10 Upper Body Pull Exercises for a Big Back and Strong Arms
THERE ARE HUNDREDS of muscles in the human body. No matter how dedicated you are, though, you're not going to be able to train them all in a single workout. You may have taken to the push/pull method of splitting up your muscle groups to maximize your training without sacrificing all your time. To do that properly, you'll need to a dependable number of upper body pull exercises to fill your program.
The push/pull split is extremely useful, especially if you only have a few days a week to dedicate to the gym. You won't skip over any major muscle groups, and you'll allow proper rest time in between sets. "The split insures that you train multi-joint patterns every single day," according to MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. "These moves are critical to building muscle and strength and also ready the body for real-life situations."
When you're training your back muscles, an essential muscle group, you'll need to pull. Here are a few of our favorite upper body exercises to fill your pull days.
What's a Pull Exercise?
A pulling movement includes "anything that requires bringing load or resistance towards the body" says Eric Sung, C.S.C.S. It's one of the most common movement patterns our bodies can do, both in and outside the gym.
Two main muscle groups are associated with pull exercises: the muscles of our upper and mid back and the biceps.
What Muscles Are Used for Pulling Exercises?
The muscles of the mid and upper back include the rhomboids, the lats, the traps, and the rear deltoids. Lower back muscles also assist in some pulling exercises. The biceps contain the short and long heads of the biceps brachii, as well as the brachialis—a small muscle that sits in between the two heads.
What Are the Benefits of Pulling Exercises?
Pulling is a movement pattern you perform do daily—think about how often you pull a door or cabinet open. Whether you're pulling a dumbbell up to your torso during a row, or pulling your kid closer into you on a busy street, your back and biceps muscles are involved.
Back and arm strength is the main byproduct of pulling movements, and that's no small matter for your overall wellbeing. A strong back means bettering your posture, which is important in the health of our digestion and breathing pathways, along with healthy movement. The back plays a large part in our core strength—vital for our balance, athleticism, and stability.
The 10 Best Upper Body Pull Exercises
Dumbbell Row
Why: The dumbbell row is a fundamental back exercise that will help you build serious strength and muscle in your rhomboids, lats, and traps. You can take this exercise just about anywhere you have a weight and a platform: the hotel gym, your makeshift garage set up, or a fully-stocked gym.
How to Do It:
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart in front of the bench. Push your butt back and lower your torso down, extending your off arm to rest your palm on the bench. Make sure your shoulders stay above your hips.
Grab the dumbbell with your working hand. Squeeze your glutes and abs to create full-body tension. Your back should be flat, with your head in a neutral position.
Squeeze your mid-back muscles to drive your elbow up, rowing the weight. Keep your shoulders level and avoid rotating your lower back.
Pause for a beat, then lower the weight back down.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Barbell Row
Why: When you're ready to take the row up a notch, the barbell row allows you to work with heavier loads, which is essential for building strength. The key here is to keep the tension in the upper and mid-back, steering clear of the low back. That means paying extra attention to form before you load up the bar.
How to Do It:
Load up a barbell with plates, then approach it as you would a deadlift: stand with your feet about hip-width apart, then push your butt back and hinge at the hips to bend over and grasp the bar.
Take an underhand grip when you grasp the bar. This will allow you to involve your biceps more in the pulling movement and help to prevent an internally-rotated position.
Keep your head in a neutral position, looking down at the ground. This helps to prevent your lower back from going into extension.
Squeeze your glutes and core to create tension. Raise your torso slightly to raise the weight off the floor.
Move at the elbow and shoulder to row the bar to the top of your ribcage. Aim to 'break' the bar against your chest, pausing in the top position if you can.
Control the weight back down to the starting position, maintaining your posture.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Chin Up
Why: We want to train both horizontal and vertical pulling, and the chin up is one of the best vertical pull exercises there is, Sung says. It will heavily incorporate your lat muscles—the largest muscles in your back.
How to Do It:
Grab the bar with an supinated (underhand) grip. Hold tightly, with your palms on top of the bar.
Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension. Your legs should be slightly in front of your torso.
Pull your head over the bar.
Lower back down, fully extending your arms.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Elevated Plank Row
Why: The elevated plank row combines a fundamental back exercise, the dumbbell row, with a plank variation that burns the core and the back in one.
