Proper back training begins with the exercises you choose to help you pursue your fitness goals. Commonly regarded as “pulling movements,” there are more viable back-training options than there are muscles in your back in the first place.
The right exercise can make all the difference in the world when it comes to connecting with these ever-important muscles that you can’t see in the mirror. If your back workouts are lacking, chances are you just haven’t found the right movement — yet. Here are the 11 best exercises for your next back workout.
Recent Updates: On Feb. 21, 2024, Senior Writer Jake Dickson removed 12 exercises to bring our list down to 11 movements. We made this adjustment per our exercise selection methodology — which focuses on science-based evidence, user intent, and expert input. Other notable updates include adding movement modifications to each exercise, illustrating our anatomy section, and including workouts utilizing the exercises on this page.
11 Best Back Exercises
- Deadlift
- Pull-Up
- Bent-Over Barbell Row
- Chest-Supported Row
- Dumbbell Row
- Lat Pulldown
- Seated Cable Row
- Straight-Arm Pulldown
- Face Pull
- Back Extension
- Dumbbell Pullover
1. Deadlift
[Read More: The Single-Leg Deadlift Is the Best Pulling Accessory You’re Not Doing]
Why Do It: The deadlift is one of the best compound exercises you can do to add serious amounts of strength and muscle mass to your back. Although your back muscles do not contribute directly to the range of motion of the deadlift, their involvement is paramount for keeping your spine safe and holding the loads necessary for growth.
Equipment Needed: You’ll need a barbell and some weight plates to perform the standard deadlift.
How To Do It
- Stand in front of a loaded barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart, hips back, and back flat.
- The knees should be bent slightly to allow you to grip the bar tightly, slightly wider than shoulder-width.
- Keeping your back flat and chest up, tighten the back muscles, and straighten your arms as you load the pull.
- With everything locked, aggressively push your legs into the floor as you simultaneously pull your chest and shoulders upwards, lifting the bar to the hip.
Modifications: Use a wide snatch grip to make the exercise harder on your back, or place the plates onto blocks or risers to reduce the range of motion if you have flexibility issues.
Coach’s Tip: Let your shoulders hang down and don’t shrug when you perform deadlifts, even if you’re trying to train your back.
Sets and Reps: 3 x 5
2. Pull-Up
[Read More: The Ultimate Beginner Pull-Up Guide (4-Weeks to Your First Rep!)]
Why Do It: Don’t assume the pull-up is less effective than the other moves on this list because it’s a bodyweight exercise. This vertical pull primarily targets your lats, training them through a long range of motion. Start each rep from a dead hang, feeling your lats (located under your armpits) really stretch, and then aim to pull your chest to the bar.
Equipment Needed: All you’ll need is a stable bar to pull yourself up to for this one.
How To Do It
- Assume an overhead grip on the bar, slightly wider than shoulder-width.
- With the arms relaxed and shoulders elevated up to the ears, contract the core and upper back as you initiate the pull-up.
- Aim to pull your chin to or above the bar level, driving your shoulders away from your ears.
Modifications: If you can’t yet do a pull-up, tie a resistance band to the bar and place the free end around your feet to give you some extra help.
Coach’s Tip: To ratchet up the challenge of the standard pull-up, try to pause for a beat at the top of each rep.
Sets and Reps: AMRAP
3. Bent-Over Barbell Row
Why Do It: The bent-over barbell row hits all the major players in your back — the lats, mid traps, and rhomboids. By hinging at your hips to row the weight to your stomach, you’ll also engage your entire posterior chain, including your hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors.
Equipment Needed: You’ll need a barbell and some weight plates to perform the standard bent-over row.
How To Do It
- Set up as you would for your deadlift by standing feet shoulder-width apart in front of a loaded barbell.
- Hinge at the hips until your torso is about parallel to the floor.
- Grab the barbell with a grip that’s a bit wider than your typical deadlift grip.
