My back barely grew for years. But recently, it has blown up. Here are the 3 back exercises behind my explosive growth.

A broad, chiseled back is key to achieving that Greek God look. 

But with over 15 different back muscles, knowing which back exercises to pick (and how to execute them) is not as simple as other muscle groups. Most guys do it wrong without even realizing it. 

Take me for example.

My Filipino genetics didn’t bless me with a natural V-taper, and for years, my back barely grew even with all the “best” back exercises.

But recently, my back has blown up. It’s broader and thicker than it’s ever been in the past.

And the crazy part is, all it took was 3 key back exercises that I guarantee will do the exact same for you if you nail down the proper form. 

The Proper Setup For Back Exercises Matters

But before we dive into the back exercises, here’s something crucial that I wish I had known earlier. 

When you train a single muscle group like your chest, it’s pretty straightforward. You just need to get that muscle to activate.

But with the back, it’s a different story.

With so many muscles, it’s easy for the stronger ones to take over, leaving the weaker ones underdeveloped. And I’ve been there. I spent years hammering the "classic back exercises" like the lat pulldowns, pull-ups, and rows.

My biceps, forearms, and some parts of my back definitely grew ... but my lats? Barely noticeable.

So, my back stayed narrow no matter which back exercises I chose or what I did, and it was frustrating.

To avoid this, it’s not just about doing the right back exercises — it’s about doing them the right way.

Once you know how you only really need 3 back exercises to hit all the main muscles and get a complete workout.

But here’s the catch.

The usual form you see online often leads to the wrong muscles taking over. So, using our understanding of biomechanics, I'll show you how to modify each of the back exercises covered here to ensure you’re actually hitting the right parts of your back.

And to take it even further, I’ll introduce some new scientific research that can help you get up to 2x the growth for every set you do.

Lats

Let’s start with your lats, the muscle that gives your back that coveted V-taper.

When well developed, you’ll be able to do a lat spread, flexing them as if you had wings. A clear sign you’ve made some good gains.

Unfortunately, despite being the largest muscle in your upper body, the lats are often one of the most underdeveloped muscles for us gym-bros.

Part of the reason for this is because they’re treated as just 1 big muscle. When they should really be split up into 2 main areas: the upper and lower lats. 

We’ll start with the area most people struggle with, the lower lats.

Exercise 1: Lat-Focused Pulldown (Lower Lats)

Despite the name, the standard lat pulldown doesn't work your lats that well. To really target them, we need to make some adjustments. 

It's In The Elbows

Typically, when people do lat pulldowns, they flare their elbows out like chicken wings, which is great for the muscles around the shoulder blades but not as good for hitting the lats.

To work the lats more, you want your elbows tight against your body as you pull. But if you’re holding the bar too wide, that’s just not possible.

Instead, your hands should be about shoulder-width apart and ideally in a neutral position. Because when you twist your palms inwards, that naturally brings your elbows in.

So your best option is a bar like this:

But if your gym doesn’t have that, you can use a v-bar.

And if you don’t have that, you can still make it work with a normal lat pulldown bar, but using an underhand grip.

While this will get the biceps more involved, it's still more effective for the lats than the normal overhand grip.

Plus, there’s a way to reduce how much we use our biceps, and target our lats instead.

In fact, you wanna do this no matter which grip you choose.

Rather than pulling the weight straight down with your hands, focus on pulling from your elbows. Visualize them moving in a slight arc, in front of your body and then back and down towards your hips. 

At the same time, pull your shoulders down, away from the ears.

Pull until your elbows are in line with your torso, then control the way up.

But here’s the really important part.

Go For A Deep Stretch At The Top

At the top, fully extend your arms and let your shoulders rise up for a deep stretch in the lats.

Why?

Plenty of new research suggests that if you do reps without fully stretching your muscles, you’re missing out on a huge amount of gains.

In fact, one study compared two groups:

1. Doing calf raises with full reps
2. Doing half reps at the bottom when their calf muscle was stretched

Guess what happened?

The second group saw almost twice the growth!

But aside from just making sure your shoulders come up for that deep stretch, there’s another way we can use this study to grow our lats even more.

See, the lat pulldown, like most back exercises, is hardest at the bottom.

And because you’re a responsible gym goer, once you can’t get the bar all the way down, you stop rather than use bad form, right?

But here’s the thing. That might actually be a mistake. 

As we mentioned, most gains seem to come from the top of the lat pulldown when the muscle is stretched. So, once you can’t do anymore reps, don’t stop. Keep going by doing as many half reps as you can in that top position. It could potentially help you gain muscle almost twice as fast!

Exercise 2: Lat-Focused Row (Upper Lats)

Alright, the next exercise on our list of back exercises targets the upper lats.

The most important area for creating that V-taper.

Once I finally started hitting this area properly, I noticed a massive difference in how wide my upper body looked, even wearing a t-shirt.

First, I’ll show you how to target them using a cable row and then I’ll show you another really good option with dumbbells. 

Now, just like the pulldown, the way most people row hardly uses their lats at all.

Often, their biceps end up doing a lot of the work. I’ll show you how to fix this mistake, but first, there are a few other important changes to make.

Changes To Make

Let’s start with your grip.

