Middle Back Shrug
Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Middle Back
Other Muscles Worked: Shoulders, Lats
Equipment: Dumbbell
Mechanics Type: Isolation
Tips: Here's a truly unique exercise that hits the upper back muscles - the rhomboids and teres major and minors - like no other. To do this exercise, lie facedown on an incline bench. Grab two dumbbells. Now, rather than shrug them, as the name implies, squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold the contraction for a full second. It's nothing more than the reverse action of a hug, or trying to perform rear laterals as if you had no arms. The effect is an amazing pump, as this is probably the first time in your life these muscles will have received direct work.