Okay, I have recently started running, I have always been very athletic, and I weighed around 240, now im at 220 even, I just wanna start toning up my back, and lower back because I have lots of fat on my lower back and upper back, and I really dont have any machine to work out on I usually just use my dumb bells so any help would be great on helping me lose my lower back fat and upper back fat! thank you!

Well, you have to lose fat where and when your body decides to lose it... you don't get to pick.

Are you weightlifting? if you are, make sure you are doing pulling excercises - pull ups, rows, deadlifts - and back squats are good as well for stabilizing. Those exercises will work your back muscles to strengthen them and make sure you're not losing that muscle as you're dieting, and then when you do lose the fat, you'll look more toned.

yeah i agree, deadlifts both romanian and traditional are ideal here. although on the back fat front, if it is more noticable on the back than other areas of the body this is an indication that your body has a poor tolerance for carbohydrate metabolism and you should be weary of your starchy carb intake and opt for fruit and veg wherever possible, as well as not consuming too much full stop!

well I have only been eatin about once or twice a day, and I know it cant be too healthy but Im losing weight, and for the back fat it doesnt hang over my belt or anything it is pretty perky so I guess I have muscle under it I just need to lose the fat lol But I do some back work outs a pretty good bit. and I run about 2 miles a day.

[QUOTE=Jamesyyyy;638153]well I have only been eatin about once or twice a day,

GGAAHHH!!!! Stop that now, or I come slap you in the face with a cheeseburger.

Let me clear this up for you. It is so incredibly difficult to get enough healthy calories a day in two feedings it's sickening. I can barely do it if I only eat three meals and I am a good bit smaller than you.

Sure you are losing weight NOW but the speed and immediacy comes with a steep price mang. When you do up the calories, and you WILL up them at some point, you are going to store so much more of what you eat as fat than normal it will bounce you back to or most likely over where you were to begin with.

Even if not you will still put a load of fat and be somewhere between start and current and toting even more fat.

Second thing. There is no toning. There is muscle and there is fat. Remove the fat to see the muscle. Build the muscle. No toning.

Third: no spot reduction of fat. Ben is going to jump in and say some crap about certain things you can do with your hormones or glands or three toed unicorns to get some spot isolation of fat. Even if he's not spouting crap (which has happened) what he says applies to like 2% of the population. Have faith with simple steps 1st; like adjusting calorie intake and cycling exercise correctly.

You can run every day as long as you take a day or two a week off for rest n' recovery. It's not really that vital though. 2-3 sessions of moderate length (30-60 minutes anyone?) is fine. Ditto that for weights, which you do need to be lifting.

I have to second what MGR said about spot reducing. Basically, you CAN NOT just lose fat in your upper and lower back and nowhere else. The body doesn't work that way. It's basically an all or nothing deal.

That one or two meals per day. It ain't helping, but I'm sure you already know that.

As for exercises to tone the muscles of the upper and lower back, there are a few you can do, but once again, this will not cause you to lose fat in these areas. However, you CAN tone these muscles so that when you do lose the fat, you'll be left with a nice looking back.

The exercises you want to focus on are:

If you have access to a gym:

Upper back:
1. Pulldowns, vary your hand position (i.e. wide, narrow, parallel)
2. Cable Rows
3. Dumbbell Rows
4. Barbell Rows

Lower back:
1. Deadlift
2. Romanian Deadlift
3. Dumbbell or kettlebell swings
4. Barbell Power cleans

If you don't have access to a gym (you'll need at least some dumbbells & a doorway chinning bar):

Upper back:
1. Chin ups (palms facing you)
2. Pull ups (palms facing away from you)
3. Inverted bodyweight rows
4. Renegade Rows

Lower back:
1. Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts
2. Dumbbell swings
3. Dumbbell snatch
4. Dumbbell clean

im only spewing research that i have read, have a look into it, the work of charles polequin and his biosignature work, he works with the most olympic athletes in any one games time and time again and his work his hands down brilliant.

spot reducing only works to a certain degree and yes it depends on the person, i.e. some put it on their hips, back, waist, triceps etc etc and it is all linked into different physiological pathways that are connected to many different aspects of health and lifestyle. But yes for the most part exercise etc and you will lost the fat from everywhere. Im only trying to learn like everyone else, thats why im at a university!