Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
Are you looking for a workout to blow up your back? In search of a killer program that will finally help you build some serious wings?
Good news! You've arrived at SET FOR SET, and we love training the back so much that we've created the ultimate back day workout to help you build muscle and strength.
And if back growth isn't one of your current training goals, make it one! Trust us, a well-developed back is crucial to everything from aesthetics to posture to general health.
In fact, we'd go as far as to say that the back is one of the most important muscle groups around, which is why we put together this back-breaking (kidding, kidding) routine.
Table of Contents:
- Your Ultimate Back Day Workout
- Programming Tips
- How & When to Progress Your Back Day Workouts
- Best Exercises For a Back Day Workout
- Alternative Exercises For Your Back Workout
- Sample Progression Plan For Back Workouts
- Back Muscle Anatomy & Functions
- Benefits of Training Your Back
- Training Variables & Best Equipment For Back Day Workouts
The Ultimate Back Day Workout
I'm kicking things off with the actual back workout, but stay tuned after this portion, as I get into tons of other good information, including programming tips, how to perform the exercises, and strategies for progressing this plan.
This back workout will train all of your major movement patterns while working your muscles through a range of loads. It consists of large compound lifts in addition to smaller isolation exercises. I've done this strategically to ensure your back muscles get a full workout for maximal muscle and strength gains.
Without further ado, your ultimate back workout.
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
|
Rack Pull (Below Knee Level) |
4 |
4 |
|
Chin Ups |
4 |
5-8 (8-9 RPE) |
|
T Bar Rows |
3 |
6-8 |
|
Lat Pulldown |
3 |
8-10 |
|
Single Arm Dumbbell Row |
3 |
6-8 |
|
Front Barbell Shrugs (3-5 second hold) |
3 |
5 |
|
Circuit: |
|
|
Programming Tips for Your Back Day Workout
For the most success with your back routine, follow these programming tips.
- Your primary exercises are going to use heavier loads to improve your strength. Don't worry, though. There is still plenty of volume and stress to build muscle mass.
- For the chin-ups, notice there's a range of 5-8 reps at 8-9 RPE. This indicates I want you to do what's necessary to get in 5-8 reps. Depending on where you're at, this might mean assisted chin-ups, using your body weight, or performing them with a weight of some kind.
- The rest of your exercises use lighter loads for more muscle hypertrophy work. With these exercises, you want to really focus on a strong mind-muscle connection.
- The last 3 exercises in the circuit are for shoulder and scapular health. You should move through these smoothly, swiftly, and under control. During the circuit, go from one move to the next and then rest for a minute in between circuits.
Also worth noting: This workout assumes you have access to a gym. If you prefer home workouts, check out our article on The Best At Home Back Workout (With & Without Equipment).
How to Warm Up Before Back Day
Warming up for your back day doesn't need to be too tedious. However, a quality warm-up can drastically increase your performance. Follow this quick routine before your back session. You'll use a resistance band for all of these exercises (aside from the dead hang).
Before working your way through this routine, start with a general warm-up for 5-10 minutes. This can be walking, the assault bike, or a rower machine.
- Dead Hang: 20-30 seconds
- Pull Aparts: 10-15 seconds
- Face Pulls: 10-15 seconds
- Straight Arm Lat Pulldown: 10-15 seconds
- Single Arm Row: 10-15 seconds
- High Row: 10-15 seconds
- Bent Over Rows: 10-15 seconds
How to Progress Your Back Workouts
You should be able to follow this program for 6 weeks while making consistent gains. You want to use progressive overload while focusing on your major lifts during this time. By this, I mean you're going to make a conscious effort to add a load to the first 3 exercises of your workout.
For your smaller exercises, use RPE, using a load that allows you to perform within the range I've given. You still want to have intentions of adding reps or load over time, but increasing the load on every exercise in every session is impossible.
When to Progress Your Back Day Workout
As mentioned, you should be able to use the above workout for 6 weeks relatively successfully. If you're still making good progress after 6 weeks, keep going. If things are working and not broken, don't fix them.
You'll want to do this until things become stagnant. You'll know your progression has halted when you stop being able to increase your loads and you start feeling "burnt out" by the routine.
When this occurs, switch it up. More on this is below.
