ZOZOFIT app to track your progress as you work toward your fitness goals. iOS users can try out either our one month or three month subscription plan and you'll even receive a 7-day free trial to get you started today, and Android users can utilize the ZOZOSUIT for the scanning process through our cutting edge app.