How To Get Rid Of Back Fat: The Complete Guide

Written by: Faith B (Instagram @lifting.faith)

If you thought this blog was going to give you a secret way to losing back fat fast you might find yourself disappointed.

While it’s a nice thought, you can’t actually spot reduce your fat away. The key is to reduce overall body fat, making you slimmer everywhere.

Don’t run off just yet, I still have good news!

There are steps you can take to start sculpting the back you’ve always wanted while dropping inches all around.

Like any good thing, it will take time. Let’s first dive into what causes back fat and then break down what we can do to help reduce it.

Then we will dive into the ultimate back workout for women that you’ll want to add to your weekly workout routine.

What Causes Back Fat

We all have trouble spots, typically these are your abdominals, thighs, and back. Unfortunately, we don’t get to decide where our excess fat goes, hello booty if you could!

While these spots are just where our body decides to store excess fat, there are a few other factors that contribute to back fat.

Muscle atrophy is one of those factors. Muscle atrophy is where a muscle or muscle group starts to lose muscle mass from not being used for long periods of time.

The lack of strength training combined with poor nutrition is a huge factor in gaining excess body fat.

Our posture can also play a role. While it doesn’t actually cause us to gain back fat it does affect how it looks while it’s hanging out there.

How To Get Rid Of Back Fat

While we already mentioned you can’t spot reduce, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with bra bulge and love handles.

Here are some steps to take to not only help reduce back fat but to help you reduce overall fat and bring back your confidence!

1. Clean Up Your Diet

It’s no secret, you can’t out-exercise a poor diet. The only way to lose weight is to expend more calories than you consume.

It also helps to stay away from foods that cause inflammation such as dairy, refined flours and artificial sweeteners.

2. Sleep

Getting a good night’s rest is just as important. You want to make sure your body is getting plenty of rest.

You are more likely to stay on track and get the most out of your workouts when you’re well rested!

3. Stay Hydrated

Part of a balanced diet is your water intake. Don’t skip out on getting enough water each day.

Reaching your water goal daily is a great way to help flush out your body and reduce bloating.

4. Strength Training

To help increase your calories expended you’ll want to get moving and make time for your workouts.

Cardio is great, but strength training is not only going to help you burn calories, but it will also help you tone up those back muscle. The more muscle you have the more fat your body will burn!

5. work your Lats and Core

While you can’t spot reduce, you want to make sure you incorporate these body parts into your regular routine. This will also help those muscles pop and look toned once you shed the excess weight.

When we think of toning our back we often forget the role our core takes. No one wants a muffin top, so don’t skip the core workouts.

6. Good Posture

Here’s where I struggle. While I mentioned your posture doesn’t create back fat, it does affect how it looks. If you are slouching your bra bulge is only going to look worse.

Work on correcting any poor posture to help reduce the look of back fat. This will also help give you good back and spine support which aids in daily movement.

Ultimate Back Workout For Women

Now that you know the benefits of having a strong back here are some moves to incorporate into your everyday routine to help strengthen your back and help you lose weight overall.

Check out the following video to see how to activate your lats to get the most out of your back workouts.

Here is a great back workout for women using only the cable machine.

Complete 4 sets of 12 – 15 reps.  Resting 45 – 60 seconds in between sets.

Single Arm Lat Pulldown– Stretch your lat as far as you can holding a single handle and pull down keeping your elbow toward your side.

High Anchored Cable Row – Bring cable attachment as high as you can and sit back on the floor leaning slightly back. Bring the handles as close to your waist as you can while pinching your shoulder blades back and together.

Standing Cable Row With a Rope – Bring cable attachment about waist height. Step back a few feet and row the rope toward your waist, pulling shoulder blades back and together.

Straight Arm Lat Pulldown – Holding the attachment lean slightly forward at the hips while keeping your arms straight. Bring the attachment down toward your hips and back up, squeezing your lats throughout the move.

Single Arm Cable Row – Bring the cable all the way to the bottom and grab with one arm. With a staggered stance pull cable in toward your waist. Bring your shoulder blades toward the middle of your back.

Remember you can’t spot reduce so you’ll want to work out each muscle group. We love combining back and biceps together. Check out this full back and bicep workout Trainer Lindsey put together!

3 sets of 12 – 15 reps with a 60-second rest.

Superset 1:

Lat Pulldown – With a wide grip, focus on pulling shoulder blades back and down as you bring handle about chin height.

Alternating Bicep Curl – Stand nice and tall with elbows pinned to side while alternating curl between arms.

Superset 2:

Straight Arm Pulldown– Lean slightly forward at the hip with a wide grip on the bar. Think about stretching through your lats while squeezing them down and together as you bring the bar to hip level.

Cable Curls – Pin your elbow close to your side as you curl the handle up toward your shoulder

Superset 3:

Single Arm Dumbbell Row – In lunge position, stretch out shoulder blade as you reach down toward the floor. Squeeze shoulder blades together as you pull up toward your waist

Incline Curl – Set your bench at 45 degrees or slightly higher. Keeping your elbows directly down below your shoulder as you curl weight up toward your shoulders.

Superset 4:

Bent Over Barbell Row – Grab barbell, keep a strong core as you lean slightly forward. Pull the weight up toward your hips squeezing your shoulder blades together between each rep.  

Renegade Row – In plank position, keeping hips in line with your shoulders and toes. Row the weight up toward your hips. Try not to rock your hips too much and keep them level with the floor.

Conclusion

You learned why you get back fat and how you can reduce it, now it’s time to put in the work and slim down all around.

You know you can’t spot reduce, but now you know what steps to take to help reduce overall fat including your bra bulge and muffin top.

Start incorporating these steps along with the workouts above to get in great shape and have your back looking nice and toned in no time!