Back exercises

Straight Arm Pulldown

The back muscles on the side of your body, latissimus dorsi or your lats, are responsible for pulling your arms back and down. When you lift your arms above your head, you can easily feel the muscle fully stretched out.

Pull Ins

Pull Ins is a rather unusual exercise that is very effective when it comes to training your lats. It differs from the vertical and horizontal rowing exercises because you have to pull the weight from the side. The muscle fibers in your lats straighten to the side. It is, therefore, a good complement to all “regular” back exercises.

Seal Row

The exercise is very similar to barbell row or all other rowing exercises, for that matter. What sets Seal Row apart is that you lie on a fixed bench. When you do this, the lower part of the back, legs, and abdomen are disconnected, and only the muscles on the side, middle and upper part of the back and a little biceps are loaded. It is, therefore, an excellent isolation exercise.

Resistance Band Seated Row

On the go or at home, resistance band training is straightforward to perform. Resistance bands do not take up unnecessary space, while they can give you a lot of lactic acids and metabolic stress. It is difficult to get heavy lifts that give strength and large muscles with resistance bands, but they are excellent for beginners, as rehab, on the go, or as a final exercise on a muscle you have already performed heavy lifts in. The difference between pulling a cable is that the resistance is heaviest towards the body when the resistance band is taut. In cable runs, the resistance is even throughout the exercise.

Pendley Row

This is an explosive exercise for the back. Unlike several other back exercises where you have to pull up the weight slowly, Pendley Rows should contain some speed. However, it would help if you were not careless with the shape but fully controlled the body. Do not put too much weight on the barbell but aim for more reps instead. At least 10-12 is a good goal.

Dumbbell Pullovers

The side muscles of the back, your lats, attach to the humerus and are therefore responsible for pulling the arms down towards the body. This exercise is only about pulling down the arms in this way, which makes it a good lats exercise.

Single Arm Landmine Row

It is a fun variant of One-Arm Dumbbell Row, but you do it with a barbell instead of dumbbells. By varying how far from the grip you stand with your feet, the load will be moved between lats or traps, just like between Dumbbell Row and Meadow Rows.

Deadlift

Maintain a tensed torso throughout the lift. Your back should be neutral throughout the lift, do not bend it at all. Your arms should be straight throughout the exercise. Your hips should lie between your knees and your shoulders at the starting position

Pull Down

The back muscles on the side are called Latissimus Dorsi or short your Lats, and they give the back its width. As the name suggests, this exercise mainly trains these muscles. There are lots of rowing exercises that train your lats, but the advantage of Pull Downs is that your lats are stretched out in the starting position. This is because the Lats muscle attaches to the arm bone and is stretched out completely when you lift your arms forward over your head. The path of movement for the muscle is thus long, which is good for muscle growth.

Pull Ups

Pull yourself up, do not jerk quickly. Tense your body as it will stabilize the body in the lift. Vary your grip in width to get different focuses on the outer and inner part of the back. Grip with hands facing your body will engage for biceps more in the exercise

One Arm Dumbbell Row

One Arm Dumbbell Row is an excellent rowing exercise for your lats, the muscles next to your back. The exercise is quite easy to perform and well-suited for home training as long as you have a dumbbell. Be sure to pull the dumbbell close to your body and obliquely backward towards your hips; then, your lats will work the most. If you pull the weight up towards the chest and angle the upper arm towards the body, your traps will take over the lift. Other exercises for this purpose, including Meadow Rows, are better suited than incorrectly performing One Arm Dumbbell Row.

Seated Cable Row

A good simple exercise for the back suits beginners, but even experienced strength-trainers should run Seated Cable Row since it gives good results. Your biceps will also have to work a little in the exercise, but we want to minimize this as much as we can; it is a back exercise. Because you perform the exercise in a machine with fixed footrests and a cable, it will be pretty easy to perform, but there are a few essential things to keep in mind:

One Arm Cable Row

This exercise is not completely common in the gym, but it is fantastic as it gives such good results because your muscle on the back (lats) stretches out much more than with a dumbbell row. Just lift one arm towards the ceiling and feel how much your lats are stretched out on the back. This means that you get a long trajectory in the exercise that gives good muscle growth. The other advantage of the exercise is that you can pull your elbow very far behind your body, unlike barbell rowing, where the movement is stopped when the bar hits the body.

Yates Row

Inverted Door Row

T-Bar Row

T-Bar row is quite similar to barbell rowing, but you can use a different grip. The exercise activates several muscles in the back and provides good muscle growth, even if it can be a little difficult to perform.

Barbell Row

The position of the back is most important; it should never bend. Pull your hips back as you lean forward. You should not stand on your toes. Pinch your shoulders together; they should not go forward when you get tired. If you want to train Lats the most, you aim to pull the bar towards the belly button

Hang Chins

The exercise is also called Dead Hang
Jump up and hang with a pronated grip in a chin bar. Your entire body should hang free in the air. Besides training your muscles this a great exercise to stretch your back and joints

Static Hold Chins

This is a great exercise if you want to improve your strength for making Chins. Pull your self up to a position were your chin is above the chin bar, your arms will be bent here. Hold this position as long as you can. Make sure to pinch your shoulder blades and pull them downwards.

