back exercises

Building strong back muscles isn’t just about strength and aesthetics, it is also essential for good posture. There are many muscle groups, large and small in your back, some exercises can target most in one movement, others are capable of isolating muscle groups. You should always aim to work through a wide range of Back Exercises for best results.

The purpose of the exercises on this page is not to be an exhaustive list of all Back Exercises, it is simply here to offer you some suggestions that you may not have considered in your workout plans already.

Use these exercises as an “add on” to your existing plan, or combine them with some exercises from our other muscle group categories to make yourself a full plan.

Back Exercises Benefits

A well sculpted and defined back doesn’t just look good, it serves a functional benefit too. You become stronger in all of your pull exercises, you improve your posture, reduce your risk of injury and you provide support and stability for your upper body. All of these benefits will see you good, both now and later in life.

Did you also know that you can use these Back Exercises to give the illusion of a narrower waist? Many women seek an hourglass shape and this is one way for you to build the top of your hourglass. More on that further down this page.

What Muscles Make Up Your Back?

Your back is made up of several major muscle groups, including the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius, and erector spinae. The latissimus dorsi, or “lats”, are large muscles that extend from the armpits to the lower back and are responsible for pulling movements such as pull-ups and lat pulldowns. The rhomboids and trapezius muscles support the upper back and shoulders, while the erector spinae muscles run along the spine and provide stability and support. Then there are the much smaller teres major, minor and infraspinatus muscles that also support the upper back.

Why Do Back Exercises?

Why do any exercise? Because you want those muscles to grow, for strength, power and aesthetics. Back Exercises are essential for building strength, improving posture, and reducing the risk of back pain and injury. Strengthening the muscles of the back not only enhances your physical appearance but also contributes to better overall functional movement and performance in daily activities. Whether you're lifting weights or carrying groceries, a strong back is crucial for maintaining proper form and preventing strain and injury.

Looking for that V-Shape or hourglass physique? Then you should focus on your lats, upper back and shoulders. We have a separate category for Shoulder Exercises, so here we will focus only on Back Exercises. Since your lats are one of the biggest muscle groups in your back, and are primarily responsible for the V-shape, you should focus on moving as much weight as you can through these muscles first, then move onto the smaller muscles in the upper back.

How Often Should I Do Back Exercises?

That’s up to you, we recommend at least once per week, keeping in mind that the more you train the faster your results. BUT do not overtrain as this will not benefit you and could lead to injury. You should allow at least one day between Back Exercises where you are focused on a different muscle group entirely or resting.

What Equipment Is Best For Back Exercises?

The most powerful Back Exercises - the ones that move the most weight - are performed with barbells or a weight plate. There are also a range of exercises you can do with dumbbells, cables and machines. The Lat Pulldown is probably one of the most common machines used to target the lats, but remember to always prioritise free weight exercises and use machines towards the end of your workout.

What Are The Most Effective Back Exercises?

Think of all Back Exercises as part of a bigger picture, because the fact is, there is no one, two or three exercises that act as a magic ingredient. Of course there are many staples that you should include, such as some of the many rowing exercises and a range of different compound and isolation exercises that use both free weights, cables and bodyweight.

How Can I Use These Back Exercises To My Advantage?

An Added Boost to Your Existing Plan

As with all exercises in our database, you are encouraged to use them to enhance your existing workout, by picking out exercises for the muscle groups you want to grow and adding them to your current routine.

Build Complete Workouts

You may also make yourself a full weekly workout rotation with these exercises, but that will require some critical thinking on your part. We can give you the exercises, there is a lot of information on each individual exercise page for you to work with. But it’s up to you to take that information and use it to build the best workout plans for you. With experience this will get easier.

Building a Workout Basics

When you create a workout plan for yourself, you should start with a general plan of which muscle groups you will train on each day. If you are a beginner, keep it simple with an upper/lower body split. Intermediate and advanced lifters will move to rotate muscle groups or other methods such as push, pull, legs.

Once you know how you will train on each day, choose a key compound exercise to start with. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say you’re planning a lower body or leg workout plan. The most obvious exercise to start with is a Squat, if you don’t want to squat, you can start with a Deadlift or a Lunge. A good weightlifting workout plan always starts with a compound barbell exercise, you should work your way down through freeweight, cable and machine exercises, finishing up on bodyweight exercises all focused on the target muscle group.

Progress

Always make sure that you push yourself out of your comfort zone, as soon as you feel like you are breezing through your workout with ease, it’s time to switch things up. There are 3 things you can do in this instance:

Lift more
Change your rep/set method
Change your plan

Essentially, you should do all 3, but one thing at a time. The most sustainable results come from incremental changes over time.

Consistency

The results we want from weightlifting don’t happen overnight and they don’t happen with one single exercise, workout or strategy. You need to keep showing up and evolving. When you train consistently you get results. There are no shortcuts.

Looking for a full Back Workout?

We have a Simply Back Workout category in our Members Zone portal, it’s part of our single muscle group series. These workouts are designed to be used as an add on to any full workout plan, or combined with other single muscle group workouts to make a complete plan. We also have a selection of Abs & Core finisher plans available in the portal. You can sample some of these plans when you sign up for a Free Members Zone account. All you need to provide is a valid email address so that we can create your secure account. Then just head to “My Zone” and you will find a selection of free plans.

More back exercises coming soon...

Just so you know, this list of back exercises is a work in progress and is by no means extensive. We will continue to grow this entire database for you over time, so be sure to check back for updates. Alternatively, you can join our mailing list below and you'll be the first to know about all new content we produce.