How To Build Up Your Back Muscles & Make It Stronger

Here’s the thing…knowing your Why and your true motive to do anything in fitness is more important now than ever. If building back muscles is something you want for yourself, then go all the way for it. About a week ago, I commented on a post about how some women view their bodies as a trend. It’s extremely scary how the rhetoric constantly changes for women’s bodies in relation to the direction of society.

A year ago, everyone wanted to be a “muscle mommy”. Fast forward to less than a year later, there was this huge shift to running and becoming a “pilates princess” and a “cardio bunny”. There is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing these activities. However, it begs to question whether this is something that this person wanted for themselves or if it is something that someone told them that they wanted.

We are in an age where people are easily influenced. Inferred and nuanced thinking are no longer a common skill. Make sure that your true motive to do anything in life is because you want to do it. Whether you were inspired or no longer allowing fear to hold you back…whatever the reason is, make sure that the decision comes from you and you only.

Training Back

When I first got into training over a decade ago, I loved training back and combined it with shoulders. There was something about having a wide back, round and capped shoulders that did it for me. Although, I have prioritised bringing up other body parts over the years, these two body parts will always be a fan favourite for me. Around that time, training the back muscles wasn’t as popular for women like it is now. I appreciate that more women have gotten into strength training and fitness over the years as it has encouraged and inspired others to do the same.

I remember having a conversation with another content creator nearly 10 years ago and I said that training back muscles would become the equivalent to training glutes. She believed that glute training will always be superior and it still is to a degree. However, more women are realising that training these two body parts go hand in hand.

Check out Pinterest Upper Body Exercises

The Anatomy of the Back Muscles

Firstly, to understand how to train your back muscles efficiently, you need to know what muscles are there and how they function. Your back is made up of two main parts: your lats (Latissimi Dorsi) and your mid-back. Furthermore, your mid-back is composed of three parts: your traps (Trapezius), the Rhomboids and the Teres Major.

The function of your lats is to extend, abduct and stabilise your back while internally rotate the shoulders. In simple terms, it pulls the arm down, back and keeps your elbow close to the body. Your traps shrug and pull your shoulder blades down. The Teres Major brings your arms towards your back similar to rowing exercises. At last, your rhomboids share a common function with your traps as they bring the shoulder blades together.

Importance of the Back Muscles

Your back muscles are responsible for improving your posture, reducing muscle imbalances and supporting better spinal health. From the very beginning of my fitness journey, I’ve always prioritised training my back. Not necessarily for the aesthetics but it was a body part that I couldn’t see in the mirror. One of the things that I learnt early on was to go harder and train the muscles that you can’t see with intention, as they are usually neglected. Now post-injury, I make a conscious effort not to hunch over while I’m working at my desk. By taking a lot of mini-and-micro breaks to move around and stimulate blood flow throughout the day, helps with my posture. As a society, we live a very sedentary lifestyle. Any movement is good movement, so make sure that you are prioritising your health and its longevity at all times.

Two Types of Back Movements

There are two types of movements that any workout and training programme must have to target the back muscles. These movements are one of the most effective ways to build upper body strength that can be transferred over to your daily life. These are known as the vertical pull and the horizontal pull.

The vertical pull targets the upper and central muscles fibres in your back. As a result, this encourages the development of your lats. Moreover, using the vertical pull, also activates and targets the rhomboids and traps. In addition if you want to hit the biceps more with this type of pulling, all you need to do is change your grip so that your palms are facing you. The type of exercises that you can do for this particular pull include pull ups, lat pulldowns, one arm cable pulldowns etc.

The horizontal pull targets the central and lower muscle fibres in your back. As a result, this encourages the development of your rear delts, rhomboids, teres major. Simultaneously, using the horizontal pull, also activates and targets the biceps and lower traps. Not only is the horizontal pull critical for the development of these muscles, but also supports compound lifts like squats and deadlifts. The type of exercises that you can do for this particular pull include pendlay rows, dumbbell rows, chest supported rows, single arm cable rows etc.

