Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
Barbells, row machines, and cable machines are fantastic tools for building a strong and muscular back, and because of that, they get a lot attention by gym-goers. But what about dumbbells?
Dumbbell back exercises often get neglected and are forgotten about in the quest for the V taper look. And that’s a real shame because if you’re not using dumbbells for your back, you’re missing out on huge benefits, including variety with grip and body positioning, a large exercise selection, fixing strength imbalances, increasing your range of motion, and improving grip strength.
In this article, we will show you 8 highly-effective dumbbell back exercises to build a strong and muscular back.
Table of Contents:
- 8 Best Dumbbell Back Exercises
- The Best Back Workout With Dumbbells
- Training Variables (Body Position & Grip)
- Anatomy of Back Muscles
- Benefits Of Dumbbells For Back Workouts
- FAQs About Back Workouts With Dumbbells
8 DUMBBELL BACK EXERCISES
The best dumbbell exercises for the back should include a mix of bilateral and unilateral exercises to strengthen imbalances for better muscle development and injury prevention.
The 8 best dumbbell back exercises are:
- Bent Over Dumbbell Row
- Batwing Row
- Unilateral Dumbbell Carry
- Unilateral Deadstop Row
- Seal Row
- Chest-Supported Row
- RDL Row
- Dumbbell Row To Hip
1. Bent-Over Dumbbell Row
The dumbbell bent-over row is much like its barbell counterpart and one of our favorite lat exercises with dumbbells. You can use any grip for this, and we recommend doing all (we'll talk more about training variables after we go over the exercises and back workout).
However, considering the other exercises below, we chose an overhand grip here. An overhand grip db bent over row will target your upper back, shoulders, biceps, and grip.
And because you’re in the hinge position this row variation improves lower back endurance through isometric contraction. This makes it a great accessory exercise for improving your deadlift because you’re holding the hip hinge under load for time.
How to perform the Bent Over Dumbbell Row:
- With a dumbbell in each hand hinge at your hips until the dumbbells are below your knees.
- With your shoulders down and chest up squeeze your shoulder blades together and row the dumbbells to the front of your hips.
- You want your elbows to be angled at about 45 degrees away from the torso throughout the movement.
- Pause in the top position for a second and then slowly lower the dumbbells down and reset and repeat. Keep your back straight throughout the movement.
Best Rep Range: 8-15
Difficulty: Hard to difficult
Progression: Slow the eccentric, lift with tempo, or perform unilaterally
Regression: Deadstop row (see below)
For more variations of this exercise, check out our exercise guide on 7 Bent Over Row Variations.
2. Batwing row
Batwing rows are a dumbbell back exercise that fixes a common mistake with dumbbells rows (plus it hits the back very well). Lifters often go too heavy and use momentum to row the dumbbells. This lead to more bicep action and less upper back engagement.
But with your chest glued to the bench and the limited range of motion, this will have you feeling your upper back like never before.
How to perform the Dumbbell Batwing Row:
- Lie face down on the weight bench with your chest on the bench and legs straight. You can also use an incline bench position.
- Grip the dumbbells with a neutral grip and retract your shoulders and pull the dumbbells to the outside of the bench. Your arms should be straight, but you can keep a slight bend in the elbows.
- Your upper body remains glued to the bench at all times.
- Pause for a second and slowly lower down and rest and repeat.
Best Rep Range: 6-12
Difficulty: Medium to hard
Progression: Seal row (see below)
Regression: Any single-arm dumbbell row variation.
Note: A variation of the batwing row, which will require less weight, is to also perform a reverse fly-like motion after performing the row. You can see a demonstration of this on Youtube.
3. Unilateral Dumbbell Carry
The unilateral dumbbell carry might not seem like a great back exercise, but it is. These are performed with the arm by your side, racked, or overhead with the overhead being the hardest position.
By using just one dumbbell, there is a large demand on the core to maintain stability and a neutral spine. These carry variations put your lower and upper back under tension to maintain good posture which will help with muscle mass development.
How to perform the Unilateral Dumbbell Carry:
- Choose a dumbbell that’s between 25-50% of your bodyweight (choose a weight that allows you to achieve the distance recommended below).
- Either hold the dumbbell by your side (suitcase) rack (in front of the shoulder) or overhead.
- Make sure your body is not tilting one way or the other.
- Slowly walk 40 yards maintaining good posture.
- Switch sides and repeat.
Best Rep Range: 40-100 yards
Difficulty: Easy to medium
Progression: Trap bar carries (allows for heavier loads)
Regression: Regular bilateral farmer carry (takes some focus off the core/spine)
4. Unilateral Deadstop Row
Note: The picture above shows the general form, but for a deadstop row, you must bring the dumbbell to the floor each rep and repeat from a "dead" stop. This is what separates it from the Kroc Row and single arm dumbbell row.