Deadlift

Maintain a tensed torso throughout the lift. Your back should be neutral throughout the lift, do not bend it at all. Your arms should be straight throughout the exercise. Your hips should lie between your knees and your shoulders at the starting position

Seated Cable Row

A good simple exercise for the back suits beginners, but even experienced strength-trainers should run Seated Cable Row since it gives good results. Your biceps will also have to work a little in the exercise, but we want to minimize this as much as we can; it is a back exercise. Because you perform the exercise in a machine with fixed footrests and a cable, it will be pretty easy to perform, but there are a few essential things to keep in mind:

Power Snatch

The Power Snatch involves lifting as much weight as quickly as possible from the ground up over your head. It is an advanced and challenging exercise to set the technique correctly before you start running with a lot of weight. Preferably talk to an instructor or experienced lifter before starting doing it yourself. Unlike the usual snatch, you should not go down entirely in a squat when you catch the bar. This makes the exercise a little easier to perform, but you will not lift as much weight as snatch.

Hyperextension

Hyperextension in a 45-degree angled bench is an excellent exercise for the lower back, your erector spine. You will also train your buttocks and hamstrings. The exercise is easy to perform and suitable for you who are relatively new to the gym and experienced back lifting practitioners because it provides a pump in the lower back.

Deficit Deadlift

Deficit Deadlifts is a deeper version of your traditional deadift. To make it “deep,” you must stand on an elevation so that you lift the bar from a lower starting position. During a normal ground lift, you can do the right thing and start the movement with your legs, but you can also incorrectly straighten your back directly. In deficit deadlifts, the opportunity to lift directly with the back disappears, so you have to work with the legs so-called “leg drive” at the start. Therefore, the exercise is good for learning the first phase of deadlifting.

Good Mornings

Good mornings are an effective exercise for the main hamstrings but also the lower back and buttock muscle. It is very similar to Romanian Deadlifts. It is a little difficult to get the movement but start with low weight and be careful to pull back your hips as you bend forward. You should feel that it burns properly in the hamstrings; otherwise, you are doing something wrong.

Power Clean

This is an explosive exercise with full force and acceleration. Power Clean is a simpler variant of a Clean. Unlike regular Cleans, you should not go down with equally bent legs once you catch the bar. This makes the exercise a little easier to perform, but the disadvantage is that you can not lift as much weight as in a regular Clean.

Back Lift

Deadlift Sumo

Yates Row

Back raises with swimming arms

Seal Row

The exercise is very similar to barbell row or all other rowing exercises, for that matter. What sets Seal Row apart is that you lie on a fixed bench. When you do this, the lower part of the back, legs, and abdomen are disconnected, and only the muscles on the side, middle and upper part of the back and a little biceps are loaded. It is, therefore, an excellent isolation exercise.

Resistance Band Seated Row

On the go or at home, resistance band training is straightforward to perform. Resistance bands do not take up unnecessary space, while they can give you a lot of lactic acids and metabolic stress. It is difficult to get heavy lifts that give strength and large muscles with resistance bands, but they are excellent for beginners, as rehab, on the go, or as a final exercise on a muscle you have already performed heavy lifts in. The difference between pulling a cable is that the resistance is heaviest towards the body when the resistance band is taut. In cable runs, the resistance is even throughout the exercise.

Pendley Row

This is an explosive exercise for the back. Unlike several other back exercises where you have to pull up the weight slowly, Pendley Rows should contain some speed. However, it would help if you were not careless with the shape but fully controlled the body. Do not put too much weight on the barbell but aim for more reps instead. At least 10-12 is a good goal.

Deadlift

Maintain a tensed torso throughout the lift. Your back should be neutral throughout the lift, do not bend it at all. Your arms should be straight throughout the exercise. Your hips should lie between your knees and your shoulders at the starting position

Seated Cable Row

A good simple exercise for the back suits beginners, but even experienced strength-trainers should run Seated Cable Row since it gives good results. Your biceps will also have to work a little in the exercise, but we want to minimize this as much as we can; it is a back exercise. Because you perform the exercise in a machine with fixed footrests and a cable, it will be pretty easy to perform, but there are a few essential things to keep in mind:

Ring Row

Ring rowing, or rowing in rings, is a perfect exercise for strengthening the shoulders and back. The exercise is similar to Inverted Row but it is performed using rings instead of a bar. This gives you greater flexibility in your grip. You can run with a prone, overhand grip, just like Inverted row with a bar, but you can easily turn the palms of your hands towards each other, so-called neutral grip. When you do this, the elbows will be able to be pulled closer to the body and your lats for a greater load than the upper muscles of the back. A neutral grip is also more gentle to your shoulders.

Deadlift Sumo

Yates Row

T-Bar Row

T-Bar row is quite similar to barbell rowing, but you can use a different grip. The exercise activates several muscles in the back and provides good muscle growth, even if it can be a little difficult to perform.

