The basic dumbbell row is one of the best exercises for your back, attacking both the lats and rhomboids. But not everyone can do the biggest, baddest back exercises out there. How to: Grab a dumbbell in one hand and bend forward at your hips, resting your other hand on a stable surface. Return to start. Best Back Width Exercise: Reverse Fly. The elevated plank row hold, a move from fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., will help you build a strong mind-muscle connection with your back muscles (and incinerate your core, too). Brace your core, then pull the weights toward your rib cage, squeezing your shoulder blades together. “ The [exercises] that should always be included in a fitness routine are dumbbell deadlifts, reverse fly, bench-supported supinated row, single arm row, and upright row,” Jamie Hickey, nutritionist, trainer and Founder of Truism Fitness tells Lively . Targeted muscle along your lats and between your shoulder blades serves a variety of purposes, insulating your shoulders against injury, improving your posture and alleviating neck pain, and, of course, completing a dynamic V-tapered physique. First, you'll need to squeeze the towel aggressively to hold the dumbbell. Men's Health participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. But don't let it be a mere hold; focus on continuing to pull upwards for the duration of the hold. This is your starting point. The good news if you dread all those moves: You don’t need to do any of them to build a supremely jacked, powerful back. Think of the TRX plank pause row as a devastating challenge; you'll need an extra piece of equipment for it in the TRX. Hinge forward, letting the weight hang directly under your shoulder as you lower your torso and raise your left leg until both your chest and leg are parallel to the floor. That's one rep. Do 20 reps on each side. Women's Health may earn commission from the links on this page, but we only feature products we believe in. Pullups and chinups aren't the only way to add muscle and strength to your lats and midback. Start with the 10 best dumbbell moves for back and you'll be well on your way. That flared-outward row will attack your rear delts, building much-needed mass behind your shoulders. Building a strong, powerful back is one of the best things you can do for your body. With control, return to start. You don't need fancy gym machines to get a strong, sculpted back. Stop at shoulder height and return to start. Start with 3 sets of 8-12 reps. Not far behind the dumbbell row is the incline row, one of the strictest row variations there is. That’s one rep. Do 20 reps. How to: Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Let the dumbbell hang straight down from your shoulder, your palm facing forward. How to: Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Set your feet shoulder-width apart, ... Best Back Stabilization Exercise: Ys. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io, These Exercises Will Help You Build Core Strength, How Men Over 40 Can Power Up Their Back Muscles, Rapper SAINt JHN Shares His Group Training Workout, How to Use Tabata Training to Incinerate Calories. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position. Bend one arm and raise the dumbbell to chest level, keeping your hips and shoulders level. For a lot of us, pullups (a gold-standard back move) are hard, so hard that we can’t do enough reps to build muscle. Women's Health participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. To help you achieve your back-building and posture goals, celebrity fitness trainer and "Revenge Body" star Lacey Stone has put together the best dumbbell back moves for you to try. Without moving your torso, raise your arm straight back until it's in line with your body. Bentover Dumbbell Reverse Flye… One of the best parts about the dumbbell row: It's an exercise that you can eventually load up with serious weight, making it a key muscle-building move. Raise one arm out to the sides as you squeeze your shoulder blades together. Hinge forward from your hips to lower your chest toward the floor, arms hanging directly from your shoulders, and palms facing toward body. Pause, then lower back to start. That’s one rep. Do 20 reps. How to: Grab one dumbbell in your left hand and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Pull the dumbbell to your rib cage; pause, then slowly lower back to start. Ratchet up the forearm and stability challenge of the standard dumbbell row with Samuel's towel dumbbell row. The three-way elevated plank row is all about back muscle subtlety. Once you have that, you get to establish an ultra-challenging TRX single-arm plank hold, which will carve your abs and obliques. This Dumbbell Row Tweak Builds More Back Muscle, 10 Lat Moves You Need to Build the Perfect Back, This Dumbbell Series Will Blow Up Your Upper Body. And if you do it right, focusing on keeping your hips and shoulders square to the ground, it'll build serious core strength, too. Hinge forward from your hips to lower your chest toward the floor, arms hanging directly from your shoulders and palms facing away from you. From that position, you're rowing a dumbbell upwards; your lats and rhomboids will do this in near-complete isolation, in part because the rest of your body is almost completely focused on merely holding that devastating TRX plank. Lower the weight to the floor, then repeat the move by rowing the other dumbbell. That's one rep. Do 20 reps on each side. Why trust us? For each move, do 20 reps, then continue to the next move. And heavy barbell deadlifts are very often just plain intimidating. Pause, then lower back to start. That’s one rep. Do 20 reps. How to: Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent.