Hey Y'all,

I have a question. I am working out (again), and I have stubborn areas right under my arms and "fatback", basically excess fat on the dorsal area (I'm a woman). Can anyone recommend a weight lifting exercise to help tone these areas? I do about 45 min of cardio 4x/wk, free weights for arms, but I need to target these areas. Thanks!

lat pulldowns,dumbell pullovers,dumbell rows,chins,reverse grip barbell rows are alll good for that area.

Right on. Will do!!! Thanks

Puffy, you get your candy butt to San Jose lickety split and you can go to the gym with me!

Come on, pack your stuff - let's go.

Every day, 11-12:30 - we're on it.

There's kidddddddddddddddddd carrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre! Wooo hooo! And at FIVE DOLLARS A MONTH, ya just can't lose.

So, put that for sale sign up and get over here - come on, it'd be a teeny TINY little move. Infinitesimal even.. ya know, if you squint really hard.

Your Personal Stalker 'Round Your Neck -O- Da Hood... sorta...

Julia

OK, I'm there! I wouldn't mind moving to the SJC-it's an actual city that has a semblance of life and culture! And it would put me that much closer to the ocean and the Santa Cruz mountains! Oh well, as you know, our beloved housing market has tanked, and dh's work is 10 min away-guess we'll have to be cyber gym buddies for now Hey, what gym do you go to where the kidcare is five bucks a month? 24 hour bite me costs two bucks a day, and I had to cut my workout short because my 2 year old was "being a little fussy". Um, okayyyyy, is that not the definition of a 2 year old?! Anyway, Live-no-more has me in its clutches for now!

Oh work shmerk - he'll be going against traffic from San Jose anyway. Tell him to cowboy up.

And as far as the housing market goes - just live like vagabonds in houses for sale until they get buyers.

See, I have it ALL figured out.

I go to Bally Total Fitness and the girls (women) in there ROCK. Baby Camden was nonnnnnne too pleased with being left there the first two weeks, but I never got called to come get him. Now he loves it. Well, doesn't ALWAYS LOVE IT, but he's come to realize that he has no choice. Bygones.

So, tell your husband that I have it all figured out.

Pack.

Julia

Julia, you're a genius! With all the houses for sale around us that are empty, we could just squat from place to place and no one would be the wiser, except for the faint lingering smell of meat recently broiled...

Your baby's name is Camden? Too cute! My dd's name is Cameron. Gotta love those strong names! OK, I'm off to prepare the meat...oh, by the way, saw your post about drinking two bottles of wine and eating pizza at 10:30-are you sure we're not related? Hmmmmm...have a good one!

It's entirely possible. My mother swears I'm not a product of the mailman, but I beg to differ. Maybe HE WAS YOUR MAILMAN TOO!!!

Yep, two bottles to MYSELF, that wasn't split with the husband - he had his own.

Any idea how much money we're saving now?

Yes! Camden! It *WAS* going to be Cameron, but then all of a sudden, everyone we KNEW (swear to god) was picking that name too, so we opted for something similar, but random. Now everyone asks us if we named him after Camden Avenue. Um, noooooo, but I used to live on that street!

Funny, but no one ended up using the name Cameron that were thinking about it. WHATEVER!

I'm glad you snapped it up - but now you owe me. See how that works?

Once you realize it's all about me, me, me, you'll understand. Until then, all you can do is pack up and go to the gym with me. Hmph.

Julia

In addition to the specific back exercises, be sure to also include exercises for the rest of your body. You can't spot reduce fat, and you want to stimulate all your muscles to get stronger.

For more good info, check out www.stumptuous.com

I would recommend doing lat pull downs, seated rows, pull downs to the front, and dumbell rows. If you're not sure how to do any of these exercises this page explains how to do each of these; Exercise Routine For A Defined Back. It also has videos of the exercises.

The Deadlift

I recommend doing some kind of pulling motion that begins with the barbell on the floor (with at least one full size disk on each end obviously). The best I can think of is the deadlift. The deadlift is by far the single most effective movement for whole body stimulation. Even though the deadlift is a whole body compound movement and the original poster specifically requested movements that target back muscles only, the deadlift is still the best movement for this purpose as well.

One full size disk on each end plus the weight of the barbell may be too much to begin with. I suggest starting with either the empty barbell or a broomstick to practice the motion. As with any other exercise that involves weights, it's crucial to learn the motion properly to lessen risk of injury. Further, proper technique allows to lift more weight and thus allows faster progress in strength development.

My vote goes to "T-bar" rows. I love the burn I feel when doing one arm at a time.