Again, for the lats, you ideally want a grip where your hands are shoulder-width apart with the palms facing in.

The V-bar can work if that’s all you have, but the dumbbell alternative I’ll show you in just a minute is also an excellent choice.

The next tweak you’ll want to make has to do with your torso.

Instead of rowing upright, brace your core and lean forward slightly. This not only lines up the tension more with your upper lats, but will also allow for a deeper stretch at the end of each rep. 

Next, to best engage the lats, think about pulling the elbows back and down towards your hips, similar to the “arc” motion we did before.

How To Prevent Biceps From Taking Over

But to prevent your biceps from taking over, pay attention to your forearms.

The more they ‘bend upwards’, the less lats and the more biceps you’ll end up using. Instead, try to keep your forearms parallel to the floor by focusing simply on pulling the elbows back and down. 

Once your elbow reaches your torso, control the weight back, fully extending your arms and letting your shoulder rise up to get as deep of a stretch in your lats as possible. 

Dumbbell Alternative

As promised, I have an excellent alternative you’re probably familiar with: dumbbell rows, but with 2 key adjustments. 

Instead of a flat bench, incline it slightly. Lean one arm on the bench, and then put your opposite back leg far out to the side.

This setup will make the exercise far more stable and less awkward.

Next, brace your core, and think about driving your elbow down towards your hips in that same arcing motion as before. Think about it as if you’re “sweeping the floor” with the weight.

Keep the elbow tight to your sides, and this time, to prevent the biceps from taking over, try to keep your forearm vertical.

Now, as you get closer to the top, your body will want to rotate your torso to make it easier.

Fight the temptation. Keep your back flat, pull until the elbow reaches your torso, then control the weight back down. 

Lastly, whether you use cables or dumbbells, once you can’t do anymore full reps, just remember to keep going by doing as many half reps as you can in that stretched position. 

Exercise 3: Mid/Upper Back Row (Thickness)

Ok, onto our final exercise on our list of back exercises, which will now focus on building your back thickness.

To do so, we’re going back to the cable row, but this time modified to hit the mid and upper back muscles, your:

• Traps
• Rhomboids
• Rear delts

I’ll also cover a dumbbell alternative and then show you guys a special drop-set technique that really helped blow up my traps.

Let’s get started. 

So unlike the lats, the mid and upper back muscles are better worked when the elbows are angled out from the body during back exercises.

You’ll often see people in the gym try to do this but using a narrow grip, so their elbows are kind of flared out, but not enough to really work the mid and upper back. 

To fix this, we need a wide grip - a bit wider than shoulder width. So in this case, an overhand grip on the lat pulldown bar works perfectly.

But this time, we want to line up the tension on our mid and upper back, so instead of leaning forwards, learn back slightly.

Brace your core and pull the bar back and up to your chest, letting your elbows flare out in an arrow shape.

Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the end, and control the weight back down.

But remember, most of the growth comes from the stretch, so open up your shoulder blades as wide as possible at the end of the rep. 

Dumbbell Alternative

Now, you can easily do this with dumbbells instead by using an incline bench as a chest support and doing the same rowing motion. A T-bar is also an excellent choice. 

But regardless of what variation you use, there’s a special technique I’ve been doing at the end of my sets for this (and all my back exercises, really) that I honestly feel like is what blew up my traps. 

It’s simple.

After you can’t do anymore full reps, continue the set with half reps just like I explained earlier. But don’t stop there.

Once you can’t do anymore half reps, rather than pulling with your arms, keep them straight with your shoulder blades opened up, then squeeze them together hard, almost as if you were doing a shrug.

Open up your shoulder blades again and repeat this for as many reps as you can until the weight just won’t budge.

It’s intense, but trust me, you’ll feel the pump of your life and I guarantee your traps will grow really quickly from this. 

TL;DR

• To grow your back, you cannot just focus on doing the right back exercises — you also need to do them the right way.
• Use the lat-focused pulldown for lower lats. Keep elbows tight against your body as you pull, and think about pulling from your elbows. Get a deep stretch at the top.
• Use the cable machine lat-focused row for upper lats. Take a shoulder-width grip, lean forward slightly, and think about pulling the elbows back and down towards your hips. Dumbbell rows could be a great alternative.
• The final of our back exercises is the modified cable row, which targets the mid- and upper back muscles. Use a wide grip, lean back slightly, and let your elbows flare in an arrow shape as you pull. Alternatives are dumbbells and an incline bench.

Back Exercises Breakdown

So here’s a breakdown of the full workout, complete with sets and reps for the 3 back exercises.

However, you may want to adjust the volume or add additional back exercises depending on your body and goals.

But rather than trying to figure out which back exercises to add and how much to add on your own, I’d highly recommend just following a simple, science-backed program that takes care of all the guesswork for you. These programs are incredibly effective and cover not just your workouts but your nutrition as well.

To join today, just take our quick, free analysis quiz below to discover the best Built With Science program for you:

Click the button below to take my analysis quiz to discover the best program for you:

↓

But if you’re looking for more free advice, check out this article next for the workout that blew up my shoulders — in a good way.

Thanks for sticking to the end, have fun trying out all the back exercises, and I’ll see ya next time.

By the way, here’s the article summed up into a YouTube video: