10 Best Barbell Back Exercises for Strength and Mass

Most people’s back training is mediocre at best. They constantly switch machines and never stay with progressive overload, and then they wonder why their back development is at a standstill.

The truth is that, when done correctly, barbell exercises are the best way to develop a strong, multifaceted back.

I’ve personally trained it

In this guide, we’re excited to share with you the top 10 barbell back exercises that can really help you build strength and size.

Know More: The Complete Guide To Barbell Exercises For Strength Training

10 Best Barbell Back Exercises To Build Mass and Strength

Below, we outline the 10 best compound barbell back exercises you can incorporate into your program to build muscle, improve strength, and add variety to your training.

1. Deadlift

The deadlift is the King of all exercises—this powerful exercise is designed to build an overall physique that uses more muscles than any other exercise.

The deadlift is the best exercise for posterior chain muscle strengthening. It works the whole body, including the Lower and upper back, arms, legs, and buttocks.  

Due to the engagement of large muscle groups, deadlifts can boost your metabolism, aiding in fat loss.

How To Do

1. Place a barbell loaded with weights in front of you.
2. Grab the barbell using an underhand grip with one hand and an overhand grip with the other hand.
3. Remember to keep your back as straight as possible and contract your back and hamstrings.
4. Now raise the bar from the ground using your hamstrings and glutes.
5. You should keep your legs slightly bent, back straight, and head looking up.
6. Raise it to the point where your body is erect. Do not hyperextend your body as the weight shifts to the lumbar spine.
7. Hold the bar momentarily at the top of the lift and remember to lock out.
8. Slowly lower the bar steadily by bending at the hips first and then at the knees.
9. Allow the weight to almost touch the ground for a moment before beginning the next rep.

2. Bent Over Barbell Row

Bent-over barbell rows are the best barbell exercise for strengthening the back and adding massive muscle to the upper back region.

Spacing your hands shoulder-width apart or closer targets the central inner section of the lats, whereas a wider grip targets the outer back muscles.

• A narrow grip keeps the elbows close to the body, making it harder to extend the shoulders and pull them away from the body. This forces the lat muscles to work harder, strengthening them.
• The wide grip encouraged by the flared elbows helps reduce lat involvement, allowing you to target the rhomboids, traps and rear delt.

How To Do

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Hinge at your hips, pushing your glutes back.
2. Grip the bar with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder width (experiment to find what feels best for your mechanics and target area—wider often emphasizes more upper back/rhomboids, while narrower can feel more lats, but keep it reasonable).
3. Your back should be flat, close to parallel to the floor (or at least above 45 degrees, aiming lower as you get more comfortable).
4. Your chest should be up, shoulders back, and head neutral (looking slightly ahead or down).
5. Exhale and pull the bar explosively towards your lower chest or upper abdomen. Ensure the bar travels in a relatively straight line towards your torso.
6. Think about driving your elbows back and squeezing your shoulder blades together and down as the bar comes up.
7. Inhale and slowly lower the bar back to the starting position with control.

3. Landmine Row 

If you want to add freshness and variety to your barbell back workouts and challenge yourself, try this landmine row exercise.

Landmine row training and the exercises you can perform are empowering and extremely beneficial. It’s an important part of your back workout.

The Landmine row is the classic landmine exercise. It will do an absolutely stellar job of targeting your lats, traps, posterior delts and rhomboids. This is one of the best exercises you can do for pure back thickness.

T-bar rows are tough, but building a strong back is essential for developing a quality physique.

How To Do

1. With the barbell loaded, stand over the bar with a wide stance.
2. Get into a bent-over position with your spine straight and chest up.
3. Bend at the hips and keep your back arched throughout the movement.
4. Lift the bar until the bar touches your chest, keeping the back straight.
5. Now, slowly lower the bar until it nearly touches the ground.

4. Reverse Grip Barbell Bent Over Row

The Reverse Grip Barbell Bent Over Row is one of my top choices for building a thick, strong, and defined back. This variation places a good stress on the lower lats, biceps, and spinal stabilisers.

With a supinated grip, your elbows naturally stay tucked closer to your torso as you pull. This emphasises shoulder extension and adduction, which is more aligned with the primary functions of the latissimus dorsi. 

With this variation, I’ve consistently observed that clients (and myself) can often achieve a deeper, more intense contraction in the mid to lower lats.

How To Do

1. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Grab the barbell with a supinated (underhand) grip, about shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower. A narrower grip can sometimes help keep the elbows tighter.
2. Ensure your mid-foot is under the bar. With a slight bend in your knees, hinge at your hips, pushing your glutes back. Keep your back straight and rigid – think “proud chest” and a neutral spine from head to tailbone.
3. Your torso should be bent over, ideally somewhere between a 45-degree angle and nearly parallel to the floor.
4. Pull the barbell up towards your lower abdomen or belly button. Keep your elbows relatively close to your sides as you drive them up and back. 
5. Consciously squeeze your lats and mid-back muscles hard at the movement’s peak. Hold for a brief moment.
6. Lower it slowly and with control, resisting gravity all the way down.

5. Barbell Upright Row

The barbell upright row is a compound weightlifting exercise that involves multiple joints and simultaneously engages several muscle groups. It primarily targets the deltoids (shoulders) and trapezius, while also working the biceps, forearms, and upper back.

One thing I really like about the upright row is how it challenges your body’s vertical pulling strength.

Most pulling exercises are horizontal (like rows) or overhead (like pull-ups). The upright row fills this middle ground, helping to round out your pulling strength in all directions.

Electromyography results indicated that the shoulder shrug exercise significantly increased upper trapezius activation compared to the other dumbbell exercises.

Barbell upright rows can be performed with three main variations of grip width:

• A wide grip (wider than the shoulder)- BEST ONE
• The close or narrow grip (half of shoulder width),
• A standard grip (shoulder-width grip)

How To Do

1. Hold a barbell with an overhand grip and stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Your grip on the barbell should be wider than shoulder-width apart. Let it hang in front of you.
3. While keeping your barbell close to your body, lift the bar using your arms to raise it to chest height.
4. Allow your shoulder blades to move naturally with your shoulder joints. Pause at the top of the movement.
5. Now, lower the bar under controlled motion until it returns to its starting position.
6. Repeat the wide-grip upright row for your desired number of repetitions.

6. Chest Supported Barbell Row

The chest-supported row exercise is an effective variation of the bent-over barbell row. As the name suggests, it involves rowing with your chest supported. This highly effective exercise also minimises lower back strain.

In other words, this variation requires less effort to stabilise body position during the row because the chest is supported on the bench.

This row is much more effective for targeting the back muscles because it doesn’t require other muscles to stay stable throughout the movement. This exercise can target different muscles depending on how your arm is positioned and how you are holding the weight.

How To Do

1. Lie down on an incline bench with a barbell and hand extended out in front of you.
2. Keep your chest pressed down throughout the motion.
3. Maintain retracted shoulders and a neutral neck.
4. Slowly pull the barbell up until your elbows are just above your shoulders.
5. Once you reach the final position, hold for a count and squeeze your muscles.
6. Return to the starting position and repeat for as many reps and sets as desired.

7. Barbell Pendlay Row

I often recommend the Barbell Pendlay Row to people who want to build raw upper back strength and explosive pulling power.

The Pendlay Row distinguishes itself from a standard bent-over row primarily through two key characteristics:

•  Starting each repetition with the barbell resting entirely on the floor eliminates the stretch-shortening cycle (the “bounce” or elastic energy you get when reversing direction mid-air). This forces your muscles to generate maximal force from a static position.
•  You maintain a torso angle close to parallel with the floor throughout the lift. This creates a longer range of motion for the lats and upper back musculature than more upright rowing variations.

How To Do

1. Stand with your feet about hip-to-shoulder width apart, similar to your deadlift stance. The barbell should be on the floor directly over your midfoot.
2. Keep your back flat and your chest up as you hinge at the hips. Grip the bar with a pronated (overhand) grip, typically slightly wider than shoulder-width.
3. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath, brace your core HARD (like you’re about to get punched in the gut), and engage your lats.
4. From the dead stop, explosively pull the barbell off the floor towards your lower chest or upper abdomen.
5. Briefly pause at the top, feeling that intense squeeze in your entire upper back.
6. Lower the barbell back to the floor under control, but don’t make it an overly slow eccentric. The emphasis is on the explosive concentric.
7. Allow the barbell to come to a complete dead stop on the floor. Briefly reset your brace and position before initiating the next explosive repetition. Each rep is its distinct lift.

Know More: Landmine Exercises For Building Muscle And Strength

8. Barbell Shrug

The Barbell shrug is one of the best exercises to build bigger, stronger trapezius muscles. This exercise can be done extremely heavily to thicken the traps, which helps you do back poses.

It is one of the best isolation exercises for the trapezius muscle. The shrug is one of the simplest and easiest exercises to perform. You need to add this barbell back exercise to strengthen your upper back and trap muscles.

A study has shown that shrugging helps relieve shoulder and neck pain. Strengthening your traps helps provide better support to your head and neck.

How To Do

1. Stand with feet placed shoulder-width apart, knee slightly bent, and core stable.
2. Grip the barbell with your hands facing downwards, in a pronated grip.
3. Raise your shoulders without bending the elbows as far as possible, getting them closer to your ears.
4. Hold the contraction and squeeze for a brief second.
5. Don’t let the head move forward too much when you’re squeezing the traps. This can hurt the neck.
6. In a controlled and stable manner, lower the weight back down to the starting position.

9. Barbell Good Morning

It is known as a good morning because of the movement in the erector spinae, which resembles the rise out of bed to stretch.

The erectors are just like any other muscle, growing best when shortened and lengthened. 