- Lean back, so your weight is on your heels, and row the barbell, leading the pull with your elbow until it touches around your belly button.
Modifications: If you have access to kettlebells and dumbbells, you can row those, or you can simply stick with the traditional barbell variation.
Coach’s Tip: If you find yourself limited by your lower back strength, don’t be afraid to wear a lifting belt.
Sets and Reps: 4 x 8
4. Chest-Supported Row
Why Do It: The chest support is the critical element of this row variation: This move isolates your back muscles so you can activate them without stressing your hips or utilizing momentum to “cheat”.
Equipment Needed: You’ll need an adjustable bench and some single-arm weights for this exercise.
How To Do It
- Set a weight bench to a 45-degree incline and lay face down so your chest and stomach are supported.
- Grab a dumbbell in each hand and then row them to your sides until your elbows pass your torso.
- Slowly lower the weight under control.
Modifications: Adjust the angle of the bench to fit your level of comfort. A steeper incline is easier, but will shift emphasis from your lats to your upper back.
Coach’s Tip: Actively push your chest into the support structure during your reps. Maintain contact the entire time.
Sets and Reps: 3 x 12
5. Dumbbell Row
[Read More: The 8 Best Kettlebell Back Exercises to Build Your Back Without a Barbell]
Why Do It: The dumbbell row can increase your upper back strength, supplement hypertrophy, and correct muscular asymmetries. No matter what your training goals may be, you should probably have at least one single-arm exercise in your rotation.
Equipment Needed: You’ll need a dumbbell (or kettlebell) and a weight bench here.
How To Do It
- Stand next to a bench so that it’s parallel to you.
- Place the same-side hand and knee on it, and firmly plant your other foot onto the floor.
- Reach down with your free hand and grab a dumbbell.
- Keep your back flat and your head in a neutral position.
- Row the dumbbell to your side until your elbow passes your torso.
Modifications: There are a few variations for this exercise, but the most popular has you brace the same-side knee and arm on a weight bench while rowing a dumbbell with the free hand. To make it harder on your core as well, row without leaning against a bench at all.
Coach’s Tip: Avoid twisting your torso at the top of each repetition.
Sets and Reps: 3 x 12-15
6. Lat Pulldown
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Why Do It: The lat pulldown mimics the motion of a pull-up, making it a great choice for those looking to target their lats and/or work toward a bodyweight pull-up. (It’s also a great movement to perform before pull-ups as a warm-up.) Additionally, the lat pulldown allows for a lot of grip variation. You can grip the bar wide, at shoulder-width, use a natural-grip bar, or even attach a single D-handle to perform pulldowns one arm at a time.
Equipment Needed: Most gyms will have a few lat pulldown stations available.
How To Do It
- Set yourself up with your legs under the pad and hands grasping the bar attachment slightly wider than shoulder-width with a pronated (palms facing away) grip.
- With the core tight and the torso upright — or even a little arched — pull the bar down to your chin.
- Slowly resist the weight as you return to the starting position.
Modifications: You can modify the lat pulldown by attaching various grips to the cable carabiner.
Coach’s Tip: A bit of body English is okay here. Return your torso to a vertical position between reps for maximum stretch.
Sets and Reps: 4 x 8
7. Seated Cable Row
[Read More: 5 At-Home Workouts for Strength, Muscle Growth, Power, and More]
Why Do It: This rowing variation has you pull a shoulder-width neutral grip cable attachment to your torso. While the cable allows you to take advantage of constant resistance, the hand position and arm path allow for a large amount of mechanical tension on your lats. This is a fantastic place to start if you want to emphasize muscle growth.
Equipment Needed: You can sit on the floor in front of an adjustable cable pulley if you don’t have a dedicated row station in your gym.
How To Do It
- Set yourself up in the front of the cable station, with your feet on the foot platform and the hands grasping the attachment with a neutral grip.
- With the core tight and the torso slightly leaned forward at the hip.
- Pull the attachment toward the top of the abdomen.
