7 Bodyweight Back Exercises With No Equipment & No Pull Up Bar (Just a Towel)

If you are working out from home (or anywhere but a gym) and you have no equipment, you are probably struggling to come up with bodyweight exercises that actually target your back muscles.

Other muscles are easier to hit with just your bodyweight. Chest has push ups and a million variations. Legs have air squats, jumping lunges, glute bridges, and basically endless options. But back? It’s trickier. The back is one of the hardest areas to train with bodyweight alone, unless you know exactly what to do.

So if you think you need to buy weights to train your back properly, think again. You absolutely can train your back without equipment, and even without a pull up bar.

In this post, we’re going to show you the best bodyweight back exercises with no equipment and no pull up bar. The only things we’ll use are your bodyweight and a towel. Yep, a towel. The thing you use to wipe sweat or dry off after a shower. It’s the most underrated “home gym tool” ever for making back exercises harder.

The bodyweight back exercises we cover here can be done from home or anywhere. And no, these are not “busywork” movements. When you do them with enough effort, time under tension, and progression, they can build muscle, strength, and real definition. You can develop that V-shape back using bodyweight only.

Safety note: If you have shoulder pain, neck pain, or low back pain, keep reps controlled and avoid forcing range of motion. Stop if pain is sharp or radiating. When in doubt, get cleared by a qualified medical professional.

How Can I Build My Back Muscles at Home?

If you want to build your back muscles at home, you only need two things: your body and the know-how to actually target the back with bodyweight movements.

It’s not as complicated as it sounds. There are plenty of effective bodyweight exercises that train the back, especially when you do them with enough intensity, control, and time under tension. Combine that with progressive overload over time, and your back will grow and get stronger.

Progressive Overload for Bodyweight Back Exercises

If you want muscle and strength to keep moving forward, you need progressive overload. That just means your workouts gradually get harder over time. It’s not flashy, but it’s the entire game.

Here are progressive overload options that make sense for bodyweight back training:

• Increase time under tension: Slow your tempo and extend each set. If you can do 15 seconds, build to 20, then 25, and so on.
• Increase reps: Same idea as time under tension. Stick to a tempo that makes the back do the work, not momentum.
• Increase sets: More quality volume means more stimulus for growth.
• Increase exercise variety: Use different movements that emphasize different back regions so you don’t just hammer one area.
• Decrease rest time: Shorter rest increases density and keeps intensity high.
• Try harder variations: When an exercise gets too easy, don’t turn your workout into a two-hour rep marathon. Make the variation tougher.

How Do You Work Out Your Back Without Equipment?

Think you need dumbbells and kettlebells for a legit back workout? Think again. A pull up bar is great, but it’s not required.

You can train your back without equipment by focusing on two big pieces:

• Back-friendly movement patterns: You need exercises that create scapular retraction and depression (think “pull shoulder blades back and down”).
• Intensity and control: Slow reps, hard squeezes, and longer sets are what make bodyweight back work effective.

Bottom line: push yourself. Each workout should feel just as hard as the last, or harder. If things keep getting easier and you are not changing anything, progressive overload is not happening.

Towels.

“Towels?” you ask. “Please explain.”

One of the best “no equipment” tools you already own is a towel. A towel can seriously increase the intensity of certain bodyweight back exercises, because it lets you create your own resistance and forces you to focus on squeezing the right muscles.

Towel Bodyweight Back Exercises

We said all you need is your body, and that’s true. But we like using a towel for certain movements because it helps ensure the exercise is challenging enough to build muscle and strength.

Everyone has a towel at home, so this still counts as “no equipment.” And when you use it right, it can turn easy-looking moves into a straight-up brutal back session.

Do Towel Workouts Work?

Yes. The towel increases tension by creating self-resistance. When you pull the towel apart (or squeeze it hard) during a rep, you increase muscular tension. More tension makes the exercise harder, and hard exercises are how your body adapts.

It also improves your mind-muscle connection. That matters a lot for back training, because most people “feel” legs and chest easier than they feel lats, mid-back, and scapular muscles. With a towel, you’re locked in on the squeeze every rep, which keeps you from coasting through the motion.

Benefits of Towel Exercises

• Increases tension
• Increases intensity without equipment
• Helps you focus on the target muscles
• Reduces “cheating” by making you move with intention
• Helps keep form cleaner and joints more stable

Quick test: pull a towel apart as hard as you can for 15 seconds. If you are thinking “okay wow,” you get it now.

Back Muscle Anatomy

Before we get into the exercises, it helps to understand the main back muscles. We’ll note what each movement targets, and knowing where these muscles live makes it easier to actually feel them working.