The erector spinae muscles of the lower back work isometrically to keep the spine in an extended position, while the hamstrings and gluteus maximus work isotonically to perform hip extension.

How To Do

1. Stand holding a barbell on the back of your shoulders, grasping the Stick at each side.
2. You can also perform the exercise as in the bodyweight version.
3. Keeping your knees slightly flexed and your back and neck neutral.
4. Inhale as you flex your hips to lower your torso until it is close to, or fully, horizontal.
5. Exhale as you raise your torso back up to the starting position by extending your hips.
6. It is recommended that the lifter avoid rounding (flexing), or rotation (twisting) at any point during the movement.

10. Landmine Deadlift

Landmine Deadlifts are for those who need the strength-building benefits of traditional deadlifts, but with less stress on the spine and better posture control.

This variation offers a safer, more ergonomic alternative to conventional barbell deadlifts, especially for beginners, those recovering from lower back issues, or athletes looking for variety in posterior chain training.

Unlike a conventional deadlift, where the bar travels vertically, the landmine forces the bar to travel in an arc. This arcing motion path can often feel more natural for many individuals and less stressful on the lower back.

How To Do

1. Secure one end of a barbell into a landmine unit or wedge it firmly into a stable corner of the room. Load the opposite end (the sleeve) with appropriate weight.
2. Stand in front of the barbell landmine with your feet about hip-width apart.
3. Squat down, hinge at your hips, and grip the very end of the barbell sleeve with both hands, interlacing your fingers for a secure hold.
4. Hinge deeply at your hips, sending your glutes back. Maintain a proud chest and a flat, neutral spine from your head to your tailbone. Your gaze should be slightly ahead and down.
5. Start the lift by driving through your feet and simultaneously extending your hips and knees. Your arms act as hooks; don’t try to pull with them. The power comes from your legs and hips.
6. Now, lower the bar slowly and steadily by bending at the hips and then at the knees.
7. Either gently tap the weight on the floor or stop short for constant tension, then immediately begin the next rep. I often prefer a gentle tap to ensure a consistent range of motion, especially when teaching the movement.

How To Train Back With a Barbell

The number of reps, sets, and weekly workout volume required to design an effective barbell back workout for size and strength gains will differ depending on your fitness level and objectives.

When you workout, the total amount of work you do is called training volume. This includes the number of sets, reps, and weights you use.

Weekly Workout Sets

According to the latest scientific evidence, 12–20 weekly sets per muscle group may optimise muscle growth.

• Beginners (with a year or less of training) should aim for about 12 weekly sets.
• An Intermediate trainee (with two to four years of training) can increase the volume to 16 sets per week.
• An advanced trainee (four or more years of training) may be able to get in up to 20 weekly sets.

When a certain amount of volume stops being effective and your progress stalls, you can add sets to increase volume and use that as a driver of renewed progress. 

Reps

The best rep ranges and loads to work with.

• For strength gains, do 4 to 6 sets of 1 to 6 reps for each exercise, using 85-100% of your one rep max (1RM). Go heavier and perform fewer reps.
• If your goal is muscle growth(hypertrophy), do 3 sets of 8-12 reps for each exercise, using 70-85% of your 1RM.
• For muscular endurance, use moderate weights of 50-70% 1RM for higher reps of 15-20 per set.

It’s best to start with fewer reps and sets first, then increase them as you get stronger.

Note: The heavier and more challenging the weight, the fewer reps you need to perform and vice versa.

Barbell Back Workout Routines

For a complete back workout and to build balanced strength, you’ll need to do various back exercises that specifically target your trapezius, upper, middle, and lower back muscles.

• Shrugs and upright rows are great exercises for building the trapezius muscles.
• Upper and middle barbell back exercises target the rear deltoid, rhomboids, and lats. When choosing exercises for your upper back, you should include various row exercises, such as barbell rows and rear delt rows.
• The lower back can be targeted with exercises like deadlifts and good morning exercises.

1. Beginner Back Workout Plan

2. Intermediate Back Workout Plan

Conclusion

Barbell back exercises are a great way to build a strong foundation and can be useful for anyone, from beginners to bodybuilders.

Be smart: Don’t limit yourself to barbell exercises. Take advantage of their benefits and supplement them with other back exercises when needed.

• Cable Back Exercises
• Dumbbell Back Exercises
• Bodyweight Back exercises

Barbells can be easily incorporated into any training program and can be particularly effective when used alongside dumbbells, machines, and cables to build the biggest, strongest back possible.

Manish Kumar

Manish is a NASM-certified fitness and nutrition coach with over 10 years of experience in weight lifting and fat loss fitness coaching. He specializes in gym-based training and has a lot of knowledge about exercise, lifting technique, biomechanics, and more.

Through “Fit Life Regime,” he generously shares the insights he’s gained over a decade in the field. His goal is to equip others with the knowledge to start their own fitness journey.