Back Exercises To Add Into Your Routine

Now that you understand the science behind the back muscles, let’s get into what you are really here for. Any variation of a row and a pull will definitely add size and strength to your back muscles. I’m sure that these are already staples in your routine. What is important to take away from this is that your back can handle a lot of volume. Don’t be shy to add more sets and reps, and add more weight. If you want this muscle group to become an explosive powerhouse, you need to incorporate a variety of exercises, where you incorporate progressive overload, precision in form and technique, fuelling your body correctly and prioritising sleep quality.

Here are some of my favourite exercises to build up the back and increase their size.

The Horizontal Pull To Train Back Muscles

Pendlay Row

This exercise doesn’t always rotate into my training programme but now it has a solid place. The Pendlay Row may look similar to a Barbell Row but it has its differences. For one, the former starts and ends on the floor, whereas the latter starts in the air. What makes this exercise difficult is you are rowing from a dead stop which removes any kind of momentum. It builds an explosive pulling back strength as well as a thicker back because it requires a fuller range of motion. In my opinion, it is an underrated exercise for the middle back and the explosiveness carries over to powerlifting.

Improving Posture

The Single Arm Dumbbell Row

This is one of my favourite unilateral (single arm) exercise for back day. It’s a key back-building exercise for athletes, lifters and general fitness goers. It improves grip strength, posture, and bicep and back development when trained in high volume. Additionally, it is a staple exercise in assisting movements found in powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting. I prefer to do this with a staggered stance, slightly wider than a B-stance, to target my core more. On a rare occasion, I’ll rotate this with a dead stop version to cancel out any momentum.

Chest Supported Row

This is another favourite exercise of mine to eliminate lower back stress. By supporting your chest against the bench, it stops you from using momentum and focus on controlling the weight with intention. As I have a bigger chest, I play around with my positioning for comfortability and to ensure that I can do the exercises correctly. If you aren’t able to do it with free weights, most gyms now have the machine version. I suggest playing around with both to see which one works for you.

Underhand Cable Row

The grip that you use dictates the angle in which you train the back muscles and the results that you yield from it. For all the exercises listed under the ‘Horizontal Pull’, this is the only one that uses a supination grip. This exercise allows you to pull heavier and hit the lower lats harder. It is a great exercise for beginners, those coming out of an injury and those that want to develop overall upper body strength. It is an exercise that I go back to every now and then to add some thickness.

The Vertical Pull To Train Back Muscles

Pull Ups

I feel like the pull up doesn’t need an introduction at all! This is the queen of all back exercises. Regardless of the type of fitness that you do, mastering the pull up will always be a confidence booster. Do you know how hard it is to get your first pull up?

Close Grip Lat Pulldown

Lat pulldown is a compound exercise and one of the best that anyone can start off with to build a stronger and wider back. In addition, it is a great exercise to build up strength for your first pull up. I prefer to do the close grip version to add more thickness to my lower lats and biceps. I find that building the mind-to-muscle connection on my weaker muscles helps me make them into strengths.

Face Pulls

I only started doing these when I got into powerlifting and my coach always had these programmed for me. These are going to target both your shoulders and your back, in particular, your rear delts and traps. The rear delts sit at the back of your shoulders. However, this exercise is usually done on back day due to the pulling movement. Your traps act like a bridge between your shoulder and back muscles. In my opinion, this is a fantastic exercise to build back strength because it is easy to progress in it and add my volume.

Muscle Imbalances

Single Arm Lat Pulldown

There is always a place for unilateral exercises in every training programme. In fact, I wholeheartedly believe that for every large muscle group, you should be doing at least one unilateral exercise. The single lat pulldown will reduce the muscle imbalances between each side. For this exercise, you want to lower the weight of what you would usually do for a lat pulldown to get that full lat squeeze.

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What is your go-to horizontal and vertical pull exercises for your back routine? Let me know in the comments below. I tend to rotate through these exercises and add new ones here and there, depending on my goals. My consistency with posting has dropped this year and I’m hoping to get back into the habit of writing something daily. Make sure to hit that subscribe button to join the community and never miss out on a post. Find me on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok for more powerlifting and wellness content.

Until next time,

Folakemi