Whether you’re at home or at the gym, a complete beginner or an exercise expert, these back exercises will help boost your strength and tone your physique. We’ve included a mix of bodyweight, dumbbell and machine-based exercises so you can pick the best back workouts to suit your skillset and situation.
Integrating lower and upper back workouts into your fitness plans will help to support and strengthen your entire frame - after all, your back is the main support structure for your whole body. Boosting your back muscles will help to prevent injury and back pain, and also help to make it easier to achieve your health and fitness goals.
How regularly you use these back exercises depends on your goal - if this is part of a general fitness routine, then including some of these movements as part of a wider workout two or three times a week will definitely pay off. If you’re specifically focusing on boosting your back strength or muscle size, then you may want to consider including more of these targeted movements into a specialised workout, making sure to include upper and lower back exercises, as little as twice or even just once a week. Just make sure you’re pushing your muscles to fatigue by the end of each exercise.
Perfect for beginners, anyone recovering from injury or simply as a gentle start to a more intense back workout, band pull aparts are easy to master and activate muscles throughout your upper back - your rhomboids, trapezius and delts all come into play here. All you need is a resistance band.
1. Stand with feet hip width apart.
2. Grip your band with both hands, using an overhand grip.
3. Hold the band out in front of you at around chest height, with your hands about shoulder width apart and a slight bend in your elbows.
4. Engage your core and rotate your shoulders outwards and your shoulder blades together.
5. Pull the band apart until your upper arms are in line with your back.
6. Hold for a moment before slowly easing back to the starting position.
Fantastic for boosting lower back strength, deadlifts come in different varieties, so you change up your style depending on which equipment you have available (or just how you feel that day). These have the added benefit of working your glutes, arms, core and so much more. You can discover more styles of deadlift over on our How to Deadlift guide, but for a basic dumbbell deadlift:
1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing the body, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Bend your knees and keep your back straight as you slowly lower into a squat position, easing the dumbbells towards the ground without allowing your back to round.
3. Focus on sliding the dumbbells fairly close to your shins.
4. Pause at a position where you feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
5. Return to standing up straight, squeezing your glutes and keeping your core tight.
We’re featuring a few different styles of row exercises in this guide because they’re just so fantastic for working out your back. The single arm dumbbell row engages all of your back, shoulders and arms, as well as your biceps, pecs and delts. You’ll need a dumbbell and ideally a workout bench - if you don’t have the latter then you can simply bend forward at the hips or hold a lunge position, keeping a straight back.
1. Keeping your left foot on the floor, and the dumbbell in your left hand, place your right hand on the bench at around shoulder height and your right knee on the bench even with your waist. It should look like half of your body is in a tabletop position on the bench.
2. Holding the dumbbell, hang your left arm down below your shoulder.
3. Engaging your core, draw your left elbow back until the dumbbell is even with the left side of your chest.
4. Hold for a few moments before easing back to starting position.
5. When you’ve completed the reps for the left side, you can repeat on the right.
Perfect for targeting the back, shoulders and biceps, wide grip cable rows are also excellent for improving core stability and keeping a straight spine. By keeping your grip a little wider than a regular cable row, you’re increasing the resistance on your upper back and shoulders. Best performed at the gym, you’ll need access to a seated row cable machine.
1. Attach the seated row cable machine with a long bar handle and adjust to a suitable weight.
2. Sit on the seat with feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent and feet on the foot rests. Grab the bar handle with hands wider than shoulder width, arms extended, and palms facing each other,
3. Engage your core and pull the bar handle in towards your body, just below the naval. Think about driving your elbows in towards your hips and keeping the elbows in.
4. When the bar handle reaches your torso squeeze your shoulder blades for a second and then slowly extend your arms back to starting position.
The most challenging of the rows we’re featuring in this guide, renegade rows work your back, core and arm muscles, and are an excellent way for improving balance and stability. For this, you’ll need two dumbbells or kettlebells, although start with a light weight and work your way up. The key here is focusing on keeping your hips and shoulders square, your body shouldn’t be twisting or rocking at all. If it is, you may need to lower your weight.
1. Assume a classic plank position but with your shoulders directly over your wrists and with your legs spread wide apart - they should be wider than shoulder width.
2. Take a dumbbell in each hand, so your weight is on the dumbbell rather than your hands - stay strong through your wrists.
3. Position your weight through the right hand side of your body and engage your core.
4. Drive the left dumbbell upwards toward chest-level, pulling your elbow up and back, while keeping your arm tucked in alongside your body.
5. Gently ease back to start position before alternating to your right arm.
6. Focus on squeezing your glutes and abs to keep your body in a steady position - you shouldn’t feel any rocking.
