This makes leg day an essential part of building a well-rounded physique. Leg day can even set the tone for the entire training week. Break from convention and skip “international chest day,” and you’ll realize that a good squat workout on Monday can fire you up to take on anything.

Whether you want a punishing leg workout that will leave your muscles sore for days or you’re looking for something that can add more strength and coordination to your daily activities, these 20 exercises will guide you down the right path.

Best Leg Exercises

• Back Squat
• Conventional Deadlift
• Sumo Deadlift
• Heels-Elevated Trap Bar Deadlift
• Leg Press
• Hack Squat
• Bulgarian Split Squat
• Romanian Deadlift
• Nordic Hamstring Curl
• Kettlebell Swing
• Walking Lunge
• Reverse Lunge
• Barbell Hip Thrust
• Leg Extension
• Seated Leg Curl
• Lying Leg Curl
• Standing Calf Raise
• Seated Calf Raise
• Tibialis Anterior Raise
• Air Bike

Back Squat

The Back Squat often gets labeled as the king of lower body exercises — and that’s fair. It not only challenges every muscle in the lower body, but also places responsibility on muscles across the upper body to help stabilize the load and help protect the spine. This ends up making it one the most useful full-body exercises in your exercise selection arsenal.

In addition, the back squat reinforces a basic movement pattern we engage in daily. The ability to squat has been associated with improved quality of life and increased mobility in older adults, giving it yet another reason to be at the top of our list. (1)

How to Do the Back Squat

Place a barbell into a squat rack around shoulder-height. Position yourself with the barbell across your upper back. Keep your body and the barbell connected by contracting your upper back muscles and squeezing the bar in your hands. Inhale to brace your core before lifting the weight from the rack.

Take a few small steps backward and get your feet into position roughly hip-width apart or a little wider based on your comfort and mobility. With your core braced, squat down until your upper legs are parallel to the floor. Drive yourself back up toward the starting position by pushing your feet down into the floor.

Benefits of the Back Squat

• The back squat challenges the whole body, emphasizing the lower body — most notably the quads, glutes, and adductors.
• Muscles throughout the core are engaged and the muscles responsible for posture are strengthened.
• The squat movement positively impacts muscle coordination and functional strength, benefiting gymgoers of all ages and with all goals.

Conventional Deadlift

The conventional deadlift gets a lot of attention for its back training benefits, but let’s not forget that it’s a lower-body driven exercise with many benefits for building the legs. It’s also a popular test of strength, requiring force production from your feet through your legs and glutes, across your core and upper back, and into your grip.

The proper technique for a deadlift is straightforward, but it can take a lot of practice to get right. So take your time, practice, and progress your loads responsibly. Because of the significant strength potential of the glutes and hamstrings, the deadlift is often the first barbell exercise that allows lifters to move some serious weights once they’ve mastered proper form.

How to Do the Conventional Deadlift

Stand in front of a loaded barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart, with the bar aligned just over the knots of your shoelaces. Drive your hips back and allow your knees to bend slightly as you grip the barbell outside of shoulder-width with a palms-down grip.

Keep your back and torso rigid and arms straight. Push your feet into the floor as you simultaneously pull your chest and shoulders upwards to lift the bar.

Benefits of the Conventional Deadlift

• The conventional deadlift helps build muscle and strength across the upper and lower body — most notably your glutes, hamstrings, spinal erectors, and grip.
• Your strength in this movement, alongside your technique, will improve substantially when performed consistently.
• Because it coordinates the upper and lower body and transfers power from your feet to your grip, it’s an excellent movement for building total-body strength.

Sumo Deadlift

The sumo deadlift is often viewed as the red-headed stepchild of the strength world. There is ongoing debate among the fitness community that it is “cheating” compared to the conventional deadlift because sumo deadlifts travel through a shorter range of motion.

Regardless of hair color or social popularity, the sumo deadlift is an effective exercise for building muscle and strength across your upper and lower body. It shares many of the same benefits and qualities that make its conventional counterpart so beloved.

Choosing to perform the sumo variation over the traditional variation often comes down to preference, limb length, and mobility. The sumo variation also challenges the lower body muscles differently than the conventional stance due to your widened foot position, with more challenge on the quadriceps and adductors relative to the hamstrings.

How to Do the Sumo Deadlift

Stand with a loaded barbell over the knots of your shoelaces. Set your feet outside shoulder-width apart with your toes pointed slightly outward. Drive your hips back and allow your knees to bend as you grip the barbell inside of your legs, somewhere around shoulder-width, with a palms-down grip.

Keep your back and torso rigid and your arms straight. Push your feet into the floor as you simultaneously pull your chest and shoulders upwards to lift the bar.

Benefits of the Sumo Deadlift

• The sumo deadlift allows a more upright torso, reducing lower back strain.
• This deadlift variation emphasizes the quads and adductors.
• The sumo deadlift can be a more efficient deadlift variation for taller lifters and lifters with longer than average legs.

Heels-Elevated Trap Bar Deadlift

Deadlifting with a trap bar, sometimes referred to as a hex bar or diamond bar, is a go-to for many lifters looking to build their lower body strength while minimizing the load on their spine and lower back. The trap bar keeps your arms in a neutral position, as opposed to being in front of your body. This neutral-position increases shoulder and upper back stability and allows your torso to remain more upright, which reduces lower back recruitment.

Because the trap bar’s unique design keeps your hands by your sides, the weight is near your body’s center which allows for a more comfortable and upright torso position. The added benefit from elevating your heels allows you to achieve more knee flexion, which increases the emphasis on the quads.

How to Do the Heels-Elevated Trap Bar Deadlift

Place an inclined wedge or two small weight plates on the ground inside a loaded trap bar. Stand on the wedge (or plates) with your heels up and the balls of your feet on the ground. Keep both feet facing forward, parallel to the handles.

Drive your hips back and allow your knees to bend as you securely grip the handles. Keep your back and torso rigid and arms straight. Push down into the floor with your feet while pulling your chest and shoulders upwards to lift the weight.

Benefits of the Heels-Elevated Trap Bar Deadlift

• The trap bar deadlift allows you to keep the weight centered while allowing a more comfortable, upright torso position.
• The trap bar demands less from the lower back than other deadlift variations, which is great if you’re working around an injury or physical limitation at the gym.
• The heel elevation allows your knee to travel further forward during the exercise, emphasizing muscular tension on the quads.

Leg Press

The leg press is a machine-based movement that mimics exercises like the back squat or hack squat. Because you don’t have to support heavy weights with your upper body, you can often load this exercise up with more weight than you would most other leg exercises. This lower body focus makes the leg press a go-to exercise for building bigger and stronger legs.

