Upper Back Exercises

Learn All of Our Back Toning and Back Strengthening Exercises for your Upper Back Muscles and Add to your Next Back Workout

Welcome to our Upper Back Exercises main page!

Here we’ve linked to all of our weight training exercises that target this essential area of your upper body. Each of our exercises for the upper back muscles includes pictures, exercise instructions, and tips so you can immediately add to your next Back Workout and other Weight Training Programs.

Shut up and let me skip to the exercises!

Why Should you Include Exercises for the Upper Back Muscles in your Workout Routines?

Your upper back muscles, the rhomboids minor and rhomboids major, posterior deltoids, teres major and infaspinatus muscles form one of the largest areas of your upper body. Because they work such a large area of the body, exercises for the upper back are essential in Muscle Building Workouts as well as Fat Loss Workouts.

Also, as mentioned in our “Building Big Arms” how to article, “Pulls” like Bent Over Row and Dumbbell Rows primarily target the upper back muscles, but also place much more stress on your biceps than isolation bicep exercises like Dumbbell Bicep Curl and Preacher Bar Curl.

Strengthening these muscles will also increase your bench press, so what’s not to love?

The Back Exercises

Our Upper Back Exercise list is divided below by equipment required resulting in the following sections for this muscle group:

Upper Back Barbell Exercises
Upper Back Body Weight Exercises
Upper Back Cable Exercises
Upper Back Dumbbell Exercises
Upper Back Weight Machine Exercises

Click on the links above or continue reading below to view each section for the upper back muscles. Also, make sure to view our Best Back Exercises List to jump to the top five Back Exercises.

Barbell Upper Back Exercises

Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Barbell T-Bar Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps	Barbell
Bent Over Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Shoulders	Barbell
Reverse Grip Bent Over Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Shoulders	Barbell

Check out all our different Barbell Exercises divided by muscle group trained!

Body Weight Upper Back Exercises

Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Body Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps	Barbell or Smith Machine

Check out all our different Body Weight Exercises divided by muscle group trained!

Cable Upper Back Exercises

Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Rear Lateral Raises	Upper Back, Shoulders	Cable
Seated Cable Reverse Fly	Upper Back, Shoulders	Cable, Bench
Seated Cable Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Shoulders	Cable

Check out all our different Cable Exercises divided by muscle group trained!

Dumbbell Upper Back Exercises

Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Dumbbell Rows	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Trapezius, Deltoids	Dumbbell
Pushups Row	Upper Back, Chest, Core, Shoulders, Triceps	Dumbbells
Reverse Flys (One Arm)	Upper Back, Shoulders	Dumbbell, Bench
Reverse Fly	Upper Back, Shoulders	Dumbbells, Bench
Single-Arm Bent Over Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Deltoids, Trapezius	Dumbbell

Check out all our different Dumbbell Exercises divided by muscle group trained!

Weight Machine Upper Back Exercises

Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Smith Machine Bent Over Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Trapezius, Deltoids	Smith Machine

Other Back Exercises

Some of the best weight training exercises for the upper back like Pull Ups, Chin Ups, and Deadlifts primarily target your lat muscles and lower back muscles and secondarily work your upper back. Therefore, make sure to view our Back Exercises page for a list of all our exercises for the back.

Our Back Exercises page links to every individual back exercise as well as our Lower Back Exercises and Lat Exercises.

Finally, if you found this page of interest, check out these related pages:

Best Back Exercises
Weight Training Exercises Main Page
Muscle Building Workouts and Strength Training Exercises
Fat Loss Workouts and Fat Burning Exercisess

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