Barbell Row

The position of the back is most important; it should never bend. Pull your hips back as you lean forward. You should not stand on your toes. Pinch your shoulders together; they should not go forward when you get tired. If you want to train Lats the most, you aim to pull the bar towards the belly button

Band Pull Aparts

Band pull aparts are a simple exercise but also a rather ingenious one. The movement strengthens the muscles in your upper back while stabilizing the joints in your shoulders. By improving and strengthening these areas, you will increase your strength in exercises such as bench press, squats, and deadlifts.

Meadow Row

Meadow rows can be made with a barbell that is either in a “land mine” bracket or pressed into a corner. You can also perform the exercise with a dumbbell. If you do the exercise with a dumbbell and a bench, it is similar to a dumbbell row, but you need to do a couple of things differently. The differences mean that the exercise does not primarily become a lats exercise such as dumbbell rowing but mainly loads the upper and middle back (Trapezius and Rhomboids). You will also train the lats and back shoulders, but it is mainly the upper parts of the back that will work.

Seal Row

The exercise is very similar to barbell row or all other rowing exercises, for that matter. What sets Seal Row apart is that you lie on a fixed bench. When you do this, the lower part of the back, legs, and abdomen are disconnected, and only the muscles on the side, middle and upper part of the back and a little biceps are loaded. It is, therefore, an excellent isolation exercise.

Resistance Band Seated Row

On the go or at home, resistance band training is straightforward to perform. Resistance bands do not take up unnecessary space, while they can give you a lot of lactic acids and metabolic stress. It is difficult to get heavy lifts that give strength and large muscles with resistance bands, but they are excellent for beginners, as rehab, on the go, or as a final exercise on a muscle you have already performed heavy lifts in. The difference between pulling a cable is that the resistance is heaviest towards the body when the resistance band is taut. In cable runs, the resistance is even throughout the exercise.

Pendley Row

This is an explosive exercise for the back. Unlike several other back exercises where you have to pull up the weight slowly, Pendley Rows should contain some speed. However, it would help if you were not careless with the shape but fully controlled the body. Do not put too much weight on the barbell but aim for more reps instead. At least 10-12 is a good goal.

Deadlift

Maintain a tensed torso throughout the lift. Your back should be neutral throughout the lift, do not bend it at all. Your arms should be straight throughout the exercise. Your hips should lie between your knees and your shoulders at the starting position

Seated Cable Row

A good simple exercise for the back suits beginners, but even experienced strength-trainers should run Seated Cable Row since it gives good results. Your biceps will also have to work a little in the exercise, but we want to minimize this as much as we can; it is a back exercise. Because you perform the exercise in a machine with fixed footrests and a cable, it will be pretty easy to perform, but there are a few essential things to keep in mind:

Ring Row

Ring rowing, or rowing in rings, is a perfect exercise for strengthening the shoulders and back. The exercise is similar to Inverted Row but it is performed using rings instead of a bar. This gives you greater flexibility in your grip. You can run with a prone, overhand grip, just like Inverted row with a bar, but you can easily turn the palms of your hands towards each other, so-called neutral grip. When you do this, the elbows will be able to be pulled closer to the body and your lats for a greater load than the upper muscles of the back. A neutral grip is also more gentle to your shoulders.

Shrugs with Barbell

On the upper back is a muscle called the trapezius. The muscle looks a bit like a flying kite. It attaches to the top of the skull and extends to the shoulders. Then the muscle continues down along the spine between the shoulder blades a reasonable distance down the back. The upper part of this muscle holds the skull in place, which you can see in wrestlers and boxers who often have a well-developed Trapezius, but it also helps the body carry really heavy things or do deadlifts or Farmers walk. In the upper part of the muscle, the muscle fibers go obliquely upwards. You train this part by holding heavy things in your hands or pulling your shoulders up towards your ears when you have heavy items in your hands. This is exactly what you do in a Shrug, whether you are lifting dumbbells or a writing bar.

Shrugs with Dumbbells

Performing Shrugs with dumbbells instead of a barbell provides more flexibility in terms of grip and trajectory. Just lifting the barbell or dumbbells up and down will strain the upper part of your trapezius and give good results clearly visible from the front, but you will miss the lower parts of your trapezius if you only do the exercise this way. The lower parts build deep on the back.

High inverted door row

Deadlift Sumo

Inverted Iron Cross

T-Bar Row

T-Bar row is quite similar to barbell rowing, but you can use a different grip. The exercise activates several muscles in the back and provides good muscle growth, even if it can be a little difficult to perform.

Barbell Row

The position of the back is most important; it should never bend. Pull your hips back as you lean forward. You should not stand on your toes. Pinch your shoulders together; they should not go forward when you get tired. If you want to train Lats the most, you aim to pull the bar towards the belly button

Band Pull Aparts

Band pull aparts are a simple exercise but also a rather ingenious one. The movement strengthens the muscles in your upper back while stabilizing the joints in your shoulders. By improving and strengthening these areas, you will increase your strength in exercises such as bench press, squats, and deadlifts.