Due to the ease and efficiency of loading and unloading the weight plates, this exercise is one of the best for safely performing more advanced techniques such as rest-pause sets or drop sets.

How to Do the Leg Press

Sit in the leg press seat and place your feet toward the middle of the platform, about shoulder-width apart. Perform a few reps without weight to ensure your feet are in an appropriate position.

Press the sled out of the resting position, move the safety bars, and slowly lower the sled towards your chest until your thigh-and-knee angle reaches roughly 90-degrees. Press the sled up by driving your entire foot into the platform. A good rule of thumb for strength and safety is that if your lower back or hips lift off the seat, you’ve lowered the weight too far.

Benefits of the Leg Press

• The leg press allows you to perform the squat movement pattern without the load bearing down on your spine.
• This machine can be used with more weight than you would be able to perform on most other leg exercises.
• The support of the machine lets you safely and effectively perform more advanced training techniques like rest-pause sets or drop sets.

Hack Squat

The hack squat is a modern-day interpretation of a movement performed by strength pioneer George Hackenschmidt in the early-1900s. This exercise is a close relative to the back squat and leg press, and delivers the same leg-building benefits while providing training variety.

The hack squat machine supplies a level of external support and stability, which reduces lower back strain while allowing you to work to higher levels of muscular fatigue.

How to Do the Hack Squat

Position yourself in the machine with your feet on the platform around shoulder-width apart or slightly outside, closely mimicking your back squat stance. Keep your hips and torso flush against the back pad with your shoulders snug into the shoulder pads. Maintain a neutral head position, resting on the pad if one is available.

It may help to do a few reps with no weight to ensure you are comfortable throughout the entire range of motion. Lower your body until the bottoms of your thighs reach parallel to the floor or slightly below. From this bottom position, focus on keeping your feet flat as you drive into the platform and return to the starting position.

Benefits of the Hack Squat

• This exercise allows you to mimic the movement pattern of a back squat with reduced lower back strain.
• The machine’s overall stability, predetermined movement pattern, and external support help you work deeper into muscular fatigue with relatively lower risk of injury when compared to its free-weight counterparts.

Bulgarian Split Squat

The split squat is one of the best single-leg exercises for building muscular size and strength. In addition, the unilateral nature of the movement challenges coordination and stability across the body.

Most importantly to the goal of building muscle, this exercise creates a high level of fatigue in the target muscle Even without added weight, the Bulgarian split squat can be challenging enough to stimulate growth.

How to Do the Bulgarian Split Squat

Hold a dumbbell in each hand while standing roughly two feet in front of a bench or box. Place one foot back on the bench with your laces down. Once you’re balanced, pull your shoulders back and engage your core.

Drive your back knee down toward the ground while your front knee bends to 90-degrees. From the bottom, press your front foot down into the ground as you stand back up into the starting position.

Benefits of the Bulgarian Split Squat

• The single-leg setup challenges you to balance throughout the range of motion, positively contributing to gains in muscle, strength, and coordination.
• The split squat can be adjusted to emphasize specific muscles. Leaning slightly forward during the rep emphasizes the hamstrings and glutes. Placing your front foot closer to the bench prioritizes the quadriceps muscles.

Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian Deadlift, often nicknamed the RDL, primarily builds muscle and strength in the hamstrings and glutes. It also challenges muscles in the upper and lower back, which both contribute to strength in big lifts such as the squat and deadlift.

It may not have the clout of other members of the deadlift family, but when it comes to targeting the back of the legs, the RDL is one of the most effective exercises in the gym.

How to Do the Romanian Deadlift

Stand in front of a loaded barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grip the bar just outside the knees with both palms down. Perform a conventional deadlift to get the bar in the top position and hold.

Lower the bar by pushing your hips back while allowing your legs to bend very slightly. The bar should reach near the middle of your shins. Raise the weight by driving your hips forward and returning upright to the starting position.

Benefits of the Romanian Deadlift

• The Romanian deadlift emphasizes the hamstrings and glutes.
• The exercise has carryover benefits to other big lifts, such as the squat and deadlift, because it also works powerful postural muscles throughout the back.
• The Romanian deadlift allows you to use more weight than many other hamstring exercises, making it extremely effective for building size and strength.

Nordic Hamstring Curl

The Nordic hamstring curl is a bodyweight movement that builds strength and resilience in the hamstrings. It has also been shown to reduce the risk of hamstring injuries. (2)

One unique aspect of this exercise is that it prioritizes the eccentric (lowering) portion of the rep, while the majority of exercises are focused on the concentric (lifting) portion. Some lifters consider this an advanced exercise, but it can be performed by all fitness levels due to several simple variations and regressions which can adjust the difficulty to an appropriate level.

How to Do the Nordic Hamstring Curl

Kneel on the floor with both feet anchored beneath something sturdy, most commonly a heavily loaded barbell. You can also ask a partner to hold your ankles. With a straight torso, extend your arms in front of you and slowly lower your hands towards the floor. The lower you get, the more challenging the movement will be as your hamstring muscles are loaded with more of your body weight.

Catch yourself with your hands and push your body back up to the starting position while curling your hamstrings. As you get more advanced, work to lower your chest to the floor and raise yourself up without using your hands.

Benefits of the Nordic Hamstring Curl

• The Nordic hamstring curl can be performed anywhere you can securely anchor your feet.
• This is one of the few bodyweight-only exercises to emphasize the hamstrings.
• The Nordic hamstring curl builds leg strength and has been linked to healthier and less injury-prone hamstrings.

Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing is an explosive movement that focuses on power development. Although a simple-looking exercise, it packs a functional one-two punch when it comes to mastering the hip hinge motion and developing explosive power through the hamstrings and glutes.

While a dumbbell can also be used to perform swings, the kettlebell’s larger mass and offset center of gravity make the movement more natural and more comfortable.

How to Do the Kettlebell Swing

Place the kettlebell 12 to 18-inches in front of you. Stand with your feet around hip-width apart or wider, with your feet facing forward. Grab the kettlebell’s handle with both hands, palms down, while maintaining a neutral spine.

Begin the movement by “sweeping” the kettlebell back between your legs into a loaded position before forcefully driving the kettlebell forward by extending the hips forward with your hamstrings and glutes.

Keep your arms relaxed while your hips do all the work to bring the weight in front of you. To initiate the next rep, allow the kettlebell to fall naturally back into the loaded position slightly behind your legs. Work to get into an explosive rhythm and repeat the motion.

Benefits of the Kettlebell Swing

• This exercise will help develop explosive power through your hips, hamstring, and glutes.
• The swing’s repeated rhythmic-based movement will help train your hinge pattern, which carries over to deadlift strength.
• The kettlebell swing only requires access to a kettlebell and enough space to swing it, making it ideal for home workouts.

Walking Lunge

The walking lunge is an alternating-leg, free-weight exercise that shares the same benefits as the stationary split squat with the added benefit of requiring intermuscular coordination and control as you move through space.

This exercise will help develop leg size, strength, and total-body coordination. When performed for very high reps or long distances, it can even be used for conditioning or fat loss.

How to Do the Walking Lunge

Assume a standing position with a dumbbell at your sides in each hand. Take a step forward roughly 18 to 24-inches and plant your entire foot firmly on the ground. Lower yourself in a controlled lunge while allowing your front knee to track forward, aiming between the first and second toe, while your back knee drops straight down to the ground.

Do not rush the eccentric (lowering) portion of the rep. Allow yourself to descend under control while maintaining engagement in your core and an upright torso. To finish, drive through the floor with your front foot and return to starting upright position. Smoothly transition to step forward with the opposite leg and repeat the process. Continue alternating legs with each repetition.

Benefits of the Walking Lunge

• This exercise does an excellent job loading the quads, glutes, and adductors through a long range of motion.
• The walking lunge builds total-body stability while improving intermuscular coordination due to maintaining an upright upper body while actively alternating legs throughout the exercise.

Reverse Lunge

This lunge variation is a more controlled movement than the forward or walking lunge, because there’s no forward momentum challenging your balance.

The relative stability of this lunge makes it great for beginners and advanced trainees alike who want to add weight to their lunge movements while focusing on the muscle’s action rather than balance or coordination.

How to Do the Reverse Lunge

Stand with your feet side by side and keep your hands at your hips. Take a large step back with one leg. When the ball of the back foot is on the ground, descend until your back knee is barely an inch above the floor.

Ideally, as your back knee reaches the bottom, your front leg should be bent at a 90-degree angle. Keep your chest up and shoulders back. Drive through your front foot and stand back up to the feet-together starting position.

Benefits of the Reverse Lunge

• The reverse lunge is easier to stabilize than the other lunge-based variations, making it easier for beginners to learn and progress.
• The added stability of this variation allows more advanced lifters to add load without awkwardly trying to manage the weight while moving forward (like in a walking lunge).

Barbell Hip Thrust

The barbell hip thrust has become a cult classic among glute-focused fitness enthusiasts over the past few years, and for a good reason.

The hip thrust is an exercise that focuses on the glutes more directly without much involvement from secondary muscle groups like the hamstrings or quadriceps.

How to Do the Barbell Hip Thrust

Sit on the ground perpendicular to a flat bench with your upper back (just under the shoulder blades) against the bench and your legs extended. Roll a loaded barbell above your legs so it can rest in your hip crease before bending your legs and placing your feet flat on the floor. You may want to place a padded cushion or folded towel between your hips and the barbell to lessen any discomfort on your hip bones.

Press through your feet and use your glutes to drive your hips up until your body is aligned straight from your knees to your chin. Use your hands to keep the barbell in position. Hold the top position for a second and then lower your hips toward the floor.

Benefits of the Barbell Hip Thrust

• This exercise places significant tension on the glutes while minimally working other muscles in the lower body, allowing you to accumulate more muscle-building training volume directly on the glutes.
• This exercise aids in developing hip extension strength, helping you improve other movements that rely on hip extension such as back squats and deadlift variations.

Leg Extension

The leg extension is a machine-based exercise that gymgoers tend to either love or hate. Some say it’s harmful on the knee joint, while others shout its muscle-building benefits from the rooftops. If set up and performed properly, the leg extension is safe and effective for building muscle in the quadriceps.

This exercise has little to no learning curve, meaning lifters of all skill levels can perform it effectively without much practice. As a bonus, the leg extension targets the rectus femoris muscle in its shortened position. This is a quadriceps muscle that crosses the hip joint and plays a vital role in helping stabilize the pelvis in other lower body exercises.

How to Do the Leg Extension

Adjust the back pad to align your knees with the axis of rotation (signified by a dot or marker on some machines) and adjust the ankle pad so it rests just above your shoes.

Start the movement by straightening your leg to move the ankle pad, then accelerate into the rep until you reach the end range of knee extension. Ensure your toes point straight ahead, not angled in or out.

Benefits of the Leg Extension

• You can target the quads with almost no involvement from other lower body muscles, making it a highly effective exercise to emphasize the quadriceps.
• It targets the rectus femoris, a quadriceps muscle that crosses the hip joint and plays a vital role in helping stabilize the pelvis.

Seated Leg Curl

The seated leg curl is an excellent single-joint movement that primarily challenges the hamstring muscles with some assistance from the calves.

Due to the design of the machine, the lifter is put into a stable position, allowing the focus to be on curling the weight. The added stability makes it a great exercise for newbies in the gym and allows any lifter to safely use more weight for lower reps.

How to Do the Seated Leg Curl

Adjust the back pad so your knees align with the axis of rotation (signified by a dot or marker on some machines) and adjust the thigh pad to fit snugly just above your knees. The ankle pad should be just above your shoes.

Keep your toes pointed straight ahead and pulled slightly upwards. Flex your knees to curl the pad until it’s under the seat, then control the weight as you return to the starting position.

Benefits of the Seated Leg Curl

• This exercise is great for lifters looking to place a challenge specifically on their hamstrings.
• Increased external stability supplied by the machine allows the lifter to take sets deeper into fatigue while maintaining proper form.
• The seated position allows the lifter to train the hamstrings in a more stretched position (hip flexion and knee extension).

Lying Leg Curl

The lying leg curl is another go-to single-joint exercise that can emphasize the hamstrings. It not only does a great job of focusing on the hamstrings, but it also challenges the calf through the beginning of the range of the movement, helping you cover more ground if you’re short on time in the gym.

With less stability supplied by the machine itself, due to your body position during the exercise, the lying leg curl requires the lifter to do more of the heavy lifting to keep the body stable throughout the exercise.

How to Do the Lying Leg Curl

Adjust the leg pad on the machine so your knees align with the axis of rotation (often signified by a dot or marker) and adjust the ankle pad to touch at your ankles. Engage your hamstrings and lift the leg pad by curling your feet towards your glutes. Ensure your toes point straight ahead. Focus on controlling the weight as you return to the fully stretched position.

Benefits of the Lying Leg Curl

• All leg curls allow you to focus more training volume on your hamstrings for increased size.
• The lying position allows the hamstrings to be challenged in their fully contracted position (hip extension and knee flexion).

Standing Calf Raise

The standing calf raise is a relatively easy-to-perform exercise that challenges the calf muscles. Variations of this movement can be done using a dedicated calf raise machine, a Smith machine, a barbell in a rack, or dumbbells, making it a practical exercise for any lifter regardless of where they train.

Stronger calf muscles help bring stability to the ankle and knee, which can translate into athletic performance as well as strength in compound exercises such as the back squat or deadlift. (3)

How to Do the Standing Calf Raise

Adjust the height of the shoulder pad to fit your structure, so you can enter in a quarter-squat position. Brace your core and raise the weight by standing tall.

Begin with your legs in a “soft lockout,” or slightly bent in the knees, with only the balls of your feet on the foot platform. Drive your body up while pushing your ankles forward. Squeeze your calves up to the top of the movement and lower to stretch as far as your ankles allow.

Benefits of the Standing Calf Raise

• This exercise is relatively easy to set up and perform, making it practical for beginners.
• The calf raise adds size and strength to the lower leg while creating stability around the knee and ankle. (4)

Seated Calf Raise

This calf raise variation has the lifter perform the exercise with the knees bent, focusing more on the soleus (one of the two heads of the calf muscle) through a complete range of motion. You can perform this movement in a machine or with dumbbells resting on your knees in a seated position.

The bent-leg position of the exercise de-emphasizes the gastrocnemius head of the calf muscle, which is more heavily involved in straight-leg raises, and more significantly activates the soleus.

How to Do the Seated Calf Raise

Load up the machine with your chosen weight, then sit with your knees bent and the balls of your feet on the platform. Secure the leg pad over your thighs.

Lift the weight and drive your ankles forward, squeezing your calves to the top of the movement. Lower the weight under control into a deep stretch.

Benefits of the Seated Calf Raise

• The seated calf raise allows lifters to train the calves with no involvement of the upper body, making it ideal for lifters dealing with shoulder or back issues.
• It trains the soleus through a complete range of motion while minimizing involvement from the gastrocnemius.

Tibialis Anterior Raise

A less known muscle of the lower leg, the tibialis anterior acts as an antagonist to the calf muscles and helps pivot the ankle and point the foot upwards. In addition, the tibialis anterior raise can add strength to the front of the lower leg, adding stability to your knee and helping to improve your gait cycle (the way your feet move while walking).

This exercise is beneficial for physique-focused lifters, running enthusiasts, and even aging adults who want to maintain their ability to walk and balance later in life.

How to Do the Tibialis Anterior Raise

Stand with your back and shoulders against a wall. Walk your feet roughly six to 12-inches in front of your body. From this position, raise your toes toward your face and hold for a beat. Lower your feet flat on the ground and repeat.

The farther you walk your feet out in front of you, the more challenging it will become. Start close to the wall and increase the distance as you improve.

Benefits of the Tibialis Anterior Raise

• Tibialis raises adds strength and conditioning to under-focused muscles of the shin, potentially helping to avoid shin splints.
• The movement increases stability around your knees and ankles.
• This helps to improve your gait cycle, which is especially important for aging adults.

Air Bike

Air bikes, like the Assault Bike or Airdyne, are cardio machines many gymgoers dread to see in their training program because they’re always used for high-intensity workouts. Although they’re mainly used for cardiovascular benefits, air bikes also help build size to your legs, especially the quadriceps.

This movement is a sure-fire way to light up your quadriceps, increase aerobic capacity, and push your lactate threshold (your body’s ability to handle accumulating metabolic waste and fatigue).

How to Do the Air Bike

Adjust the seat height to best fit your structure and sit down with both feet on the pedals with both hands grasping the handles. When the seat is at the proper height, there should be a slight bend in your knee at the bottom of each revolution.

Pedal and propel your arms back and forth in sync with your leg drive. Focus on pushing powerfully with your legs, not pulling with your arms.

Benefits of the Air Bike

• Because the resistance is only determined by how hard you pedal, it can be performed for all ages and skill levels.
• The air bike is a low-impact method for building leg size and improving cardiovascular health.

The Leg Muscles

The primary muscle groups in the legs include the quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors, glutes, calves, and tibialis anterior.

Understanding their anatomy will help increase your body awareness, mind-muscle connection, and improve the overall effectiveness of your lifting and program design.

Quadriceps

The quadriceps, also known as the quads, are located on the front of the thigh and are made up of four separate muscles: the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and vastus intermedius. They help extend and stabilize the knee, while also playing an essential role in hip stability because the muscles attach near the hip joint. (5)

Hamstrings

The hamstrings are located on the back of the thigh and are made up of three separate divisions, the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris. This muscle plays a role in hip extension (keeping your lower body directly under your upper body), knee flexion (bending the knee), and knee stability because the muscles cross over the knee joint. (6)

Adductors

The adductors are made up of several muscles spanning down the inside of the thigh. These muscles help adduct the leg (moving the thigh toward the body’s centerline) and help support the pelvis during many lower body movements. The adductor magnus, sometimes referred to as another hamstring muscle due to its location and function, also helps extend the hip. (7)

Glutes

The glutes are a popular group of muscles including the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus. These muscles help the hips extend, externally and internally rotate, and abduct (moving the thigh away from the body). (8) Strong glutes are often considered the foundation for a powerful lower body.

Calves

The calf muscles are made of two heads, the gastrocnemius and soleus. Both heads of the muscle work to flex the ankle to point the foot downwards. The soleus attaches beneath the knee, while the gastrocnemius crosses above it. This is allows the soleus to be emphasized during bent-leg exercises. The calf muscles also assist the hamstrings in knee flexion movements like the leg curl and play an essential role in stabilizing the knee. (9)(10)

Tibialis Anterior

The tibialis anterior is located on the front of the lower leg (shin). The primary function of this muscle is to point the foot upwards. The tibialis and calf muscles are comparable to the biceps and triceps because they’re positioned directly opposite one another and they perform similar movements depending on where the resistance is applied. Building up strength in this muscle can help create a more efficient gait cycle during walking or running. (11)

How Often Should You Train the Legs

To maximize leg growth, train your legs at least one to two times per week, depending on how many total days per week you will be in the gym. Due to the different muscle groups in the lower body, it’s essential to train the legs with a handful of exercises spanning many different rep ranges.

Each workout may include a different amount of training volume depending on your training split. Anywhere from 10 to 12 total sets per week is a great starting point for beginners. Advanced lifters can exceed 14 to 18 sets per week, especially if their goal is to emphasize a specific body part. Increased calf training, for example, is one popular approach.

Choose one to three exercises for each muscle group to achieve this total volume and divide the sets evenly across your training week. It’s a good idea to focus on training each primary joint function — knee flexion, knee extension, hip hinge, and squat — to ensure balanced development across the entire lower body.

How to Progress Your Leg Training

Since the legs are trained with a wide variety of exercises, it’s possible to steadily add weight to some exercises every week. For example, you can add more weight more quickly with two-legged, multi-joint (compound) exercises like the leg press or deadlift than with single-joint (isolation) exercises like the leg extension or with single-leg exercises like lunges.