How to Do It:
Get into a high plank position on a weight bench. Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension and fight anti-rotation.
Rest one forearm on the bench, then grab a dumbbell in your other hand, hanging off the bench. Maintain tension to stay in position.
Row the weight up to your chest, until your upper arm is parallel with your torso. Pause for a beat at the top.
Lower the weight back down under control.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps per arm
Biceps Curl
Why: Don't mess with the classics. The dumbbell biceps curl is arguably the most fundamental biceps exercise in the gym, for good reason—it's basic, but effective in building biceps strength and size.
How to Do It:
Stand holding a pair of dumbbells in each hand in a neutral grip.Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension.
Moving only at the elbows, raise the weight up. Turn your wrist so that the dumbbell faces the ceiling (supination), emphasizing the biceps squeeze as you raise the weight to the top position.
Lower the weight back down to the starting position with control.
Sets and Reps: 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Close-Grip Lat Pulldown
Why: The lat pulldown is a staple machines you'll find in most gyms, and it provides you with one of the best ways to train your lats. The close grip handle specifically allows an optimal angle for driving your elbows down, allowing greater external rotation at the shoulder, Samuel says.
How to Do It:
Set seat at a comfortable height. Grab the handle, using a neutral grip if it's a V-handle or underhand grip for the more standard wide bar.
Focus on keeping your feet planted into the ground, core tight, and maintain a tight grip on the bar.
Lean back slightly—do not arch your back for this—then, squeezing your shoulder blades, drive them down as you pull. Remember to drive your elbows down as well as you pull the bar to the top of your chest.
Hold momentarily at the bottom, then return to start position under control.
Sets and Reps: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps
Incline Bench Row
Why: You can never have enough rows—they help build muscle in your back, and safeguard your shoulders from injury. The incline bench row (sometimes called the incline chest-supported row) forces insolation, which taking some stress off your low back.
How to Do It:
Sit on an incline bench facing forward, so you can rest your chest against the pad.
Use a supinated (or underhand) grip to grab your dumbbells. Engage your glutes and abs, then squeeze your shoulder blades to create tension.
Pull the weight up to the bench. Think about driving the weights straight through the bench as quickly and explosively as possible.
Return the bar to the ground without allowing it to slam on the floor.
Pause between each rep to reset your position.
Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps
Spider Curl
Why: The spider curl is a sure-fire way to nix any possible cheating on your curls. You won't be able to use body English to shift the weight with your body resting on the bench, and the torso angle will provide a different stimulus to the muscle.
How to Do It:
Set up in a front-facing position on an incline bench holding one dumbbell, with your chest on the pad. Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes for a strong posture. Allow the arm holding the weight to hang straight down in front of you.
Curl the weight up moving only at the elbow, squeezing your biceps at the top. Work to keep your upper arm angle perpendicular to the ground throughout the movement.
Lower back down to the starting position.
Sets and Reps: 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Seated Cable Row
Why: The seated cable row "is one of the best ways to learn and build all around back muscle," says Samuel. This movement helps train shoulder blade movement you need to prime other rowing movements.
How to Do It:
Take a seat on the machine with your feet planted, a little wider than shoulder width. Drive the heels, and squeeze the glutes. Grab onto the cable handle.
Sit up tall with a slight bend through the knees. Tighten up the abs and low back to maintain a perpendicular angle to the floor with your torso.
Roll the shoulders back and down. Squeeze them together as you row, thinking about pinching a pencil in between them. As you do this, pull the handle back towards you, landing right above your belly button.
Pause here for a moment before returning the handle, still squeezing the shoulder blades. Once you've returned the weight to the stack, then allow the shoulder blades to relax, without pulling the torso forward.
Repeat to go for another rep.
Sets and Reps: 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps
Hammer Curl
Why: If you're looking to really grow your arms, you need a few biceps exercises in your arsenal. That's where the hammer curl comes into play. Because we're taking the supination out of the traditional biceps curls, we're able to load up this move a little more.
How to Do It:
Stand holding a pair of dumbbells in each hand in a neutral grip.Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension.
Moving only at the elbows, raise the weight up. Keep your wrist neutral, emphasizing the biceps squeeze as you raise the weight to the top position.
Lower the weight back down to the starting position with control.
Sets and Reps: 3 to 4 sets of 15 to 20 reps
You Might Also Like
