Back Muscles
Our back muscles help us to keep our core in balance, enabling us to use the muscles in our arms and legs to lift, carry and push things around. We stand taller and prouder, stretch farther, and perform a myriad of functions using these powerful muscles.
Major Muscles Worked for Back, and the Machines' Weight Ranges
The machines targeting the back work the major muscles called the latissimus dorsi (lats), rhomboids, teres minor, teres major, and trapezoids (traps). The weight range on the machines are more flexible, because you add weight plates to the actual machines. This is in comparison with many of the leg machines in modern gyms, where the weights are preset into the machines. You can add as much weight as number of plates allowed on the machines. The weight added can range from a 5 lb plate, up to just over 600 lbs of plated weights. This flexibility is good, in that it allows beginning, intermediate, and advanced gym goers to utilize the machines for their muscle growth.
Don't Forget, Machines are Weights Too
As a beginner, I do recoommend people use the machines without any weights. Why? Even without added weight plates, machines, like barbells, have some weight already on them. If it is not free flowing air, then it has a weight amount. For example, a barbell can be around 45 pounds without added weight plates. The machines you use are no different. They have to be strong enough to carry the maximun weight allowed, and thus must have a set weight on them. This set weight varies from machine to machine. Keep this in mind when pushing, pulling, and lifting weights on the machines themselves.