If you find any exercises require more time to improve your technique, be sure to perform those movements towards the beginning of your workouts to avoid training them when fatigued. If you’re new to lifting, improving your technique in an exercise can lead to gains in strength and muscle size without necessarily adding reps or weight. Keep in mind whenever adding a new exercise into your routine, it will take your body a few weeks to get used to the new challenge and nail down the technique.

How to Warm-Up Your Legs

Effective ways to warm-up for any muscle group is with the exercises you are performing in that day’s training session. For example, if you’re performing back squats or deadlifts, warm-up by performing reps with light weight and raise the intensity (load lifted) as you proceed toward your working sets.

This ensures that the appropriate muscles and joints are being primed, reducing the risk of injury and improving your overall training performance.

If you need additional time to warm-up, include exercises that work the muscles surrounding the joints you’ll be working in that session. For a leg workout, that would include the ankle, knee, hip joints, and the lower back.

Building Up Your Legs

Designing an effective leg workout can be fairly straightforward. Choose one to three exercises for each region of the lower body and progress those exercises over time with varying rep ranges. This detailed list gives you plenty of options to choose from, and will keep your legs growing for years to come. Stop skipping leg day and get to work.

References

1. Brito, L. B., Ricardo, D. R., Araújo, D. S., Ramos, P. S., Myers, J., & Araújo, C. G. (2014). Ability to sit and rise from the floor as a predictor of all-cause mortality. European journal of preventive cardiology, 21(7), 892–898. https://doi.org/10.1177/2047487312471759
2. van Dyk, N., Behan, F. P., & Whiteley, R. (2019). Including the Nordic hamstring exercise in injury prevention programmes halves the rate of hamstring injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 8459 athletes. British journal of sports medicine, 53(21), 1362–1370. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-100045
3. Möck, S., Hartmann, R., Wirth, K., Rosenkranz, G., & Mickel, C. (2018). Correlation of dynamic strength in the standing calf raise with sprinting performance in consecutive sections up to 30 meters. Research in sports medicine (Print), 26(4), 474–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/15438627.2018.1492397
4. Mokhtarzadeh, H., Yeow, C. H., Hong Goh, J. C., Oetomo, D., Malekipour, F., & Lee, P. V. (2013). Contributions of the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles to the anterior cruciate ligament loading during single-leg landing. Journal of biomechanics, 46(11), 1913–1920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2013.04.010
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The post The 20 Best Leg Exercises for Size and Strength appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

There are countless exercises you can perform to build size and strength in the back. When you train the right exercises the right way, you will build your ability to move significant amounts of weight, better protect your spine, and all-around improve your performance in everyday life. Here are 18 of the best back exercises to construct your workouts around.

Best Back Exercises

• Deadlift
• Pull-Up
• Inverted Row
• Suspension Row
• Bent-Over Barbell Row
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
• Wide-Grip Pulldown
• Neutral-Grip Pulldown
• Single-Arm Kneeling Pulldown
• Lat-Focused Seated Cable Row
• Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row
• Chest-Supported Machine Row
• Landmine Row
• Meadows Row
• Cable Upper Trap Shrug
• Cable Rope Pullover
• Face Pull
• Farmer’s Walk

Deadlift

The deadlift — a noble member of the “Big Three” powerlifts — is best known for its ability to add size and strength to the back and leg musculature. Although it doesn’t directly work the back muscles through a long range of motion, it places a significant amount of tension across the back and entire torso, making it a unique and effective exercise for building mass.

Deadlift technique is straightforward, but it’s a skill-based exercise that takes some understanding and practice to make it safe and effective within your training program.

How to Do the Deadlift 

Stand in front of a loaded barbell with your feet shoulder-width apart with the bar just a few inches from your shins — aligned over the knot of your shoelaces. Drive your hips back and allow your knees to bend slightly as you tightly grip the barbell just outside of shoulder-width with a palms-down grip. Keep your back and torso rigid and your arms straight. Push your legs into the floor as you simultaneously pull your chest and shoulders upwards to lift the bar as you stand up into a fully upright position.

Benefits of the Deadlift

• It works multiple muscles in your back, plus your glutes, hamstrings, and grip strength.
• When performed consistently, your strength can progress substantially, especially as your form improves.
• It’s an exercise that can be performed in many different rep ranges, allowing you to build muscle and strength across the upper and lower body.

Pull-Up

The pull-up provides a potent stimulus to the muscles across the upper body with little need for specialized equipment to get the job done. All you need is any bar that can support your body weight.

If you really want to get a lot out of the movement, control the eccentric (lowering) portion of the lift and focus on keeping your torso rigid throughout the entire range of motion.

How to Do the Pull-Up

Take a pronated (overhand) grip on the bar, slightly wider than shoulder-width. With your body hanging from the bar, ensure your core is engaged to keep rigidity in your torso while minimizing swinging.

To initiate the movement, contract the muscles of the upper and mid-back. Aim to bring your chin up to or above bar level. Drive your elbows down toward your pockets. If you’re on the heavier side or a beginner new to the lift, perform more sets with fewer reps as you build up your strength.

Benefits of the Pull-Up

• You can perform this exercise anywhere there is a pull-up bar, which can be in your doorway at home, in the park, or a fully equipped gym.
• Learning to control and manage your body weight is a great way to build up joint stability as you get stronger.
• You can work the muscles of your back and arms through a long range of motion while also challenging the muscles of your core.

Inverted Row

The inverted row can be an effective bodyweight exercise, particularly for beginners, because you aren’t required to lift your entire body weight. This makes it an effective choice to increase strength on the way to performing a pull-up.

The exercise is also extremely useful when training at home since it requires only a solid bar and a sturdy surface for support. This way, a bodyweight-only workout isn’t limited to only pull-ups to work your back.

How to Do the Inverted Row

Place a bar in a stable rack. Adjust the height of the bar so you can just reach it when lying on the ground. Lie under the bar and grab the bar with an overhand grip. With your arms locked, your body should be in a rigid plank position with a straight line from your neck to your heels.

Lift yourself by pulling your elbows toward the ground while driving your chest toward the bar. Control your body weight back down to the starting position.

Benefits of the Inverted Row

• The inverted row is great for beginners and intermediate lifters aiming to build overall strength and muscle in the upper and mid-back.
• This can be used as a progression to get you closer to performing your first bodyweight pull-up.

Suspension Row

The suspension row is another effective bodyweight movement that progresses the inverted row to another level. By quickly adjusting your stance and body position, you can immediately alter leverage to make the exercise more or less challenging as needed.

This is a great exercise for developing overall strength and body control while allowing for a less restricted arm path. This helps to prevent discomfort in the wrists, elbows, and shoulders.