Coach’s Tip: Lean forward slightly and allow your shoulders to roll forward during each rep.
Sets and Reps: 3 x 8
8. Straight-Arm Pulldown
Why Do It: Your back contains a lot of different muscles; isolating them for growth can be quite challenging. The straight-arm pulldown is as close to an “isolation” as you will get for targeting the lats (the largest of the back muscles). An extended range of motion, constant tension from the cable pulley, and a simple learning curve, makes the straight-arm pulldown a prime muscle-building movement.
Equipment Needed: You’ll require an adjustable cable pulley and some sort of attachment. You can mostly do straight-arm pulldowns with any handle.
How To Do It
- Attach a rope handle, straight bar, or EZ-bar to a cable pulley set at the highest setting.
- Take enough steps back so that you can hinge your torso forward 45 degrees and straighten your arms without any slack in the cable.
- Slightly bend your elbows and then pull the rope to the tops of your thighs.
Coach’s Tip: Leaning forward might help you find a better connection or stretch on your lats.
Sets and Reps: 2-3 x 12-15
9. Face Pull
Why Do It: It’s not all about strength and mass. Even the small muscles and joints need to be strong and stable to facilitate strong lifts. Enter the face pull, an exercise that contracts your rhomboids, rear delts, and traps to facilitate proper posture and mobility of the shoulder joint.
Equipment Needed: Face pulls are typically done with a cable and rope attachment, but a resistance band will do the job in a pinch.
How To Do It
- Clip a rope attachment to a cable pulley set to the highest setting.
- Grab the rope with both hands, palms facing each other.
- Take a few steps back so there’s tension in the rope.
- Raise your hands so the rope is level with your face.
- Simultaneously pull the rope toward your face and flare your elbows out and back. The movement should look like a front double biceps pose.
Coach’s Tip: Consciously externally rotate your shoulders as you pull so the insides of your arms point forward.
Sets and Reps: 3 x 20
10. Back Extension
Why Do It: Training with lower back exercises isn’t all that sexy, but it’s crucial for general postural stability and core strength. The back extension has you simply hinge at your waist, with your legs resting on thigh pads, to engage your erector spinae muscles.
Equipment Needed: You can do them with your own body weight — a popular choice — or while holding a weight plate to your chest.
How To Do It
- Place your thighs against the pads of a back extension machine, and ensure that your Achilles tendon is right under the ankle pad.
- Cross your arms. Slowly hinge forward until your body forms a 90-degree angle.
- Contract your glutes and hamstrings to come back to the starting position.
Modifications: Most people can benefit from back extensions without needing to hold extra weight. If you want to make the move even harder, unhook one leg from the ankle supports.
Coach’s Tip: Don’t be afraid to consciously curl and uncurl your spine to emphasize your lower back.
Sets and Reps: 2 x 15-20
11. Dumbbell Pullover
Why Do It: If your lumbar spine is fried from too many lower back exercises, you can isolate your lats with the pullover without relying on your spine or hips. Dumbbell pullovers are among the few dumbbell back exercises involving only your lats.
Equipment Needed: Weight bench, dumbbell
How To Do It
- Lie down on the bench on your back with a dumbbell held above your head. Keep your elbows straight but not fully locked out.
- Brace your core and slowly drift your arms back behind your head until they’re in line with your torso.
- Reverse the motion, using your lats to pull your arms back to the starting position.
Coach’s Tip: This movement is quite challenging on your shoulder mobility. Start with a light weight until you get comfortable.
Sets and Reps: 2 x 12-15
4 Best Back Workouts
These may be the best back exercises you can do. But how do you put them together into a workout plan that suits your goals? Rest easy; that part is already done.
Back Warm-Up
A well-designed warm-up helps manage injury risk and improves readiness heading into your training session, without generating excessive fatigue. Increased body temperature, an activated (excited) nervous system, and a prepared mental state can help increase readiness for the upcoming day of training.