9 Best Exercises for a Back Day Workout
The back workout I highlighted above consists of 9 exercises, 6 of which are done in isolation, and 3 of which are included in a circuit at the end of the routine. I've highlighted each exercise here, along with step-by-step directions, so you're able to perform each move in the workout using correct form.
The 9 best back exercises are:
- Rack Pull
- Chin Ups
- T-Bar Row
- Lat Pulldown
- Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
- Front Barbell Shrugs
- Face Pull
- Cable Reverse Fly
- Back Extension
1) Rack Pull:
Don't confuse the rack pull with a deadlift. Obviously, there are similarities, and if you don't have a rack, you can do a deadlift instead. But, the rack pull is its own separate exercise that focuses on the second half of the deadlift.
This portion of the deadlift places more emphasis on the back rather than the legs, particularly the traps and lats.
How to do a Rack Pull:
- Set up a rack so the barbell sits below your knees.
- Start with your legs just touching the barbell and grab the barbell outside your legs with an overhand grip.
- Stick your glutes back by flexing your hips and letting your shoulders drop down in a straight line.
- Lift the load by pushing your hips forward and pulling the bar up in a straight line.
- Be sure to keep your back straight, and shoulders pulled back.
2) Chin-Ups:
You may have expected to see the pull-up here, but I chose the chin-up instead. Not because I necessarily think the chin-up is better (in fact, I think you should alternate between the two), but because I included the lat pulldown in this workout routine, which is very similar to the pull-up.
Plus, chin-ups train the entire back and hit the biceps, so it's definitely worthy of a spot in your back-day program.
How to do a Chin-Up:
- Grab a pull-up bar with an underhand, shoulder width grip.
- Allow your body to hang from the bar.
- Retract your scapula, trying to touch your shoulder blades together.
- Lean back slightly, pulling your chest up to the bar.
- Instead of thinking of pulling your body up, envision yourself pulling the bar down to your chest.
- Bring yourself all the way up until your head passes the bar, hold, and lower down slowly.
3) T-Bar Row:
I included the T-bar row, but the barbell row is just as good. In fact, both are included in our Best Lat Exercises And Workouts. It's a good idea to alternate these exercises, so when it comes time to progress your workout, consider swapping the barbell row in your routine in place of the t-bar row.
How to do a T-Bar Row:
- Stand over the T-Bar machine, grabbing the handles with an overhand grip, a little outside shoulder width apart.
- Pick up the weight in a deadlift manner, starting with your arms straight. Push your hips back slightly and let your torso lean forward. Come down until your torso is at least at a 45-degree angle.
- Keeping your shoulders pulled back, pull the weight up by driving your elbows up to the sky, keeping them tucked in.
- Pull the weight up toward your chest and then slowly lower it.
4) Lat Pulldown:
The lat pulldown is one of the few machines included in this workout, and there's a good reason why I chose it. It allows you to stabilize your lower body, so you can focus solely on your back muscles and lats.
You'll use the normal width with an overhand grip when you perform these.
How to do a Lat Pulldown:
- Adjust the seated pad so that your knees fit snugly underneath. Stand up, grabbing the lat bar with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Sit down and brace yourself.
- Let the weight pull your arms up, so they're fully extended. This is the starting position for every rep.
- Retract your scapula and lean back slightly, so your chest is angled upward.
- Pull your elbows down to the floor. Really try to pinch your scapula together.
- Pull the bar all the way down until it touches your chest. Hold and slowly let the bar back up.
5) Single Arm Dumbbell Row:
The single-arm dumbbell row is a great unilateral exercise that uses shoulder extension to row. As a bonus, unilateral exercises are great for identifying muscle imbalances, so this move serves multiple purposes (I love multi-tasking exercises).
How to do a Single Arm Dumbbell Row:
- Grab your dumbbells, and prepare to set yourself up. I prefer to perform these bent over with my hands supporting me in contrast to having my knees on a flat bench. Pick whichever option you like best.
- Place your hand on a firm support, whether it's your knee or a bench. Stick one leg back and bend over while trying to flatten your back.
- Grab the dumbbell with a neutral grip and let the dumbbell pull your shoulder down.
- In a controlled manner, retract your scapula and pull your elbow to the sky.
- Think about pulling your elbow up, and not the load.