How to Do the Suspension Row

With your feet at shoulder width, grab the handles and lean back into position. Adjust your body angle as needed to set the difficulty. The more vertical your body, the easier the exercise will be.

With your feet on the ground and your body set in a rigid plank position, drive your elbows back and pull yourself toward the handles. Don’t allow your elbows to flare out to the sides and don’t allow your shoulders to collapse forwards.

Benefits of the Suspension Row

• This is another effective movement that allows the lifter to progress toward their first pull-up.
• The exercise difficulty can be quickly and easily adjusted by repositioning your stance and body angle.
• The suspension trainer allows for a less restrictive arm path compared to a traditional barbell, allowing you to better adapt the row to your individual structure and reduce joint strain.

Bent-Over Barbell Row

The bent-over row can add a lot of versatility to your training program. It can be performed with a traditional barbell, a hex bar, kettlebells, or dumbbells. For more efficient skill development, stick with one variation for at least several weeks before switching it up.

The basic barbell row allows you to build strength across the upper and lower body. The muscles of the posterior chain (lower back, glutes, and hamstrings) work to keep your lower body stable throughout the movement, while the muscles of your upper back, mid-back, and biceps help row the bar toward your stomach.

How to Do the Bent-Over Barbell Row

Set up as you would for the deadlift, standing with your feet hip-width apart in front of a loaded barbell. If you have exceptionally long legs, you may need to place the barbell onto blocks to allow for a more comfortable starting position. Hinge at the hips and allow your arms to hang down.

Tightly grab the bar just outside of shoulder-width with an overhand grip. Drive your elbows back and up as you focus on pulling the bar toward your upper abs, between your sternum and belly button.

Benefits of the Bent-Over Barbell Row

• You can effectively train the muscles of the upper, mid, and lower back, as well as the glutes and hamstrings.
• Simple variations can be performed with kettlebells, dumbbells, a hex bar, cables, or a traditional barbell.
• Due to the demands of this movement, you can build up functional strength throughout your core and low back, helping you prevent injuries in your everyday life.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

This single-arm row variation was one of the most popular among Golden Era bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger for building muscle size and strength across the entire back.

It can also help you build arm and grip strength, as well as work on muscular asymmetries that may have developed from past injuries or time away from the gym.

How to Do the Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

Stand behind the head of a high-angle incline bench. Lean over and place one hand firmly against the top of the bench with the same-side leg forward, positioned under your shoulder.

Reach your free hand down to grab a dumbbell by your feet. Keep your palm facing your body as you drive the weight back and up until your elbow is even with, or just past, your torso. Control the dumbbell back down to the stretched position.

Benefits of the Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

• By working the body unilaterally (one side at a time), you allow for more versatility with your program design, with the added ability to address any muscular imbalances.
• In addition to building up muscle size and strength across the back, you will also improve your grip, which can carry over to any other movement that requires holding a weight.

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

Aside from the fact that you’re sitting while performing this move, a lat pulldown is essentially the same movement pattern as a pull-up. This makes the pulldown one of the most effective weight training (non-bodyweight) exercises to work towards a pull-up.

The cable’s constant resistance helps create a more stable environment while improving time under tension, which can lead to increased muscle size.

How to Do the Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

Grasp a long bar attachment slightly wider than shoulder-width, with a palms-down grip. Sit down and set your legs securely under the thigh pads. Keep your core tight and your torso upright while pulling the bar down toward your chest.

Think of pinching your shoulder blades together in the bottom position. Resist the weight as you slowly return to the starting position.

Benefits of the Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

• The cable’s constant resistance helps create a more stable environment while improving time under tension.
• This is a great exercise to strengthen your back, arms, and grip if you are working up to your first pull-up because you can progressively add weight and build strength.
• The wide, pronated grip allows you to emphasize the muscles of your upper back.

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

This pulldown variation has you pulling with a neutral-grip (palms facing each other). This adjustment allows you to place more focus on your lats and biceps compared to your upper back.

A neutral-grip gives your arms a stronger biomechanical advantage by recruiting more biceps into the pulling motion, while the elbow position activates more back muscles. This allows you to move heavier weights more safely compared to other pulldown grips.

How to Do the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

Grab a neutral-grip attachment (palms facing each other) and sit on the seat with your legs secured under the thigh pads. Keep your core tight and your torso upright while pulling the bar toward your chest.

Aim your elbows forward, not sideways, to ensure stress remains on the lats. Resist and control the motion back to the stretched position.

Benefits of the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

• This exercise gives you a way to progressively work towards your first pull-up.
• The cable’s constant resistance helps create a more stable environment while improving time under tension.
• The neutral-grip puts you in a great position to bias the lats and biceps compared to the upper back, adding variety and customization to your back training.

Single-Arm Kneeling Lat Pulldown

This unilateral exercise can add variety to your back training. It works the lats through a long range of motion and challenges tissues the rear delts and teres major.

The kneeling position reduces lower back strain, encourages core stability, and ensures a long range of motion. This exercise is relatively advanced because it involves both upper and lower body positioning, so take time to nail down your setup and technique.

How to Do the Single-Arm Kneeling Lat Pulldown

Grab a single handle attached to a high cable pulley. Step back with the opposite foot and kneel on the ground, keeping your front foot flat on the floor. Squeeze the handle and drive your elbow toward your hip.

Control the weight when returning to the starting position. Maintain a kneeling position as your arm, shoulder, and back are stretched before performing the next rep.

Benefits of the Single-Arm Kneeling Lat Pulldown

• This exercise builds back and core strength with minimal lower back strain.
• The cable’s constant resistance increases time under tension throughout the range of motion.
• The setup of the exercise can be adjusted to an individual’s structure, by changing the cable’s height and distance from the pulley.

Lat-Focused Seated Cable Row

This seated row variation uses specific hand position, upper body position, and arm path to place a large amount of muscular tension on the lats.

By maintaining a slight forward lean and utilizing a neutral-grip, your body is in a better position to engage your lats during the movement and minimize the role of the upper back and traps.

How to Do the Lat-Focused Seated Cable Row

Sit in the cable row station with your feet on the platform and your hands grasping a wide attachment with a neutral-grip (palms facing one another). With your core tight and your torso position leaned slightly forward at the hip, pull toward the top of your abdomen.

Do not round your back. Control the weight as you return back to the starting position. In the stretched position, don’t allow the weight to pull you far forward out of a strong postural alignment.

Benefits of the Lat-Focused Seated Cable Row

• The cable’s constant resistance creates a more stable environment while improving time under tension throughout the range of motion.
• This variation is great for building size and strength in the mid-back.
• The neutral-grip allows you to emphasize the lats and biceps.

Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row

The supported position takes your low back out of the equation, giving you more stability to isolate the work to the muscles in your upper and mid-back.

This exercise can be performed with dumbbells or kettlebells in a prone position on an incline bench, or more horizontally in a cable station. Both will effectively place tension across your traps, rhomboids, rear delts, and lats, but may depend on your equipment availability.

How to Do the Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row

Lie face down on an incline bench set around 45-degrees. With a dumbbell in each hand, drive your chest into the bench while rowing the weight until your elbows are even with, or just past, your torso. Slowly lower the weight to a full stretch before repeating additional reps.

Benefits of the Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row

• The chest support takes stress off the lower back, increasing your ability to isolate muscles of the upper and mid-back.
• This movement encourages strict form and reduces the chance of momentum-based cheating.
• It’s easy to set up and only requires an adjustable bench and a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells.

Chest-Supported Machine Row

This machine-based variation has you pull the load toward your chest. Your general arm path will be similar to a seated row, which aligns the rowing motion with the muscles of the lats, rear delts, and upper back (traps, rhomboids, and teres major).

Your grip will have a significant impact on the muscles being biased during the exercise. A neutral-grip (palms facing each other) will focus more on the lats, while a semi-pronated grip (diagonally between palms facing down and facing each other) will focus more on the rear delts and upper back.

How to Do the Chest Supported Machine Row

Sit in the machine and grab the handles with your chest against the pad and your feet against the provided supports. With your chest pressed firmly into the pad, pull the handles toward you, extending your elbows behind your body. Control the weight as you return to the starting position.

Benefits of the Chest Supported Machine Row

• The machine provides a clear and consistent movement path, allowing you to focus more on the muscles working and less on maintaining a steady pulling position.
• The chest support and foot pads allow your entire body to brace more effectively, delivering more stability and allowing you to lift heavier loads.
• The multiple grip options allow for more individualization and control over what muscles are being emphasized.

Landmine Row

This bent-over barbell row variation is effective at placing tension across the traps, rhomboids, rear delts, and lats. This movement also recruits the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings), low back, and abs for total-body stability.

The unique leverage moves the bar along a slightly angled path rather than completely vertical, which creates different muscular stress in the top position compared to dumbbell or barbell rowing movements.

How to Do the Landmine Row

Slide a barbell into a landmine attachment sleeve or wedge it into a corner of the wall. Stand over the barbell with one foot on each side, a few small steps behind the weight plates.

Position a landmine row attachment onto the front of the barbell and grasp the handles. If your gym doesn’t have a landmine row attachment, use a rope handle or V-bar attachment and place it around the bar just behind the weight plates.

Hinge at the hips and keep your legs bent. Maintain a tight core and a neutral spine. Pull your hands toward your waist. To increase the range of motion, load the bar with 10-pound or 25-pound plates instead of larger 45-pound plates.

Benefits of the Landmine Row

• This variation can be performed anywhere you have access to a barbell, whether locked in a landmine sleeve or wedged into a corner at your gym. 
• It challenges multiple muscles of the back, glutes, hamstrings, and abs.
• Different stances and body postures can be used (such as a more upright torso or more horizontal torso) to add variety with an emphasis on different back muscles.

Meadows Row

This exercise, popularized by the late bodybuilding coach John Meadows, has become known for its ability to build up thickness in the back — specifically the rear delts and teres major.

This exercise is unique in that it’s unilateral and has the lifter standing perpendicular to the barbell positioned in a landmine setup. The landmine alters your leverage during the lift, which places unique stress on the muscles.

How to Do the Meadows Row

Assume a staggered stance with your front foot perpendicular to a barbell loaded into a landmine sleeve. Hinge at the hips and grip the bar with an overhand grip, using lifting straps to secure your grip on the bar. Rest the elbow of your non-working arm on your front thigh.

Row the weight up at an angle, so your hand ends up just outside your chest and your elbow is pulled back. Lower the weight into a full stretch. Load the bar with smaller 10-pound or 25-pound plates to ensure a long range of motion.

Benefits of the Meadows Row

• The exercise builds thickness in the upper back by emphasizing key muscles, including the rear delts and teres major.
• The staggered stance creates a need to resist rotation of the torso, adding a challenge to core strength and stability.
• Because of the very stable base and strap-assisted grip, much heavier weights can be used compared to a dumbbell row.

Cable Upper Trap Shrug

Shrugs are typically performed with free weights such as dumbbells or a barbell. However, the movement can be optimized with the cable pulley because the angle of resistance from low cables matches the fiber alignment of the upper traps — on diagonal angle rather than strictly vertical — which increases muscle activation.

High-tension from the cables also means a more effective workout with relatively less weight, making the movement less stressful on joints and more stressful on the target muscles.

How to Do the Cable Trap Shrug

Stand in the middle of two low-cable pulleys, with your knees slightly bent and your hands firmly grasping a single handle from each pulley.

Keep your core stationary as you shrug your shoulders up and in toward your ears. Don’t swing your torso or drive with your legs. Control the weight as you slowly return back to the starting position.

Benefits of the Cable Trap Shrug

• The cable resistance allows a longer time under tension, creating a greater stimulus for muscle growth.
• This variation lines up the resistance with the muscle fibers of the upper traps, maximizing muscular tension while minimizing stress around the shoulder joint.
• The exercise delivers significant muscular stress without extremely heavy weights, making it ideal for lifters with joint pain.

Cable Rope Pullover

The cable rope pullover, sometimes called a stiff-arm pulldown, is great for placing tension strictly on the lats. It avoids the arms-overhead stretched position required for dumbbell pullovers, making this a great alternative for lifters with upper back or shoulder mobility restrictions.

Using a longer rope or strap allows each arm to move in a more individualized arm path, which creates even less strain on the shoulder joints and more muscular stress on the lats.

How to Do the Cable Rope Pullover

Stand in front of a high-pulley cable station, holding a rope attachment with both hands. Lean slightly forward and keep a soft bend in your arms. Keep your torso rigid and abs tight while driving your upper arms down. Pull the attachment toward your hips as far as possible.

Control the weight as you return back to the starting position. Don’t allow your arms to bend when lifting or lowering the weight.

Benefits of the Cable Rope Pullover

• The peak contraction of the movement creates extremely high muscle activation in the lats.
• This exercise is one of the few ways to effectively isolate the lats without involvement from other back muscles.
• It provides a more effective resistance compared to the dumbbell pullover because the cable resistance is constant throughout the full range of motion while a dumbbell pullover delivers less resistance at the top of the movement.

Face Pull

To facilitate increased growth and strength of larger back muscles, your smaller muscles often act as synergists. They add strength and stability to the joints connected to those muscles, which allows them to function optimally and efficiently. The face pull is effective for training the upper back muscles around your shoulder blades, helping improve postural strength and control.

