The Best And Worst Back Exercises (Ranked By Science)

what are the best and worst back exercises for muscle growth well in this video I'll be ranking 20 of the most popular movements on a tier list from s for super to F for fail and at the end I'll Crown one exercise as the best of the best raising it to S tier plus and one as the worst of the worst demoting it to F tier hell and to make sure your favorite back exercise doesn't end up in F tier it'll need to take three boxes one it needs to give a big stretch with high

tension if it doesn't give me a good stretch or provide high tension it's going an F tier no exceptions two it needs to feel good this means it doesn't cause pain and it has a smooth resistance profile giving a good pump and a nice mind muscle connection wouldn't hurt either three it must have a simple progression if you can't easily add weight or reps over time it's getting knocked down all right let's get the worst out of the way Renegade rows these are not good for building muscle first they don't provide a good stretch because

you'll come up solid against the floor they don't offer maximum tension to your back because other muscles have to work so hard just to keep your balance which makes it hard to get a good back pump sorry Renegade rows are going in F tier this is because the Renegade row is trying to combine two exercises into one a plank and a dumbbell row planks are good for your core and rows are great for your back when you put them together you end up watering down the amount of tension that your back receives and the same

goes for other twoin one combination exercises like the dumbbell row plus curl or the dumbbell row plus press or the dumbbell row plus Kickback this is because the smaller muscle in the pair will always be so much weaker than your back so it'll always give out first this leaves your back totally UND stimulated these exercises will burn some calories and they will grow the weaker muscle in the pair but they aren't good back Builders they're all going in F tier okay what about the deadlift well I am a big fan of the deadlift I think

it's one of the best exercises for building total body strength however when we look at the criteria for S tier back Builder it doesn't score too well it doesn't stretch your lats or midback much at all it also doesn't take your lats or traps through an active range of motion so any tension they do receive is isometric and I don't know about you but deadlifts don't give me a great back pump and while they are easy to overload you can always add some weight or some reps that's usually because your hamstrings and glutes are getting

stronger not necessarily your back as a back Builder the deadlift is going in C tier I'm not putting it in D or F tier just because it will beef up your spinal Erectors and thicken up that lower part of your back but as a pure back hypertrophy exercise I do think there are far better options now if this were a lower body day I'd probably put the deadlift in A or B tier especially if it's done with a well-controlled negative and since the above theee rack pull is basically just a deadlift with less range of

motion it's going in D tier except since it often damages gym equipment Hogs plates and unless your name is bro feels pretty terrible I'm going to go ahead and move it to F tier okay you're probably ready for some better exercises so let's start with the wide grip pull-up it offers high tension throughout the range of motion and a deep stretch at the bottom it feels good and you should get a nice back pump however pull-ups do have a tricky resistance profile they feel very easy at the bottom and very hard at the top this

makes for not the smoothest feel that said they are very good for progression as you can easily add one rep each workout or add some load with a weight belt they also look cool and I really respect pull-up strength wide grip pull-ups are going in a tier neutral grip pull-ups have all the upsides of wide grip pull-ups with slightly more lat emphasis they're also going in a tier chinups with a Palms up grip shift some back tension to your biceps so while they are still a great upper body exercise I'm putting them in B tier

for the back specifically next pull Downs we've got wide grip laat pull Downs neutral grip laap pull downs and half kneeling one arm lap pull Downs wide grip lat pull Downs offer a big stretch on your lats they provide smooth even tension throughout the range of motion they feel great plus you get to sit down which is nice and stable and you get a fantastic combination of both lat and mid trap activation and you can easily overload them by increasing the pin weight the wide grip pull down is our first exercise being awarded to S

tier neutral grip pull Downs have all the same upsides of wide grip pull Downs except they emphasize your lats over the mid traps especially if you think about driving your elbows down so they're also going in s here half kneeling one arm lap pull Downs are heralded as being oh so optimal online so let's see how they do high stretch check high tension check good feel at least for me check and they're easy to overload you can easily add a rep each week and then some weight as you get stronger there is a little less

stability here than on a pull down machine however you can overcome that by bracing against your knee or against an in bench plus being able to focus on one lad at a time is great for preventing asymmetries so while I'm tempted to put them in a tier I'm going to be lenient and put them in s tier as well now the cross body lat pull around is a spin on the same movement where you twist your torso by 90° so that you're pulling the cable across your body this will increase the stretch on your lats

even further however I find that despite the amazing Stretch A lot of people find the movement a bit awkward especially at first so I'm going to leave these in a tier okay let's cover some of the most popular row variations up first the barbell row it stretches your back quite well and it offers high tension however because it's not the most stable exercise that tension will be dispersed to other stabilizing muscles like your calves glutes and low back just to keep balance this isn't a huge deal your back will still get hammered and you can

still overload this movement from week to week but I don't think it's the best row variation and I don't even think it's the best barbell row variation so the standard barbell row is going in B tier the Yates row is basically just a barbell row with a more upright posture and with looser technique of course it's named after bodybuilding Legend and six-time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates while the looser form will help you load more weight it doesn't actually guarantee more tension to your back muscles because of momentum coming from your hips and the more upright

posture actually reduces the stretch on your lats and mid traps sorry Dorian the eight row is going in C tier the penl row is essentially the opposite of the eight row instead of going more upright you go more bent over this is good because it places your lats under a higher degree of stretch and tension it also allows for more consistent progression since your form is tighter so assuming you do them with a controlled negative I think they belong in B tier although I could easily nudge them into a tier if we factor in strength

