IF YOU’RE LOOKING to build your back, you need a healthy repertoire of exercises that stimulate the muscles you’re looking to train efficiently. There are a lot of choices out there that will hit your back muscles, sure—but some are better than others.
“Every back exercise you find is going to stimulate your back in one way or another,” says Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., MH fitness director. “But if you really want to grow your back, if you really want to layer muscle, then we want to be targeted with the exercises that we’re doing.”
A good muscle-building exercise does a few things: it allows the muscle to stretch and work through full range of motion, it allows a full contraction, and it allows you to really stack on the weight to train with a heavy load. Here are four popular back exercises that don’t meet that criteria, and alternatives that will get to your goals faster.
4 Back Exercises to Stop Doing and Alternatives to Try
Deadlifts
There’s no doubt that deadlifts deserve a spot in your routine. The staple exercise is just not your best choice on your dedicated back training day.
Yes, this is a compound movement that challenges just about every muscle in your body, including your back to help stabilize the load. But the main movers of this lift should be your glutes and hamstrings, not your back. Your lats do activate when your shoulder shifts into extension (moves your arms closer into your torso) as you work to keep the bar close into the body, but it’s not a great builder of the muscle.
Do This Instead: Straight Arm Pulldown
There is a way to use shoulder extension to build your lats, and that’s with the straight arm pulldown. This move allows you place more of a stretch through the muscle, and you’ll be able to own the contraction as you pair a hip hinge with shoulder extension. Aim for 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps when you add this to your workouts.
Renegade Rows
Everyone and their mother loves to add renegade rows into their HIIT and circuit training routines. While it’s a great core move, you won’t be able to work with heavy enough loads to really get significant back gains from it. Plus, you’re not able to get a full stretch or contraction on the muscle in the high plank position.
Do This Instead: Elevated Plank Row
If you want to stick with a similar movement pattern that still hits your abs, take this to an elevated plank row. The elevation of the bench will allow you to fully extend the arm and get a better stretch on the muscle, allowing contraction through the full range of motion. Plus, the demand from the abdominals will be a bit lighter so you can load up this movement more for a better muscle stimulus.
Straight Arm Dumbbell Row
Theoretically, this movement provides a longer lever for the lats, which should challenge them more than a traditional dumbbell row. In practice, though, it’s not that simple.
First off, locking your elbow into a straight position is limited by the strength of your triceps. Second, this position makes it very easy to swing the weight behind you rather than powering the movement solely from your back. That type of cheating won’t help your gains.
Do This Instead: Classic Dumbbell Row
Stick with the classics here. Allowing your elbow to bend through this movement means you can go heavier, which is ultimately going to give you those back gains you want. The lever may be shorter, but the weight will be higher, providing you that much more benefit.
You’ll be able get a deeper, more controlled, stretch on your lats, too. You’ll be able to focus way more on time under tension then you would trying to keep your elbow as straight as possible.
Behind the Neck Pulldown
There are plenty of reasons why this doesn’t need to be in your repertoire of exercises. First, you put your shoulder at risk by moving it into internal rotation. Second, you likely can’t get a healthy contraction on your lats, depending on your anatomy. You’ll likely be limited in your range of motion in your shoulders before you can fully flex the elbows.
Do This Instead: Standard Lat Pulldown
By keeping the bar in front of your chest, you take out the heightened risk of shoulder injury and will find a deeper contraction through better range of motion.
“When you go in front of the neck, you’re able to get that really deep contraction. That’s what we want to chase when we’re going for back growth,” Samuel says.
