Back exercises.

The back is the largest and most complex muscle group in the upper body — lats, traps, rhomboids, rear delts, spinal erectors all in one area. A complete back routine needs vertical pulling, horizontal pulling, hinge work, and at least one upper-back isolation. Here are fifteen of the most useful exercises.

• Deadlift. The total-body pull. Loads the entire posterior chain, with the back doing most of the holding.
• Pull-Up. Vertical pulling, bodyweight. Loadable with a belt. The benchmark for relative back strength.
• Chin-Up. Supinated grip pull-up. More biceps involvement, slightly easier for most lifters.
• Lat Pulldown. Cable substitute for the pull-up. Easier to load precisely and to push close to failure.
• Barbell Row. Heavy horizontal pull. Builds thickness in the mid-back like nothing else.
• Dumbbell Row. Single-arm version. Stretched position, longer range of motion.
• T-Bar Row. Loaded barbell or landmine row. Friendlier on the lower back than a bent-over barbell row.
• Cable Row. Seated row with constant tension. Easy to vary grip and angle.
• Face Pull. Rear-delt and upper-back isolation. Underrated; almost everyone needs more of it.
• Pendlay Row. Strict row from a dead stop on the floor every rep. Eliminates momentum.
• Meadows Row. Single-arm landmine row from a staggered stance. Hits the lats hard in a stretch.
• Inverted Row. Bodyweight horizontal pull from a bar or rings. Scales with height and feet position.
• Straight-Arm Pulldown. Lat isolation. Stretches the lat at the top, contracts it hard at the bottom.
• Shrug. Upper-trap isolation. Heavy, loadable, simple.
• Rack Pull. Partial-range deadlift from pins. Lets you overload the lockout and the upper back.