The deadstop row has a couple of advantages over other single-arm dumbbell row variations. First is the increased range of motion that comes from touching the floor. Plus, the pause on the floor takes the stretch reflex away making it harder to row up. The deadstop row is great for ironing out strength imbalances between sides, you’ll get extra core work too, and the ability to go heavier than other single-arm row variations.
How to perform the Dumbbell Unilateral Deadstop Row:
- Start with around 60% of your usual rowing weight until you dial in your form.
- Standing in the front of a weight bench, take your left leg off the ground, placing it on the bench, and hinge back, placing your left hand on the bench. You can also keep both legs on the floor, placing one hand on the bench for support.
- Start with the dumbbell on the floor. Grip the dumbbell with your right hand and with your shoulders down. Keep your arm straight in the starting position, then row the dumbbell up by pulling your elbows back.
- Slowly straighten your right arm out, until your dumbbell touches the floor, then repeat for the allotted reps.
- Repeat this sequence with your left arm for the same number of reps.
Best Rep Range: 8-12 reps
Difficulty: Easy to medium
Progression: Dumbbell bent-over row
Regression: Chest supported row (see below)
Deadstop Dumbbell Row Demo on Youtube
5. Seal Row
The dumbbell seal row is a rowing variation that has you lay face down on an elevated weight bench. Much like the barbell version, you hold two dumbbells in each hand so they’re not touching the floor. This position takes a lot of the momentum out of the lift, so your upper back is doing most of the heavy lifting and not your biceps.
Some lifters go too heavy with seal rows and use more biceps and less upper back and this leaves the rhomboids and middle traps neglected. The dumbbell seal row solves both issues. Oh, and it's also great for the rear deltoids if using a more wide grip, as pictured above.
Note: Feel free to change up your grips with this one as you see fit.
How to perform the Dumbbell Seal Row:
- The key for the seal row is to set it up on a bench so that you can fully extend your arms straight without the dumbbells touching the ground.
- Do this by propping up a bench on either two low boxes or a stack of weight plates.
- Then, lie face prone (down) on the bench with dumbbells on either side of you and squeeze your glutes and brace your abs.
- Think about pulling your hands toward the hip as row the dumbbells up until you feel your upper back engage.
- Lower down to your arms are straight and reset and repeat.
Best Rep Range: 8-15
Difficulty: Medium to difficult
Progression: Dumbbell bent-over row
Regression: Chest supported row
6. Chest Supported Row
The dumbbell chest supported row is a dumbbell back exercise that replicates the seated machine row. Your chest stays on the pad as you pull. Limiting assistance from your lower body makes this variation easier on the lower back and puts more emphasis on your upper back muscles for added size and strength. Plus, with an adjustable bench, you train your back from a variety of angles for better muscle development.
Note: A seal row is simply a type of chest supported row where your feet are not touching the ground and you are lying completely flat (prone). A chest supported dumbbell row can be done from a flat or incline bench (or even preacher bench) and with your feet on the floor.
How to perform the Dumbbell Chest Supported Row:
- Set the incline weight bench at 45 degrees.
- Grip a pair of dumbbells and place your chest on the bench and lean into it.
- Secure your feet and let your arms hang down, holding each dumbbell with a neutral grip.
- Retract your shoulder blades and row the dumbbells toward the outside of the bench keeping your chest on the bench.
- Slowly lower down until arms are straight and reset and repeat.
Best Rep Range: 8-15
Difficulty: Medium to difficult
Progression: Dumbbell bent-over row
Regression: Unilateral deadstop row
For more takes on this exercise, check out our article on the best Chest Support Row Variations.
7. RDL Row
The RDL row is a complete posterior chain exercise. Because of the reduced points of contact, you’ll receive feedback if your rowing form is off. If you want a strong lower back, combining the dumbbell deadlift with a row is the way to go. You can use one or two dumbbells for this exercise.
How to perform the Dumbbell RDL Row:
- Face a horizontal weight bench with a dumbbell (or two) in front of your feet.
- With your feet hip width apart, get into a good hinge position, knees slightly bent, and feel the tension in your hamstrings as you hinge forward, not your low back.
- Grip the dumbbell(s) and row toward your hip keeping your shoulders down and chest up.
- Pause for a second and lower it with control until it reaches the floor. Pause, reset, and repeat.
Best Rep Range: 8-15
Difficulty: Difficult
Progression: None. This is as difficult as it gets
Regression: Unilateral deadstop row
8. Dumbbell Row To Hip
Awesome for lat workouts, the dumbbell row to hip is like every other row except for a slight tweak. Rowing to the outside of the hip helps to target the hard-to-reach lower lats. When you start the exercise, instead of rowing up, think about pulling back to your back hip.
