maratoolMiddle Back Shrug
How to do the middle back shrug
- Lie facedown on an incline bench while holding a dumbbell in each hand. Your arms should be fully extended hanging down and pointing towards the floor. The palms of your hands should be facing each other. This will be your starting position.
- As you exhale, squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold the contraction for a full second. Tip: This movement is just like the reverse action of a hug, or trying to perform rear laterals as if you had no arms.
- As you inhale go back to the starting position.
- Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the rhomboids and mid-trapezius, which draw the shoulder blades together and back down the ribcage.
Every exercise for:Middle back
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
Dumbbells let each side work on its own, surfacing a strength difference between limbs that a barbell would quietly cover for, and leaving the wrist free to rotate through the movement.
Every exercise using:Dumbbell
These train the middle back too, using equipment this one does not:
- One-Arm Kettlebell Rowkettlebell
- One-Arm Long Bar Rowbarbell
- Rhomboids-SMRfoam roll
- Seated Cable Rowscable
- Smith Machine Bent Over Rowmachine
Difficulty
Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.
Of the 37 middle back exercises in this database, 10 are listed at intermediate level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.