One of the most effective warm-ups for any muscle group is going to be the exercises you are performing in that day’s training session. Here’s what a comprehensive warm-up protocol might look like, beginning as soon as you set foot in the gym:
- 5-10 minutes on the treadmill, elliptical, stair-stepper, or rowing machine.
- Dead Hang Pull-Up: 3 x 15 seconds.
- Cable or Band Straight-Arm Pulldown: 3 x 20 with light resistance.
- Then, do 1-3 warm-up sets of your first exercise with a light weight.
Back Workout for Strength
This workout focuses on using many of the exercises in this list to help you increase your back strength. This back workout is suited for beginner to intermediate gymgoers:
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
Pull-Up | 3 | RPE 7 |
Deadlift | 3 | 5 |
Chest-Supported Row | 3 | 6 |
Face Pull | 2 | 12 |
Back Workout for Mass
Building muscle is all about tension. You need to use different movements that’ll hit different areas of your back, including your middle back, lumbar spine, lats, and upper back region. Give this one a go if you’re prioritizing hypertrophy:
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
Dumbbell Row | 4 | 8 |
Seated Cable Row | 4 | 8 |
Straight-Arm Pulldown | 2 | 12 |
Face Pull | 2 | 12 |
Back Extension | 2 | 15 |
Back Workout for Beginners
If you’re new to the gym, your workouts don’t need to be complicated. Two or three simple exercises will do the trick early on. Here’s a straightforward back workout aimed at beginners:
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
Bent-Over Barbell Row | 3 | 10 |
Lat Pulldown | 3 | 10 |
Back Extension | 2 | 15 |
Back Workout With Dumbbells
Believe it or not, you can get a great back workout in without having to use gym machines or cables. A dumbbell-only back workout will do just fine as long as you select the right exercises:
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
Dumbbell Row | 4 | 8 |
Chest-Supported Row | 3 | 12 |
Y-Raise | 3 | 15 |
Back Training Tips
Your back muscles cover a large portion of your upper body. As such, you’ll either want to train your back on its own, paired with an antagonistic muscle like your chest, or on the day that you deadlift.
Here are three benchmarks for your back workouts — deciding how to integrate them into your routine is up to you.
[Read More: What Are Workout Splits and Which Is the Best One?]
- Sets and Reps: Anywhere from 12 to 18 sets per week is likely a great starting point for anyone looking to grow their back.
- Exercise Selection: When choosing back exercises, you should include both horizontal and vertical pulling exercises as well as a mix of both free-weight and cable or machine moves.
- Exercise Order: Start with your “meat and potatoes” compound exercises like deadlifts or barbell rows first, and perform “smaller” moves like face pulls or pullovers afterward.
- Frequency: A training frequency of two to three sessions a week has been recommended to help maximize muscle growth. (2)
What Muscles Make Up the Back
Your back is a group of muscles that work together to achieve a wide range of movement patterns. As such, different muscles will be biased more or less depending on the action being performed. The primary muscles of the back include the latissimus dorsi (lats), teres major, trapezius (traps), rhomboids, rear delts, and erector spinae (lower back).
[Read More: The Anatomy of Your Back Muscles, Explained (and How to Train Them)]
When performing any movement using the muscles of the back, you will be using both muscles positioned more superficial (like the lats and traps), as well as deep (like the rhomboids or erector spinae) within the back and torso.