Superficial vs Deep Muscles

Superficial muscles sit closer to the surface. Deep muscles sit closer to bone and provide a lot of stability and posture control.

Latissimus Dorsi - Lats (Superficial)

The lats are the biggest back muscles and a major driver of that V-taper look. Their job is to pull your upper arm down and back, and they contribute to strong posture and pulling power.

Related: Best Latissimus Dorsi Exercises

Trapezius - Traps (Superficial)

The traps are a big, kite-shaped muscle across the upper back. They control shoulder blade movement and contribute to strength in pulling, carrying, and maintaining a strong posture.

Related: Best Exercises for the Trapezius Muscle With Weights

Erector Spinae (Deep)

The erector spinae runs down the length of the spine. It helps support, extend, and rotate your spine. Training it matters for performance and back health, and it’s a key player in lower back workouts.

Related: Best Erector Spinae Exercises

Teres Major & Minor (Superficial)

The teres muscles sit near the shoulder blade and help stabilize the shoulder joint. They work with the lats to pull the upper arm back and down.

Related: Best Teres Minor & Teres Major Exercises

Rhomboids (Deep)

The rhomboids (major and minor) sit between the spine and the shoulder blade. They help retract the scapula (pull it toward the spine) and play a big role in posture and upper back thickness.

Related: Best Rhomboid Exercises

The Glutes and Biceps Relationship with the Back

Much of the back’s heavy lifting is shared with the glutes and biceps. Many back exercises will also train your glutes and biceps, which is a good thing.

It’s important to strengthen your glutes along with your back, because underactive glutes can contribute to low back discomfort by forcing the lower back to do work it wasn’t meant to do.

7 BODYWEIGHT BACK EXERCISES WITHOUT EQUIPMENT (JUST A TOWEL)

In this video, Christian demonstrates 7 effective bodyweight back exercises. They require nothing but your body, although for some of them he uses a towel to increase the tension on the back muscles. Because these back exercises don’t require any equipment or a pull up bar, you can do these anywhere you please. They are perfect for home workouts, travel and hotel workouts, outdoor workouts, and even for supersetting free-weight back exercises at the gym. By performing all of these exercises, you can target your entire back musculature.

1. LYING LAT PULL DOWNS (WITH TOWEL)

Target: Lats, Erector Spinae, Glutes, Biceps

Tips:

• Keep your grip on the towel wider than shoulder width.
• Pull towards your upper chest.
• Squeeze for maximum tension with each rep.

2. REVERSE SNOW ANGEL

Target: Erector Spinae, Traps, Rhomboids, Glutes

Tips:

• Keep arms and feet from touching the ground.
• Extend your legs back as far as they can
• Squeeze and pause each rep. Slow the tempo down.

3. SUPERMAN

Target: Erector Spinae, Glutes

Tips:

• Simultaneously lift arms and legs off the ground.
• Extend both your arms and legs as far as possible.
• Squeeze and pause each rep. Slow the tempo down to increase difficulty.

4. LAT PULLDOWNS (WITH TOWEL)

Target: Lats, Biceps, Erector Spinae

Tips:

• Keep your grip on the towel wider than shoulder width.
• Pull towards your upper chest and keep your core tight.
• Squeeze for maximum tension with each rep.

5. LOW ROWS (WITH TOWEL)

Target: Lats, Biceps, Teres Major/Minor

Tips:

• Keep your back straight, elbows tucked, knees bent, and head straight forward.
• Grip should be about shoulder width apart.
• Pull towards your navel and squeeze.
• Pause and keep the contraction with each rep.

Note: If you go overhand grip, you will target your traps and rhomboids more. Underhand as seen in the video targets the lats more.

6. REACHER ROW

Target: Lats, Erector Spinae, Glutes, Rear Delts, Teres Major

Tips:

• Start in a full extended position with your arms straight in front of you.
• Raise your feet off the ground with each row. As you contract, your chest will lift further from the ground.
• Move slowly and maximize contraction.

7. LYING BACK EXTENSIONS

Target: Erector Spinae, Glutes

Tips:

• Put your hands behind your head as to not use momentum. You want to use only your glutes and lower back for this movement.
• Legs stay on the ground.
• Try to pause at the peak contraction.

Related: 18 Best Back Extension Exercises

THESE BODYWEIGHT BACK EXERCISES PUT EMPHASIS ON THE LATS AND LOW BACK

We put extra emphasis on the low back and lats as they are the powerful stabilizers of the spine. It’s vital that these two muscle groups have good strength and endurance as it will help make you injury resilient and powerful with your movements in life.

