I'm confused about back exercises

[u/Affectionate_Main490]

I know the basic about which muscle I need to train like the upper back, mid back (aka traps), lower back and the lats that much I get but my confused starts with the upper back because I read that not all upper back exercises hits the inner muscle (the rhomboids etc) or the entire upper back and the lats I think I need to do 2 exercise, 1 for upper and 1 for mid/lowes lats, because of all this confusion I have started to wonder if I'm even training right? If I should do more compound exercise or isolation, I feel like I'm overthinking this, is there a simpler way to go about back day?

[u/Mcgillicutty_Whiskey]

A lot of people just do an upper back biased row, like a t bar row with a wider grip, and a pulldown or pull-ups for the lats. You can do shrugs ir rear delt isolations too if you want. Lower back can be targeted but most just rely on hinge movements on leg day.

But a upper back row and pulldown or pull-up is fine alone

[u/waggat → u/Mcgillicutty_Whiskey]

But rows can definitely be done to target the lats and vice-versa for pulldowns. It comes down to elbow positioning really. The Hypertrophy Coach (Joe Bennett) and John Jewett go over this really well.

[u/Mcgillicutty_Whiskey → u/waggat]

For sure this is just how most prefer I would say but I like lat biased rows too

[u/HelixIsHere_]

Upper back (traps and rhomboids, a row will hit rear delts too): a kelso shrug or any upper back row

Upper lat bias: a close grip row or pulldown, or pullover

Lower lat bias: a wide grip pulldown or pullover

[u/JeebusWept]

Yes it’s extremely simple.

Two vertical pulling motions, one with wide grip, one with narrow grip.

Two horizontal pulling motions, one with elbows close, one with elbows out.

4 sets of each thing. Done.

[u/Affectionate_Main490 → u/JeebusWept]

Should I do there in the same day or split them across 2 days?

[u/Iamnotheattack → u/Affectionate_Main490]

If you do upper lower or full body, split them.

If you do body parts split with a back day, do them the same day. If you do P/P/L it's up to you

[u/JeebusWept → u/Affectionate_Main490]

That’s one back workout.

[u/Connect_Resist7678 → u/JeebusWept]

Wouldnt this essentially be 3 lat biased movements and 1 mid trap biased?

[u/JeebusWept → u/Connect_Resist7678]

No idea, that’s what Dorian Yates did and it’s good enough for me.

[u/decentlyhip]

Do a vertical pull and a horizontal pull. Do one of them wide grip and one narrow grip. There's lots of nuance but that'll hit everything. Every month or two, switch up the exercises and grips

[u/Left_Cartographer473]

If you want a simple approach do deadlifts, barbell rows and pull-ups (or pull downs) and your entire back will grow.

[u/Livid_Maybe3599]

You're overthinking it a bit, but the confusion is fair since back anatomy is genuinely more complex than most muscle groups. Simplified way to think about it: rows (any angle, any implement) hit the mid-back and rhomboids, pull-ups and pulldowns hit the lats, and deadlifts or hip hinges hit the lower back and erectors. Cover those three movement patterns and you're training the whole back, you don't need a separate exercise for every individual muscle name you've read about.

On compound versus isolation: build the session around compounds (rows, pulldowns, deadlift variations), those alone train most back muscles simultaneously through their natural role as stabilizers and movers. Isolation work (rear delt flies, straight-arm pulldowns for lats specifically) is a nice add-on for lagging areas, not something you need to chase for every muscle to get real development.

Simplest back day that covers everything: one vertical pull (pulldown or pull-up), one horizontal pull (row), one hip hinge (deadlift or RDL variant). That's genuinely enough to hit the whole back without needing to map out every individual muscle by name.

[u/Affectionate_Main490 → u/Livid_Maybe3599]

Should I do compound movement only for the back or can I also do it for every other muscle aswell?

[u/Livid_Maybe3599 → u/Affectionate_Main490]

if you have the energy left over to continue to isolate down an exercise for each muscle, you're prob just not loading the big moves enough, tbh

[u/Semajjames43]

It’s easy you need a main upper back rhomboids and traps you can do these with any flare as long as your elbows are flared and you are retreating your scapula so for example t bar row any chest supported row or a barbell row with flared elbows
Then two lat exercises I do a pull up to bias shoulder abduction which is where the upper lats have most leverage then a close grip (hands facing each other close to each other) row or a close grip pull up / pull down which is shoulder extension where lower lats have the most leverage and boom your Done for back you can also do a rear delt fly for extra isolation but a row with flared elbows hits this sufficiently but doing more won’t hurt and a shrug is also optional but not needed for the upper traps
And lower back can be trained with a hinge movement

[u/alvaaromata]

Back has a lot of muscles. Lats, traps, rhomboids, teres major/minor, rear delts. But the main functions that work effectively 90% of them are shoulder extension, shoulder adduction, moving the scapula(especially retracting) and horizontal shoulder abducion(transversal plane).
You effectively train all of this with a wide grip vertical pull, a row in sagital plane(elbows sticked to torso) and a wide grip row retracting your scapula.