- You can also alter the movement slightly and perform a hip row, which is when you focus on pulling your elbow in more of a sweeping motion down to the hip.
6) Front Barbell Shrugs:
You can't have a developed back without traps. How many times have you seen a guy who seems like they should look big, but something is missing? The missing piece is usually their traps.
These muscles make a huge impact on your overall physique, which is why we'll use barbell front shrugs, as these allow a greater range of motion. Choose a weight that allows you to hold the load up for 3-5 seconds.
How to do Front Barbell Shrugs:
- Rack a barbell and load it with your desired weight plates. Grab the barbell with an overhand grip, shoulder width apart.
- Lift the bar to unrack it and allow it to pull your shoulders forward.
- Retract your scapula and shrug, trying to touch your shoulders to your ears.
- Let the weight down smoothly, and repeat.
7) Face Pull:
The face pull is an awesome exercise to build your upper back muscles while improving your shoulder health. Shoulder mobility plays a huge role in your ability to lift and is essential to a ton of everyday activities, so it's important to find exercises that give your shoulders some extra attention.
We've also got some great face pull alternatives for you to check out!
How to do the Face Pull:
- Set up a rope attachment on a cable machine, setting it at face level.
- Grab the rope with your thumbs facing down. Bring your elbows up so they're parallel to the ground.
- Pull your hands toward your face. As you come closer, spread the rope and externally rotate your arms. You should form a "T" (or close to one) at the end.
8) Cable Reverse Fly:
The cable reverse fly is an isolation exercise that focuses on training your scapular muscles. Simple and effective, this move is almost like a reverse hug.
How to do the Cable Reverse Fly:
- Set up two cables slightly above head level with a single attachment on each.
- Stand in the middle of the machine with your feet shoulder width apart, and grab the handles using opposite arms, with your arms straight in front of you. Your cables will form an X, but your arms will not overlap.
- Stand back slightly and let the load pull your arms until they're fully extended.
- Pull your scapula back, moving your arms back to perform a "reverse hug," keeping a slight bend in your elbows the entire time. Use a pulling motion the entire time, keeping your arms at the same level they started.
- Slowly return to the starting position, and repeat.
9) Back Extension:
We've already discussed this a bit above, but the back extension is essential for training your erector spinae. This is another great machine exercise to include in your program.
As you progress with this movement, you can hold a weight plate to make it even more difficult.
How to do a Back Extension:
- Set up a back extension machine. You want the hip pad to come just higher than your hips.
- Stand in the machine with your legs fully extended. Play our hands behind your head, keeping your upper arm out of the way. In a controlled manner, let your back flex and curl down.
- Lower and curl down as far down as you can, then extend your back up until it's straight.
- Hold an isometric hold for a few seconds and then repeat.
Alternative Exercises For Back Day Workouts
There are a ton of awesome back exercises, and this list isn't even close to being extensive.
But, here are some of my favorites, which are equally as good as the ones in the workout. The only reason I didn't include them is simply that you can't do every exercise at once.
For more back exercise options, check out our articles on the best dumbbell back exercises, cable back exercises, and barbell back exercises.
Alternative Back Exercises:
- Chest supported row
- Helms Row
- Meadows Row
- Bentover Back Row
- Kroc Row
- Seated Cable Row
- Pull Ups & Pull Up Variations
Sample Back Day Progression Workout
Once you hit a spot in your training where you have stopped progressing, it's a sign it's time to change things around. You can do this in a few ways.
The first is to simply keep the same routine but use a different rep scheme for each exercise. This might look like this:
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
|
Rack Pull (Below Knee Level) |
5 |
2 |
|
Chin Ups |
4 |
4-6 |
|
T Bar Rows |
3 |
10-12 |
|
Lat Pulldown |
3 |
10-12 |
|
Single Arm Dumbbell Row |
3 |
8-10 |
|
Front Barbell Shrugs (3-5 second hold) |
3 |
15 |
|
Cable Row (Wide/Neutral Grip) |
3 |
8-10 |
|
Circuit: |
|
|
Switching up your rep schemes like this is a good option. Another great way to switch things up is keeping relatively similar rep schemes as the earlier workout I showed but use different exercises.
This can help keep things fresh and exciting. It's still important to keep the basic premise, though, so swap exercises with similar biomechanics.
Here's an idea of what exercises you could swap in.