This adjustment will result in an arc-like range of motion, which really targets the lower lats. Rowing this way prevents the shrugging of the upper traps while doing single arm rows, a common form flaw.
How to perform the Dumbbell Row To Hip:
- Support your non-working hand and knee on a bench holding a dumbbell in one with the back leg straight and foot flat on the ground.
- With a firm grip of the dumbbell (overhand, underhand or neutral are all acceptable) bring the dumbbell forward of your working shoulder and row the dumbbell to the outside of your hip. This is the key difference, you are rowing low, to your hips, not your mid-section.
- Keeping your shoulders down and chest up for the entire exercise.
- Pause for a second and slowly lower down to the starting position and repeat for reps.
- Repeat sequence on the other side.
Best Rep Range: 12-15
Difficulty: Medium to difficult
Progression: RDL row
Regression: Deadstop row
How to Warm-up Your Back Before Training
The purpose of the warm-up is to get the blood moving from the abdomen to your back and shoulder muscles. This gets your muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joints ready for action. Performing some foam rolling drills for the back with arms overhead and with the scapula spread apart will help will blood flow and help you ease your body into training.
Then performing a few low-intensity back exercises like the TRX IYT, face pulls and band pull aparts for 8-15 reps will get the back and shoulders mobilized and ready to roll.
THE BEST DUMBBELL BACK WORKOUT
The best back workouts with dumbbells will target the different areas of your back, including the upper, middle, and lower back muscles.
Here's an effective muscle-building dumbbell back workout routine:
- Bent-Over Rows (underhand): 3x10-12
- Bent-Over Rows (overhand): 3x10-12
- Single Arm DB Rows: 3x10-15
- Stiff-Leg or RDL: 3x10-12
- Dumbbell Pullover: 3x10-15
- Dumbbell Shrugs: 3x15-20
Training Variables for Dumbbell Back Workouts
The main training variables that you can alter easily with dumbbells are:
- Body positioning
- Grip
Here are some prime examples.
Body Positioning:
First of all, by changing up your body positioning, you can alter how your muscles are targeted and emphasized. Essentially, you are changing up angles which helps with full development of the back.
With dumbbells, you can positioning yourself in a bent over position, prone position (lying face down on a bench), incline prone position, seated bent over position and so on.
A dumbbell back exercise will typically be accessory exercises, so it's important that you mix things up for hypertrophy purposes.
Grip Positioning:
Grip is another huge one. With dumbbells, you can play around with grip position in an efficient manner better than any other tool.
You have underhand grip, overhand grip, neutral grip, and you can even do a rotated grip. For example, moving from overhand to neutral to underhand as you perform a row.
With each grip, you will have a different effect.
Take the bent over row exercise for example:
With an OVERHAND GRIP, you will emphasize your upper back (traps, rhomboids, rear delts, teres major):
With an UNDERHAND GRIP, you will emphasize your lats more:
With a NEUTRAL GRIP, you will target the back muscles pretty evenly, and have a greater range of motion:
Then of course, you have UNILATERAL options, of which you can use any grip:
On top of all that, you have the angle of where you pull, i.e., you can pull to chest, ab or hip level. All of these variables make a difference and should be implemented into your back training over time for the best possible development of your muscles. And this is what makes dumbbells so special. It's easy to implement important training variables!
Anatomy of the Back Muscles
Back muscles are out of sight, and thus, usually out of mind (particularly for beginners). However, they play an important role in shoulder health, posture, and performance.
Understanding the muscles of the back and the role they play helps you understand the importance of making them strong. It will also help you with maximizing muscle growth.
Here are the main muscles and movements of the back.
- Erector Spinae Muscles: The erector spinae is made up of three muscles - the Spinalis, Longissimus, and Iliocostalis - that run next to the spinal column from the lower back to the neck. They help will the movements of the head, lateral flexion, and extension of the spine. But their most important function is to keep the spine in neutral under load (anti-flexion and anti-lateral flexion - spinal stability).
- Rhomboids: The rhomboids originate from the cervical (neck) vertebra and run diagonally down the back and attach to the inside of the shoulder blades. Their main movements are scapula adduction (coming together) and elevation (overhead presses) and inward rotation (when you’re bringing your arm back down to your torso).
- Trapezius: This is one muscle broken up into three parts, the upper, middle, and lower traps. It’s a large flat triangular muscle that originates from the cervical spine and all 12 of the thoracic vertebrae. Their main movements include scapula adduction, elevation, depression, and outward rotation.
- Latissimus Dorsi: Or the lats for short are the widest muscle in the human body and they almost cover all back muscles except the traps. They originate from the scapula and spinous processes of the vertebrae of the thoracic spine all the way down to the lumbar spine. The lats insert on the humerus, and all told the lats to connect to five different points which include the spine, ribs, scapula, and pelvis. Its main movements include shoulder extension and adduction, horizontal abduction and adduction, and shoulder internal rotation.
