Best Exercises For a Thicker Back

Pullups.

No need to read anything more honestly. I will mention other exercises for a thicker back though!

Top Three exercises for a thicker back

Quick note if you are starting out lifting in general;

For all these exercises, always breathe in as you control the movement/weight back to the starting position. Breathe out as you exert force and lift.

So many times I forget to breathe and nearly pass out doing Pull-ups… I can be an idiot.

1. Pull-ups

You knew this was coming.

Pull-ups in my opinion are the best compound back exercise to get a thicker back. without weight, it is a pretty safe movement as you are using your bodyweight.

Doing your first pull-up can be difficult though. I have been doing these every week for 17 years, progressing to muscle-ups and other variations. I now implement pull-ups as a warmup much like push-ups.

How to perform Pull-ups

If you want to know how to progress to doing your first pullup, click here for pullup progression.

To perform the exercise itself, grab the bar slightly wider then shoulder-width, and pull your shoulder blades together. (imagine you are trying to squeeze or hold a grape in the groove of your back) Your chest should stick out. Then, pull yourself towards the bar. Your chin should end above the bar. Then, control your body as you lower yourself.

For the greatest range of motion, you want to relax at the starting position. lock your elbows.

2. Dumbbell rows

This is something I perform after my pull-ups! they are pretty good.

I cover these in my blog post Horizontal Pull Exercises. This post has a few examples of different rows and how YouTube influencers take advantage of them. Anyway,

How to perform Dumbbell Rows

I use a bench, but apparently this is a one way ticket to a Hernia…

Grab a dumbbell. Legs shoulder-width apart, engage your core.

Hinge forward at the hips, keep your back straight and chest up. Torso parallel to the ground.

Pull a dumbbell to your body. don’t twist your back. Find the squeeze on the side of the back you are using. If you don’t feel the contraction on your back, you probably engage your arms too much.

You can use a bench, but I would suggest using your other hand to keep you stable whilst you perform the lift, like on the gym’s dumbbell rack. After a certain amount of reps, do the same for the other side of your back, with the other arm supporting your position.

3. Seated Cable Row

To round up your back session, these are awesome.

This is a cable exercise, and you could try different grips too. I would recommend a V-Handle for this

How to perform Seated Cable Rows

Connect a V-handle bar to the cable machine, with your feet placed on the pads designated for them.

grab the V-handle first. then, position yourself upright at the end of the seated bench. you want to make sure you can perform the full range of motion on this exercise.

I like to grip the bottom of the V-handle bar, as I feel a nice squeeze on my mid-back.

Pull the V-handle so the top of the handle touches your chest. As you do this, pretend you are squeezing that grape with your shoulder-blades in your back again.

Then, control the movement back to the starting position, keeping your body upright.

Oh and remember – focus on that muscle contraction.

What makes a back grow thick?

No Joke – The thickest, strongest backs are from men who don’t even go to the gym (if you aren’t juicing that is)

When Stock rolls of carpets would roll into my grandads shop, they would be balanced on the shoulders of my family.

To this day, I have an 80-something (sorry grandad, I forget your age) Grandad “pull” and “row” his carpets into the shop.

Somehow his back has muscles that I didn’t know exist, and has earnt the title “The Machine”

You want to emulate those type of lifts in the gym, if you don’t want to work fitting carpets.

That’s what grows a thick back. These are exercises for a thicker back.

But Gammage, why no deadlifts?

Its a good point.

Deadlifts might be more beneficial to you than the top three exercises above.

Every human on this planet reacts differently to stress. This is no different from the stress on the muscle.

Finding out what works for you is ultimately trial and error. For me, My back blew up on pull-ups, compared to deadlifts.

I’m not saying Deadlifts aren’t good though. Many people swear by them. Definitely try them out.

RISK vs REWARD

Every exercise can cause injury.

Pullups and deadlifts are no different. For me, the risk of injury from Deadlifts was greater then pull-ups.

My logic was that I could start with pull-ups and only body weight. With Deadlifts, you need some weight, or lifting the bar off the ground is difficult. Can’t get your feet underneath!

Plus, I feel like pull-ups focus more on the back, or at least the collective muscles around the back are more engaged.

Finally, I feel the room for error is greater on deadlifts. a lot more could go wrong. I’m in this for the long game, not to enter snap city.