Latissimus Dorsi
During back movements, the lats play many roles — most notably stabilizing the pelvis and interacting with the abdominal muscles in everything from respiration, maintaining shoulder positioning, to protecting the spine. (1)
Teres Major
The teres major — sometimes referred to as the “little lat” — attaches right next to the lat on the upper arm and stretches across to the lower part of the scapula. This muscle shares many roles with the muscles of the rotator cuff (alongside its little brother, the teres minor) when it comes to shoulder stabilization. (2)
Trapezius
The trapezius, or traps, is a large trapezoid-shaped muscle that spans across the better part of your upper and mid-back. Each of the divisions of the traps is hard at work during pulling movements to help maintain tension and stability in the back. (3)
Rhomboids
The rhomboids — both major and minor — are positioned directly below the traps in the middle of the back (between the shoulder blades). These muscles retract, elevate, and rotate the scapula. Weakness or loss of function of the rhomboids can be a major contributing factor to a winged scapula, which makes it even more important to keep them strong. (4)
Rear Delts
The rear delts are not usually categorized as back muscles. That said, the rear delt’s primary function is to bring the arm back around the body (shoulder extension), assisting the lats and teres major. A flared arm position makes the rear delts a major mover, making this muscle a big part of your back strength and development. (5)
Erector Spinae
These deep muscles are responsible for controlling the axial skeleton — which includes the skull, vertebral column, and ribs — and have a primary function of flexion/extension, side bending, and rotation of the spine. The lower back is critical for stabilizing the pelvis and spine during movements such as the deadlift, good morning, or many of the rowing movements we’ve discussed. (6)
Benefits of Training Your Back
People often refer to your legs as your foundation. That comparison makes sense, but your back is what holds the structure together. Without your lats, rhomboids, traps, and spinal erectors, you’d struggle to even stand up straight, much less work with a heavily-loaded object in your hands like a barbell.
Improved Sport Performance
For athletes, a strong back is paramount. Your back muscles allow you to pull your arms in, and — in conjunction with your core and hips — rotate your torso.
[Read More: Get Freakishly Strong With the 5×5 Workout Program]
For example, rock climbers will be able to hold a strenuous position for longer and ascend more efficiently. And CrossFit athletes will benefit from the back strength they need to perform pull-ups, snatches, and various carries and climbs.
Carryover to Other Lifts
A strong back can really improve all aspects of your lifting routine. Even if you’re not actively working your back, those muscles still play a role in your weight training. If you’re bench-pressing, a bigger back provides more of a base for you to stabilize on.
The strength of your lats will help give your chest the stability needed to maintain a high amount of tension. When you deadlift, strong back muscles prevent your back from rounding.
Better Posture
Back training does more for you than just helping you perform other exercises better. Since much of the musculature of the back is directly responsible for influencing the spine, a well-developed posterior chain directly impacts your posture as well. Many of these moves are also viable preventative exercises for back pain, as long as you’re not currently injured.
FAQs
Your back contains a large number of different muscles, so you’ll need more than one or two movements to train them all. A good benchmark is to include one upper back focused exercise, one lower back exercise, and two or perhaps even three middle back exercises like rows.
If you’re experiencing pain or are injured, you should consult with a physician or physical therapist instead of trying to fix the issue yourself in the gym. That said, you can reduce the likelihood of injuring your spine by strengthening the surrounding muscles. Lower back exercises like the deadlift or back extension are great options here if they don’t cause or worsen any pain.
Your back consists of six main muscles: posterior deltoid, rhomboid, erector spinae, trapezius, rotator cuff, and latissimus dorsi. If you incorporate one to two vertical and horizontal rows each per back training session, you’ll effectively train these muscles.
References
- Jeno SH, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Back, Latissimus Dorsi. [Updated 2020 Aug 13]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.
- Barra-López, M. E., López-de-Celis, C., Pérez-Bellmunt, A., Puyalto-de-Pablo, P., Sánchez-Fernández, J. J., & Lucha-López, M. O. (2020). The supporting role of the teres major muscle, an additional component in glenohumeral stability? An anatomical and radiological study. Medical hypotheses, 141, 109728.
- Ourieff J, Scheckel B, Agarwal A. Anatomy, Back, Trapezius. [Updated 2020 Aug 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.
- Farrell C, Kiel J. Anatomy, Back, Rhomboid Muscles. [Updated 2020 Jul 27]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.
- Elzanie A, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Deltoid Muscle. [Updated 2020 Aug 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.
- Modes RJ, Lafci Fahrioglu S. Anatomy, Back. [Updated 2021 Mar 27]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.
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