- Rack Pull (Knee Level): Rack Pull (Above Knee) or Deadlift
- Chin-Ups: Pull-Up
- T-Bar Row: Bent Over Row
- Lat Pulldown: Sitting Pulldown
- Front Barbell Shrugs 3X5: Front Barbell Shrugs, using a 3-5 second hold, and following a 3X15 slow and steady rep scheme
- Single Arm Row: Standing Row
- Face Pull: Face Pulls (I recommend always including Face Pulls)
- Reverse Fly: Incline/Decline Reverse Fly
Back Muscles Anatomy & Function
The back consists of quite a few different muscles. Interestingly, all of the muscles in this muscle group work together on almost all upper-body pulling events. At the same time, each back muscle also has its own unique role.
Let's review the major back muscles' anatomy and function.
Lats:
Your lats are two large triangular-shaped muscles that take up the majority of your back. The lats attach to the lower two-thirds of your spine, stretching all the way down to your tailbone and then out to your sides.
From here, the lats merge up to your shoulder, where the muscles attach to your arm. The latissimus dorsi is the primary pulling muscle and creates a force in both perpendicular and vertical directions. It is so massive, that it's often thought about as the upper lats, middle lats, and lower lats.
For example, these lower lat exercises specifically target - you guessed it - the lower portion of your lats.
Traps:
Your traps are another set of large muscles shaped like trapezoids that sit on your upper and middle back. These muscles attach to your skull and then span out to your shoulders.
From here, the traps angle down toward the spine and sit on top of the upper portion of your lats. They are your primary scapular stabilizers, making them essential to building a strong base for both pulling and pushing movements, as you'll see in a lot of these traps exercises.
You'll notice that trap exercises frequently also target your rotator cuff muscles, a group of muscles that are essential for shoulder health.
Rhomboids:
Your rhomboids are a set of smaller muscles that have one job: to assist with retracting your scapula. The good thing is that you don't need specific rhomboid exercises, as they will be worked every time you retract your scapula.
In other words, there aren't really any exercises that isolate the rhomboids, as that's impossible. However, rhomboid exercises that focus on scapular retraction will train them sufficiently.
Erector Spinae:
Your erector spinae are traditionally thought of as your "lower back muscles."
However, while these muscles start on your lower back, they actually stretch up your back, splitting into six fingers, which spread out across your back. This muscle acts as a brace for your back, in addition to providing stability for your entire torso.
With important roles like these, it makes you want to get your erector spinae exercises in, right?
Posterior Delts:
Your posterior delts are one of your three deltoids, sitting on the posterior of your shoulder joint.
In this position, they are able to assist in pulling your arm backward and downward. Any pulling motion is going to hit your posterior delts.
4 Benefits of Training Your Back
So why should make back workouts a priority?
In my opinion, these benefits are more than enough reason to prioritize building your back muscles.
1) Increases Your Aesthetics:
If you want to be taken seriously as a lifter, a big, thick back is basically a requirement. Without it, you won't look like a true lifter or someone who knows what they're doing in the gym.
If you have a big back, you, and others, should actually be able to tell when looking at you from the front. By that, I mean you should have lats coming out the side and traps stationed behind your neck.
If you want to be taken seriously by fellow lifters, do not take training your back muscles lightly.
2) Improves Spine Stability:
One of the most important reasons to train your back is to simply improve your spine stability. All of your back muscles play a role in protecting your spine and ensuring it and your torso are stable.
If you don't want to develop problems with your spine, build your back.
3) Improves Posture:
In addition to improving spine health, your back muscles are responsible for maintaining proper posture. This is because they help to keep your upper back and shoulders pulled back.
And when your upper back and shoulders pull back, rather than round forward, it can help you stand up straight and maintain a healthy neck.
4) Increases Pulling Strength:
Pulling strength should be a top priority for all lifters. And if you want your pulling strength to improve, you need to strengthen your back.
Because as your back gets stronger, you'll notice a direct correlation between back muscles and the ability to do pull-ups and perform bent-over rows. You'll also notice improvements with less obvious exercises like the deadlift.
This is because the deadlift relies heavily on your ability to maintain an erect back when pulling the load off the ground. Further, your lats and upper back muscles are required to keep your upper back from curling over.
