It's the result of years of work, and honestly, I think it being strong and defined is really beautiful (and sexy!)but it's also super functional, too. I love that I can now haul my 6-year-old up a long flight of stairs to put him to bed when he falls asleep on the couch.
Though I've always given my back workout love, I really started to lean into strengthening it a few years ago. I was training to film John Wick 3 and then my upcoming movie, Bruised, and I needed to look and perform like a fighter. So, my trainer Peter and I started dedicating two workouts per week to my back and it made a massive difference in getting it to look really ripped.
\"Having defined, sexy back muscles feels so good (my posture is better than ever!).\"
Over the course of the first three months, I went from not being able to do a single pullup to being able to crank out a handful without any assistance. (Now I can do 10, 12, or 15 at a time.)
Pullups aren't the only star of the back workout show, though.
Peter and I also work on dumbbell flies and tons of different row variations , which never fail to set my back muscles on fire. We've relied on my full-body resistance loop a lot throughout the process, since the different rings on the band make it easy to adjust the difficulty of your rows.
A lot of times, I'll do a set of standing roughs at a really intense resistance, and then adjust the loop and do another set. I'll keep repeating that process until I've worked my way down from the toughest resistance to the easiest one, and by the end of it all, my entire back burns like you wouldn't believe.
To this day, I still try to focus on my back twice a week and I rely on my resistance loop even more now, since it's so easy to use at home.
Sometimes, to spice things up, Peter will have my switch up my grip on my resistance loop rows, so that instead of rowing with my palm facing in, I'll do the move with my palm facing up or down. Though it doesn't seem like much of a change, you really feel the difference after a few sets.
I also use my loop to work on bent-over rows and love, love, love to do TRX rows, when I can, too.
Having defined, sexy back muscles feels so good (my posture is better than ever!), but it's also incredibly empowering to have strength that carries over into the rest of my life, allowing me kick butt on screen and as a mother.
Halle Berry is a producer, director, and actress. Now known as one of the fittest women in Hollywood, Halle recently launched rspin , a community for stories, conversations, and products for health and wellness seekers. In her weekly WH column and #FitnessFriday Instagram posts, she shares a personal look into her own health and fitnessalong with the tips, tricks, and advice behind her famously fit physique.
