This 4-Move Routine Will Help Build Better Posture

You probably don’t spend much time thinking about your back—after all, it’s in the back. But it is super critical, which is why we have a kettlebell back workout that will help you strengthen this often overlooked but very vital area.

“Back strength is really important,” NASM-certified personal trainer Alicia Jamison, C.P.T., a trainer at Bodyspace Fitness in New York City, tells SELF. And there are a few reasons why.

One: Your back muscles are what keep you upright, whether you’re walking, sitting, or generally just moving in any direction. Without a strong back, you are at risk of collapsing forward in pretty much any scenario. Moreover, back strength is a key part of good posture, and taking the time to work on your back strength can help improve it, since optimal posture requires muscular strength and endurance across multiple muscles on your backside, as SELF previously reported.

Thing is, all the slouching we do on a daily basis not only worsens our posture, it also deactivates and weakens our upper back muscles, explains Jamison. Your back can also become weak if you overtrain your frontside muscles. Too many chest exercises, for instance, can lead to tightness in the frontside of the body (like your pecs), weakness in the back (like in your rhomboids and lower traps), and an overall imbalance between the anterior (frontside) and posterior (backside) chains.

That’s why it’s important to devote some strength training time to those all-important back muscles. And this kettlebell back workout does just that, helping strengthen your back muscles, correct muscle imbalances, and improve your posture. Now that’s what we call a workout win.

You can do the following kettlebell strength routine, which Jamison created for SELF, two to three times a week, either as a standalone workout or paired with another superset focused on an additional muscle group, like legs or glutes, to make it more of a full-body routine. Just make sure to warm-up first so that you don’t jump in with cold muscles. (Here’s a 5-move upper-body warm-up you can try.) Also important: Schedule at least one day in between sessions (really, 48 hours is ideal) so that you give your muscles enough time to recover.

Ready to fire up your back and reap serious functional benefits in the process? Keep scrolling for a four-move kettlebell back workout that may just become the new favorite in your routine.

The Workout

What you need: Two sets of kettlebells: one light to medium weight (about 5 to 15 pounds) for the renegade row, halo, and single-arm row, and one medium to heavy weight (about 20 to 35 pounds) for the Romanian deadlift. Of course, these weights are just guides—they’ll differ on an individual basis, depending on your fitness experience and other factors. One rule of thumb for picking the correct weight is that you should find the last two reps very challenging.

Exercises

Superset 1

• Renegade Row
• Romanian Deadlift

Superset 2

Directions

• Do each move in Superset 1 for 6-10 reps. Try not to rest in between moves. After Superset 1, rest 90 seconds, then do each move in Superset 2 for 6-10 reps. Try not to rest between moves.
• Rest 2 minutes, then repeat the entire sequence again. Complete 3-5 rounds total.

Kettlebells We Like:

Demoing the moves below are Salma Nakhlawi (GIFs 1 and 3), the founder of StrongHer Girls and is a strength coach; and Angie Coleman (GIFs 2 and 4), a holistic wellness coach in Oakland helping people find balance and a personal connection to movement.