5 Training Variables For a Back Day Workout
Now let's look at what an optimized back day workout includes.
This is going to include variables that should be included in most of your back workouts if not all of them.
1) Train Horizontal Pulling Movements:
When we examine the biomechanics of your body during back movements, we can identify several. The first is actually two different horizontal pulling movements: horizontal shoulder abduction and shoulder extension.
Horizontal shoulder abduction is basically the opposite of a bench press when your arms are out to the sides of your body, and your elbows are pulled backward, like in a reverse hug. A reverse fly is a great example of this movement.
There's also another type of horizontal pulling, which is shoulder extension.
This occurs when the elbows are out in front of the body and pulled downward, like during a close grip row with an underhand grip. You also perform shoulder extension during chin-ups, albeit from a different angle.
2) Train Vertical Pulling Movements:
The other type of pulling motion is vertical pulling, which is when the resistance comes from overhead and must be pulled downward. Similar to horizontal pulling, there are two types of vertical pulling.
The first is shoulder adduction, which occurs when your arms are extended out to the side of your body and then come down toward your body. The best examples of this movement are pull-ups and lat pulldowns.
In addition, there is shoulder extension. Again, this is when the arm comes down in front of the body, like during chin-ups.
3) Focus On Scapular Stabilization:
One vital component of any back day is focusing on scapular stabilization. Now, you don't necessarily need a special exercise for this, because, literally, every single back exercise requires scapular control.
This means you just need to make it a priority with your movements. That said, the traps are the primary stabilizers for the scapula, so trap work is essential.
4) Train Back Extension & Isometric Holds:
Don't leave the gym without performing some back extensions to train your erector spinae. Now, many people will confuse hip extension with back extension, and these are not the same.
To perform back extensions, you want to actually flex your spine and then extend it. When doing this, I recommend starting with a light load. It's also important to perform isometric holds, as the erector spinae's primary job is to stabilize your spine.
5) Use A Range Of Loads:
Like with any muscle, you want to use a range of loads to get optimal training adaptions. This means using everything from 90-95% with 1-3 reps all the way down to sets of 12-15 reps.
If you follow this strategy, you'll pack on muscle while you're building strength gains. That's training smart.
Best Equipment to Use For Back Day
In my opinion, unless you're performing at home workouts, barbell training is a must for your back workout. Having said that, variety is important for any good workout, so you'll notice the workout I showed you earlier features an array of equipment.
I get that you may not have access to all of these on any given day, so use what you have access to and adjust accordingly if there is some equipment you don't have.
For example, dumbbells can be used in place of many barbell moves. Get creative if needed. Here's a look at the best equipment for back day training.
1) Barbell:
The barbell is going to be your go-to equipment for the bent-over barbell row. You can also use a barbell for single-arm landmine rows and shrugs. I recommend using Olympic-size barbell for these moves.
2) Pull-Up Bar:
A pull-up bar is essential to a good back workout. Or, if you want to get creative, rings work too. Rings actually work awesome for chin-ups and pull-ups, but they are a bit tougher as they require more stabilization. So, think of rings as a progression from a pull-up bar.
3) Rack:
You want a rack with bars for rack pulls. You can also use block pulls instead. Or, worst case, if you don't have access to either of these, performing deadlifts works too.
4) T-Bar Row:
We love the T-Bar row as it has just enough support that it allows you to put a massive load on your back. You can also use a landmine set-up if you don't have access to a T-bar row machine.
5) Dumbbells:
Dumbbells are needed for the dumbbell row, because umm, they're a dumbbell row. You can also use dumbbells for various shrugs, a chest-supported row, reverse flies, and even farmer's carries.
Try our full Dumbbell Back Workout!
6) Cable Machine:
I love cable machines for accessory work. These are great for performing reverse rows and face-pulls.
The Best Back Day Workout For Serious Growth
There you go! Thanks to yours truly, you've now got the perfect back workout routine for building muscle and gaining strength. And for even more muscle growth success, look at this workout as more of a blueprint than anything else.
Use the exact routine I provided until your training stalls, and then keep the same framework, swapping in similar exercises so your program feels fresh and continues progressing.
Get ready to build some serious back muscles!
Looking for some more great back inspiration? Check out our article on the 5 Best Back Workouts!
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
Garett Reid
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