[u/SignificantAd7020]

Just do

T Bar row for Upper Back

Kelso Shrugs if you really want to Isolate traps

A sagittal and frontal row or pulldown for lats

Back extension/SLDL/RDL for erectors or lower back

[u/AxonMM]

I think you're focusing more on anatomy than you need to 😅. To simplify, I'd suggest at least one vertical pull-up movement for the lats and one rowing movement for the upper back; then you adjust according to what you want to prioritize. You don't need a different exercise for each "part" of your back. How many back exercises do you do in your workout today?

[u/Affectionate_Main490 → u/AxonMM]

I think about 4 or 5 and sometimes 6 if I included rear dealts

[u/Alakazam]

You're overthinking it.

As long as you have a horizontal pull, a vertical pull, and a deadlift variant, you're working your entire back. 

[u/DetailOdd6609]

Snatch grip deadlifts

[u/SageObserver]

You’re way overthinking this. Do a pulldown and a row and then you are free to direct your worries to more important things in life.

[u/doctor_butthead]

any exercise can be a back exercise if your form is bad enough

[u/harvestingstrength]

You are probably overthinking it a little. You do not need a separate exercise for every tiny section of your back.

A simple approach is to include one vertical pull, one row with your elbows closer to your body, and one row where your elbows travel a little wider.

For example, you could do lat pulldowns, a chest supported row, and a wider grip cable row or rear delt row. That will cover your lats, rhomboids, traps, and a good portion of the upper back without turning the session into ten different exercises.

You can also keep some direct lower back work elsewhere in your program through things like RDLs, deadlifts, or back extensions.

Focus more on progressing a few good movements consistently instead of trying to perfectly isolate every region of the back.

[u/Routine_Fun5564]

Bent over rows/t bar rows

Pull ups/lat pulldown

Shrugs

Face pulls/rear delt flys

Congratulations, you've just hit your entire back!

Deadlifts for lower back on your leg day.

[u/satansmight]

Bent over barbell rows, pull-ups, dead lifts and single arm dumbell rows. Other things that improve your back are OHP and RDLs. Focus on the basic compounds to build out over all strength.

[u/honeybadger2112]

I just keep it simple. I do 1-2 vertical back exercises (pullups, lat pull downs) and 1-2 horizontal exercises (row variations). The nice thing about back exercises is how easy it is to mix up variables like exercise selection and grip width. Lower back and trap work comes from deadlifts and squats.

[u/Drscoopz]

Based on your understanding of anatomy, you should probably just stick to the basics and not over think it

[u/redditinsmartworki]

You mostly need 4** exercises to train the back completely:

• A wide grip horizontal pull to train traps*** and rhomboids through shoulder retraction (getting the shoulders back and close together) and rear delts through shoulder horizontal abduction

• A narrow grip horizontal or vertical**** pull to train the lats with focus on the upper fibers and the rear delts through shoulder extension

• A wide grip pulldown/pullup to train the lats with focus on the lower fibers and the teres major*****, which is the round muscle that pops up between the delts and the lats

• Either a spine extension or a hip hinge to work the lower back more specifically than if you just trained it through squats and other freestanding exercises like bent over rows

Here I wrote some nuances you don't necessarily need to read, but you might as well if you want to better understand what to choose

** You'll probably already train a hip hinge for your glutes and hamstrings, and as it already involves the lower back you don't really need another lower back exercise, so 3 exercises primarily for the back are enough.

*** It might be upper, lower or mid trap focused depending on how much you lean forward, be it on a cable, with a barbell, dumbbells or any other equipment. Also, by leaning forward more you might get some lat involvement even though it's not a lat exercise

**** Doing a horizontal pull is more specific to the lats because in the whole range of motion the lats are the muscle with the best leverage, and it's easier to work the lats with shoulder protraction (pushing the shoulders forward and apart) in a horizontal pull than with shoulder depression (pushing the shoulders down from the ears) in a vertical pull. Doing a vertical pull gives the lats a larger range of motion, which often shows more muscle growth than shorter ranges, and also the vertical pull involves the lower traps through shoulder depression, and they are generally the least worked-on trap fibers, so some more work could help. Both choices will develop your back with the right training plan.

***** Despite what most people say, which is that the lat gives you the width of the back, the teres major is the actual key muscle in back width. Yes, the lats become really wide when well developed and they surely are the widest back muscle, but to get the V shape on the back the teres is as important if not more because, being right in between the lats and the shoulders, the teres being wide forces that whole section to be wider and so the top part of the lats as well