development they're just not quite stable enough as a pure hypertrophy exercise for my taste so they're going to stay in B tier the deficit penl row is a penl row where you stand on something like a bumper plate this allows you to go deeper on the negative meaning more stretch on your lats I'm going to put these in a tier all right The Meadows row named after the late great John Meadows who is someone who taught me so much so let's see it stretches your back a ton it absolutely smashes your midback with super high

tension and as long as you brace against your knee you'll be nice and stable the midback pump you'll get from these is unmatched and as a bonus you get to work on each side individually this is definitely a personal favorite and easily belongs in s tier for me the inverted row is basically an upside down row where you pull your own body instead of pulling some weight they offer a pretty amazing stretch at the bottom and I can't lie they feel pretty great too if you set it up right you should feel nice and locked

in and you should be able to feel a strong mind muscle connection with your back however they're getting knocked down for progression while you can have a training partner load some weight in your lap this also makes the movement feel really awkward for me at least and then without the weight you're stuck with doing Super High Reps which is fine but it is suboptimal once you go above 30 or 40 reps so despite some positive aspects I'm going to put inverted rows in C tier one arm dumbbell rows the zombie corpse of athleen x's X

exercise graveyard obviously this exercise gets a bad rap online but other than athleen x I've actually never heard another physiotherapist or exercise scientist Express concerns about it I've been doing them myself and with clients for more than a decade without a single issue so let's see they offer a big stretch on your lats at the bottom and they feel nice smooth and stable the main issue is once your back gets decently strong you may max out the dumbbell rack at your gym which usually stops at 100 lb so they're getting knocked down slightly for progression

but I'm still going to put them in a tier The Croc row is basically just a dumbbell row with looser form so you use some leg drive and some momentum on the positive now I'm normally not a fan of loose technique however where you're braced against the bench the momentum here is actually more controlled and consistent than it normally is also the momentum leans into the natural strength curve of the back quite well it gives you some assistance and getting through the harder top half of the range while still offering a nice stretch at the

bottom I may get some Flack for this from the technique junkies but I'm putting Croc rows in a tier okay freestanding tear rows probably the most epic looking exercise especially if you look like Ronnie Coleman but the problem is I just don't love them they do give a nice stretch on your lats and the tension that your back gets will be high I just find them to be annoying balance can be an issue once you get decently strong and the other end of the bar will often pop up if you don't have a land mine

attachment you can progress on them well by adding reps or load but they're getting knocked down in the feels good department for me I'm thinking C tier but I'll go ahead and put them in B tier for Ronnie now chess supported rows give you all the positives of the freestanding tar row but with a much more stable and secure feel feel having your chest supported allows you to focus all the tension to your back these are an absolute staple and should 100% be included in your bodybuilding routine if you don't have a chest supported machine

you can do dumbbell Helm's rows where you brace your chest against the back of an incline bench you can do these as tear rows or whatever machine helps you engage your back the best either way chest supported rows are going in s tier for sure cable rows are another personal favorite they may actually be the single best exercise that I know of for feeling a deep stretch on my lats especially when when I lean forward on the negative they also give me a crazy laat pump and you can always increase the Reps or weight from

week to week these are going in s tier as well switching to a wide grip will shift some emphasis to the mid traps especially if you squeeze your shoulder blades together but that's not a bad thing if that's what you're trying to Target and wide grip cable rows have all the same benefits of close grip cable rows so they also belong in s tier speaking of your midback the Rope face pull is a very popular option it does stretch your midback well as long as you pull your shoulder blades apart on the negative and you

should be able to feel a strong mind muscle connection connection with your entire midback the issue is they're a bit unstable when done the conventional way because the cable is always trying to pull your body forward and so a lot of that tension is simply lost trying to keep your balance for this reason the standard rope face pull is going in B tier however if you modify the exercise to do it either lying on the floor or by doing them seated you eliminate that balancing requirement and you'll be able to overload them with much more

tension being applied directly to your back so I'm going to go ahead and put both of these variations in a tier they're close to being an S tier but just looking at the other exercises in s tier so far I don't think face pulls are quite as amazing definitely still an exercise worth including though for sure the cable lat pullover or the lat prayer offers a huge stretch on your lats as long as you bend forward on the negative and you should be able to feel a strong mind muscle connection with your lats these are

better done for higher reps so they aren't as easily overloaded as some of the compound exercises we've covered but you can always add a rep here and there and the incredible mind muscle connection and the Deep stretch make up for it in my opinion that said it's fairly common for people people to feel their triceps taking over on this exercise but once you get the hang of the movement and learn how to engage your lats by simply driving your elbows down I do think they're a great way to get some extra lat isolation volume without

causing any total body fatigue and so I'm going to put cable lat prayers in a tier now the dumbbell LP pullover is the same basic movement except with the dumbbell you have much more tension on your lats at the bottom and very little tension at the top now this isn't such a bad thing though because the stretch is most likely the most anabolic part of the range of motion anyway so as long as you cut out the very top end of the range of motion I'd also put these in a tier so out of the

S tier list if I had to Crown just one exercise as the best of the best I think I'd go with a chest supported row it's just so good for smashing both the lats and the midback and there are so many effective ways to do it and if I had to pick one exercise as the worst of the worst it' probably be the Renegade row as a hypertrophy exercise there's just not enough stability to maximize tension and if you're looking to put all this information to use with a science-based program that you can just go

to the gym and execute I'd strongly recommend picking up my 10-week pure bodybuilding program the program got extremely high praise from other experts in the field and it's easily my most highly rated program ever so I'll put a link to that over here next to my head and don't forget to leave me a thumbs up if you enjoyed the video subscribe if you haven't already and I'll see you guys all here in the next one