Note: Your back also includes your teres major and the rear delts are also often included in back workouts.
THE BENEFITS OF TRAINING BACK WITH DUMBBELLS
You will not be able to lift more weight with dumbbells as compared to barbells, trap bars, and machines but there are a couple of important benefits of using dumbbells for your back training.
- More Joint Friendly: Barbells lock you into a certain range of motion and grip but not so with dumbbells. There is more freedom of movement, plus you can lift with a neutral grip, and both make it easier on your wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints.
- Strength Imbalances: Training unilaterally like with single-arm dumbbell rows will help strengthen imbalances between sides if any exist. Because with barbells and trap bars you’re engaging both sides of your body at the same time and one side can dominate over the other.
- Better Muscle Development: Even when lifting with two dumbbells, each side of your body is still working independently to stabilize each dumbbell. When you’re lifting consistently with two dumbbells the weaker side can catch up to your dominant side, leading to better muscle development on your weaker side. MOREOVER, with dumbbells you will typically achieve a great range of motion, which will allow you to create maximum muscle contraction and stretching tension. This is another highly important aspect of building muscle and strength.
- Easier To Use: Barbells require putting on and taking off plates and often need other pieces of equipment to perform exercises, like a bench for the bench press. Dumbbells are easier to use, require less setup, and are easier to pack away.
Dumbbell Back Exercises FAQ:
To wrap things up, let's go over some frequently asked questions about training your back with dumbbells.
Which exercises work the back best?
There are three main movements patterns to work your back muscles: horizontal pulls, vertical pulls, and shoulder extension.
Horizontal pulls include variations of rows. Your body will be in a bent over position or seated, and you will be pulling the weight towards your torso. Rows will primarily target your lats, rhomboids, and traps. Some of the best horizontal pulls are bent over rows, one arm rows, and seated rows.
Vertical pulls include variations of pull ups/chin ups and lat pulldowns. Your torso will be vertical and you will be pulling the weight down from an overhead position. Vertical pulls will primarily target your lats and lower traps.
Shoulder extension exercises include pullovers and lat pushdowns. You will be "pulling" the weight down from overhead without bending your elbows. If this is confusing for you, simply raise your arms above your head and then bring them down in front of you without bending your elbow. That is shoulder extension, and it primarily targets your lats.
If you do at least one exercise for each of these main movement patterns, that will be all your back needs to gain strength and build muscle. You can also do shrugs to give your upper traps a little more love.
How to build my back with dumbbells?
To build your back muscles with dumbbells, you need to do horizontal pulls, vertical pulls, and shoulder extension exercises, and you need to eat enough calories to be in a caloric surplus. Moreover, you must ensure that you are getting enough protein as protein is the building block for muscles. Check out this at home back workout for a great muscle-building routine.
How do you work your upper back with dumbbells?
Your upper back’s main muscles are the traps and rhomboids. To best target these muscles, perform rows with your elbows more out wide, such as wide grip dumbbell bent over rows.
How do you work your mid back with dumbbells?
Your “mid-back” consists of your lats, traps, and rhomboids. To best target the middle back muscles, you shoulder perform rows with your elbows more tucked in, such as single arm rows or close grip dumbbell rows.
How do you work your lower back with dumbbells?
Your lower back includes your erector spinae and your lats (the lats are a huge muscle!). To target your lower back with dumbbells, you can perform db deadlifts and variations of deadlifts like RDLs. This is great for building strong spinal erectors. As for the lower region of your lats, you can target it with low rows (pulling toward your hips) as well.
Are shrugs back or shoulders?
Dumbbell shrugs target your upper traps, which is part of your back. However, some people like to do shrugs on shoulder day, which is perfectly fine.
Are dumbbell deadlifts effective?
Yes, dumbbell deadlifts are effective. The only issues are that you can put your back in a comprising position if you let the dumbbells touch the floor (but this can be fixed by stacking up some weight plates) and you simply can’t lift as heavy with dumbbells as you can a barbell (but this will only become a problem as you progress to considerably heavy loads).
Can you strengthen your back with dumbbells?
Yes, dumbbells can be a useful tool for strengthening your back muscles. By incorporating dumbbell exercises into your workout routine, you can target specific muscle groups in your back and increase overall strength and stability.
Here are the best exercises for strengthening your back with dumbbells:
- Single Arm Rows (Kroc Rows for heavy dumbbells)
- Bent Over Rows (underhand/overhand/neutral grips)
- Dumbbell Shrug
- Stiff Leg Deadlift (low back)
- Dumbbell Renegade Row aka Plank Row (back focused, yet full body)
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Garett Reid
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