Back Exercises

Below you will find gifs of the most popular and effective back exercises.

Barbell Exercises

Barbell Bent Over Row

• These hit your Lats and Rhomboids.
• Overhand or Underhand Grip offer slightly different targeting.
• Shoulder width stance, neutral spine and a decent forward lean.
• Pull to the base of the rib cage and lower under control.

Conventional Deadlift

• This hits your Posterior Chain.
• Keep a flat back, lats tight and arms vertical.
• The bar should be close if not touching shins at the bottom of the lift.
• Brace your abs and lift the bar, keeping head neutral and the bar over the middle of your feet.
• Brush the thighs as you lower, pushing the hips back, and lower vertically once below the knee.

Power Shrugs

• Set the bar up at mid-thigh on the pins, with a wider than shoulder width grip.
• Allow scapula to fully depress prior to the move.
• Using some momentum, pull the bar into the ‘shrug’ position, hold one second, and lower.
• This allows more weight than a conventional shrug and is actually safer for your levator scapulae.
• The move can also be done with heavy dumbbells.

Dumbbell Exercises

Dumbbell Shrugs

• These work the upper trapezius
• Have palms facing each other, shoulders pulled back and a neutral head position.
• Keeping the arms straight, shrug the weight up so the shoulders come straight up, close to the ears.
• Pause and slowly lower. Range of motion is important, ignore those you see half-rep shrugging with extreme amounts of weight.

Body-weight / Other Exercises

Band Resisted Push-ups

• Use a band tough enough to provide decent resistance, while still allowing full extension.
• Loop the band around each arm and across the mid-tricep.
• Perform either on a low barbell or on the floor.

Back Extension

• This hits your Erector Spinae.
• Feet locked in place, hips slightly above the bad.
• Keeping a neutral spine and tight core, lower to 90 degrees at the hip and return to 180 degrees.
• You can load this by hugging a weighted plate.
• Slow and controlled movement.

Close Grip Lat Pulldown

• Keep elbows and arms tight to the body.
• Pull the handle down to middle chest.
• Upright (seen) for middle back development.
• Slight backwards lean for Lower Lat thickness.
• Don’t use momentum.

Inverted Row

• Set the bar slightly higher than arm length, to allow torso to be off the ground at the bottom of the movement.
• Arms should not be vertical, shift the bar over your lower chest.
• Keeping a straight line from shoulder to heel, pull your lower chest into the bar.
• Elbows at 45 degrees to the body.

Seated Cable Row

• This hits Rhomboids, Lower/Mid Traps and Lats.
• Keep your scapula depressed as best you can during the movement.
• Keep elbows in and pull to mid-torso.
• Squeeze shoulder blades together and briefly pause before returning to start.

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns

• “Lat” stands for Latissimus Dorsi, the prime mover in this exercise.
• Tuck the chin so the bar can travel vertically down to the V of your neck.
• Think of the hands as hooks, the elbows are driving down and the back comes together.
• Don’t lean back excessively or use momentum.

Wide-Grip Pull-ups

• Similar to the Lat Pulldown, this will hit your Lats, as well as Mid-Traps and Teres muscles.
• Depress the Scapula.
• Think of bringing elbows towards your sides.
• Allow the arms to come to full extension at the bottom.
• Great tutorial video here.

Thanks for reading!