3 BODYWEIGHT BACK WORKOUTS USING ONLY A TOWEL

Let’s create back workouts using the exercises above

1. Traditional Style Bodyweight Back Workout:

For a complete back workout, do all 7 exercises for 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps. Once you complete one exercise for 3-4 sets, move to the next. Rest for 30 seconds to 1 minute between each set and exercise.

2. Circuit Bodyweight Back Workout:

Circuit 1:

• Lying Lat Pull Downs
• Supermans
• Low Rows

Do each exercise for 30 seconds, one after the other. Rest 1 minute between rounds. Complete 4 rounds.

Circuit 2:

• Lat Pull Downs
• Reacher Rows
• Reverse Snow Angel
• Lying Back Extension

Do each exercise for 30 seconds, one after the other. Rest 1 minute between rounds. Complete 3 rounds.

3. Superset Bodyweight Back Workout:

1A: Low Rows
1B: Kneeling Lat Pull Downs
- 4 sets x 10 reps each

2A: Reacher Rows
2B: Lying Lat Pull Downs
- 4 sets x 10 reps each

3A: Reverse Snow Angel
3B: Superman / Lying Back Extension (2 sets of one, 2 sets of the other, every other)
- 4 sets x 10 reps each

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I WORKOUT MY BACK?

It depends on your schedule but ideally if you do bodyweight workouts only, you should hit your back muscles twice a week. Once at a minimum.

Full Body Routine

If you do full body workouts, choose two back exercises for each full body workout, In this case, you’d work your back muscles two to three times a week on average.

Upper/Lower Routine

If you do an upper/lower routine, you should be hitting your back muscles twice a week. For example, day 1 and 4 would be upper body day, so on both those days you are doing a few back exercises.

Split Routine

If you do a split routine, you will probably hit your back once a week, maybe twice if you do a multi-muscle group split. For splits, your back workouts will be higher volume. Instead of doing just a few back exercises, you will be doing 6-8 back exercises.

No matter what kind of routine you choose, push yourself hard each workout and give your body the recovery it needs before you train your back again!

Also, employ the progressive overload techniques we mentioned earlier in this article.

IS A PULL UP BAR NECESSARY?

As you can see, you don’t need anything but your body (and a towel for extra tension) to get a great back workout in. That being said, a pull up bar would be advantageous as there are many benefits of pull ups. With a pull up bar, you can target every muscle in your back using pull up variations. Pull ups will, of course, offer you a lot more resistance for your pulling exercises. After all, you are fighting against gravity to pull your entire bodyweight up! Thus, you will have a far greater opportunity to build bigger, stronger muscles.

If you have a pull up bar, do pull ups and various pull up variations, along with these bodyweight-only back exercises and you will be on your way to being a lean, mean, v-shape back machine.

For beginners, if you can't do a pull up, follow a pull up progression plan. Also, utilize the back exercises in this article as these are absolutely perfect for beginners looking to build strength needed for more advanced back exercises.

Related: Pull Ups vs Chin Ups, Which Is Better?

Don’t have a pull up bar? Anything you hang from can work. Even if the grip is awkward, that’s great. It may be harder, but harder is what makes you stronger. it also builds more grip strength. You can do pull ups from beams, bleachers, and whatever you can find to hang from (just make sure it’s strong enough to hold you!).

Related: Best Pull Up Alternative To Work The Same Muscles

WHY IS A STRONG BACK IMPORTANT?

Although it’s important to strengthen all of your muscles, strengthening your back is especially vital to your well being. It’s involved in every pulling, lifting, and carrying action you make. Moreover, it protects your spine from injury!

Here are some of the main benefits of strengthening your back with these bodyweight back exercises:

• Improves spinal stability
• Helps prevent back pain
• Improves posture
• Strengthens you for all the pulling, lifting and carrying movements in life
• Helps maintain a good body composition
• V-shape, lean, muscle popping back with a great booty

What’s more, your back makes up the second largest portion of your musculature (after the legs), so training them expends a lot of energy, allowing you to burn tons of calories.

More Bodyweight Exercises:

• Bodyweight Shoulder Exercises
• Bodyweight Chest Exercises
• Bodyweight Triceps Exercises
• Bodyweight Biceps Exercises
• Bodyweight Leg Exercises
• Bodyweight Core Exercises

Bodyweight Workout Routines:

• The Best Calisthenics Workout Plan
• Bodyweight Full Body Workout
• Upper Body Bodyweight Workout
• Lower Body Bodyweight Workout

Final Note:

If you want to use some weights, but you prefer to keep things minimal, resistance bands (arguably the best option), kettlebells, and dumbbells will be best. You can also go the calisthenics route and get calisthenics equipment for your home.