7 Best Bodyweight Exercises to Train Your Back, a guest post . Whether you are out on the field playing your favorite sport or just simply participating in daily activities, you actively rely on your back to be able to do things like this. You always hear that your core muscles – your abdominal muscles – are vital for good posture and a strong body. While in fact, they are, the strength of your back is just as important. In fact, your balance and stability depend mostly on the strength of your back, so, it only makes sense that training your back should be an important focus of your workouts. Not only will you enhance your performance by strengthening your back, but you will also be helping protect yourself against back pain and major injuries that involve your back. So, just exactly how can you strengthen your back? Well, get the best workout gear you can find and check out some of these bodyweight exercises designed to train your back: 1. Bodyweight Lat Pull-Up Who doesn’t love exercises you can easily do at home, right? And, the best part about this exercise is that it doesn’t require any specialized tools. How to: Grab two chairs and sit on the floor between them. Next, place your elbows on the seats. Then, raise up so that your hips are lifted off the floor by tensing your shoulders and upper back. Tip: Try to focus only on the tensing of your shoulders and back rather than moving your hips. 2. One-Arm One-Leg Plank If you are looking for a challenging plank that will strengthen both your core and your back, this is the workout for you. How to: Start by getting into the normal plank position on your forearms. Next, lift one leg and extend the opposite arm up to the front. Try holding for 15 seconds before switching to the other side. 3. High Suspension Row The high suspension row is a simple yet effective workout you can easily do at home. Do a few sets of these, but be sure to rest for 1 minute between each set. How to: Start this exercise in an extended position. You will pull the body toward the hands with your elbows up and finish with your hands at the level of your ears. Be sure to pause at the top of the exercise before lowering back to the starting position. 4. Supine Plank Seeing as this is the second plank on the list, it appears planks are pretty good for strengthening your back, right? As much as you might hate them, your back thanks you. How to: Instead of lying on your stomach, start by lying on your back with your torso angled toward the ceiling. Keep your elbows and forearms at the side of your body. Next, squeeze your shoulder blades and glutes to plank into a straight line. At this point, only your elbows/forearms and heels should be on the floor. 5. Shoulder Y-Raise This is another great simple yet effective exercise. So, if you are looking for something you can easily incorporate into your daily routine, this is one you will want to check out. How to: Start by lying down on your stomach with your arms straight out. You should be forming a “Y” with your body. Next, raise your arms a few inches off the ground but do so without lifting your head up. Hold that position for 2 seconds, go back down, and then keep repeating until you have done about 15 to 20 reps. 6. Scapula Push-Ups Just about everyone understands the basics of a proper, traditional push-up. So, we will just add a little spin to make it optimized for strengthening your back. How to: Get into the traditional push-up starting position. Remember to keep your elbows straight and focus on using your shoulders. Also, keep your head in line with your spine and don’t lower your chin. To complete the exercise, squeeze your shoulder blades together and extend them back. Your shoulders should go up and then back down. 7. Single-Arm Suspension Row That’s right – another suspension row exercise. One thing about back strengthening exercises is that many of them start by using the same core exercise and just adding a little twist. Therefore, it is easy to learn several different ones you can easily do in the comfort of your own home. How to: Go from an extended position to an overhand grip then to a pulled position with a neutral grip. Before lowering, squeeze at the top for a one count.