Unlike several exercises on this list, the face pull shouldn’t be used to break any strength records. Go light with higher reps. As you build up strength, you can start to slowly increase the weight, but moving heavy loads is not the best use of this exercise.

How to Do the Face Pull

Attach a rope handle to a high-cable pulley and adjust it to near eye-level. Grab the rope with your palms facing each other. Take a few steps back so there’s tension in the cable and extend your arms in front of your body.

Pull the rope toward your face and flare your elbows out and back. In the contracted position, your wrists should be close to your ears and your elbows should be in-line with your shoulders

Benefits of the Face Pull

• The face pull increases your scapular strength and stability, which is crucial for upper back bracing during movements like the deadlift as well as overhead pressing.
• It works the muscles between the shoulder blades such as the traps and rhomboids, while also building up strength in the rotator cuff muscles, improving overall shoulder joint health.

Farmer’s Walk

This loaded carry isn’t a strict “back exercise,” but it’s effective for placing tension across the muscles of the upper and lower body simultaneously. The postural muscles of the spine, as well as the upper back and traps, are challenged to a very high degree.

When performed consistently, it can build grip strength, core strength and stability, and improves postural strength and control. This exercise mimics many activities performed in your daily life, and can be performed by all ages and experience levels.

How to Do the Farmer’s Walk

Find a stretch of open space, as long as possible, and walk while carrying a pair of dumbbells, kettlebells, or even a trap bar. Keep your hands at your sides and your shoulder blades pulled down and back, not shrugged up. Remain upright and don’t allow your back to round forward as you fatigue.

When walking with load in your hand, the challenge becomes maintaining a steady, upright position. Focus on taking slow, controlled steps while moving a straight line with total-body stability. Don’t allow the weights to make you drift laterally.

Benefits of the Farmer’s Walk

• Can easily be performed anywhere you have open space and weights to hold onto.
• It builds grip and core strength, while also improving postural strength and control.
• It can be easily adapted to training for conditioning or fat loss by increasing the total duration or length of the walk.

The Back Muscles

The back is made up of a group of muscles that work together to achieve a wide range of movement patterns. As such, certain muscles will be biased more or less depending on the exercise being performed.

The primary muscles when it comes to training the back include the latissimus dorsi (lats), teres major, trapezius (traps), rhomboids, rear delts, and erector spinae (lower back).

When training your back, you will be using both muscles anatomically located more superficially (like the lats and traps), as well as deeper (like the rhomboids or erector spinae) within the back and torso. The back muscles have many different functions and are designed to work in synchronicity with one another, or as a unit.

Latissimus Dorsi

Commonly referred to as the lats, the latissimus dorsi are most widely known for their role in adducting the arm toward the body (bringing the upper arm towards the body’s midline), as well as medially rotating the arm around the back of the body (similar to “opening your chest” during a stretch).

During back movements, the lats play many roles — most notably helping stabilize the pelvis and interacting with the abdominal muscles in everything from respiration, maintaining shoulder positioning, to protecting the spine. (1)

Teres Major

The teres major attaches on the upper arm, next to the lat attachment, and stretches across to the lower part of the scapula. Sometimes referred to as the “little lat,” this muscle, along with the teres minor, are not technically part of the rotator cuff but share many roles with the muscles of the rotator cuff when it comes to glenohumeral (shoulder) stabilization.

The teres major also assists the latissimus dorsi in adducting the arm (bringing it closer to the body), as performed during a lat pulldown motion. (2)

Trapezius

The trapezius is a big muscle that spans across the better part of your upper and mid-back. This muscle has three divisions — upper, mid, and lower — and each plays an essential role in stabilizing the shoulder blades.

All three sections of the muscle are hard at work during pulling movements to help maintain tension and stability in the back. (3)

Rhomboids

The rhomboids are positioned directly below the traps in the middle of the back (between the shoulder blades). Both the major and minor divisions of this muscle retract, elevate, and rotate the scapula.

Weakness or loss of function of the rhomboids can be a significant contributing factor to a winged scapula (when the shoulder blades “point” away from the body), which makes it even more important to keep these muscles strong and working properly. (4)

Rear Delts

Also known as the posterior deltoid, the rear delts primary function is to bring the arm back around the body (shoulder extension), assisting the lats and teres major.

A flared arm position, with the elbows aimed out to the sides, makes the rear delts a primary mover during an exercise. This type of movement is how the muscle plays a big part in your back strength and development. (5)

Erector Spinae

These muscles, also known as the spinal erectors, are positioned deep within the torso and are responsible for controlling the axial skeleton — which includes the skull, vertebral column, and ribs. The spinal erectors primarily control flexion/extension, side bending, and rotation of the spine.

The lower back, in particular, is critical for stabilizing the pelvis and spine during movements such as the deadlift or many bent-over movements previously explained. (6)

How Often Should You Train the Back

To optimize muscle growth, train your back two to three times per week, depending on how many total days per week you’re training. Since the back is filled with different muscle groups, all with different fiber alignments and jobs, it’s important to train the back using many different exercises and rep ranges.

Depending on your training split, each workout may include a different amount of training volume. Anywhere from 10 to 16 total sets per week is a great starting point. Advanced lifters could potentially exceed 18 to 20 sets per week, especially if their goal is to emphasize a specific part of the back over another.

To achieve this total volume, choose three to four exercises and divide the sets up evenly across your training week. It’s generally a good idea to have a balanced ratio of vertical pulls (pulldown or pull-up variations) and horizontal pulls (rowing variations) to ensure balanced development across the entire back.

How to Progress Your Back Training

Since the back can be trained with a wide variety of exercises, it’s possible to steadily add weight to each specific exercise every week. As little as two-and-a-half to five pounds per week can be a sufficient increase to stimulate growth when the sets are taken near failure.

For multi-joint (compound) exercises like the barbell row or deadlift, you can add slightly more weight more quickly compared to an isolation-based exercise like dumbbell pullover or cable rope pullover.

If you find any exercises require more time to improve your technique, be sure to perform those movements towards the beginning of your workouts to avoid training them when fatigued.

If you’re new to lifting in general, simply improving your technique in an exercise can lead to gains in strength and muscle size across a few months’ timespan. Keep in mind that whenever you add a new exercise into your routine, it will take your body a few weeks to get used to the new challenge and nail down the technique.

How to Warm-Up Your Back

One of the most effective ways to warm-up for any muscle group is going to be with the exercises you are performing in that day’s training session. For example, if you’re performing chest-supported rows, you can warm-up by performing reps with light weight and raise the intensity (load lifted) as you proceed toward your working sets.

This ensures that the appropriate muscles and joints are being primed, reducing the risk of injury and improving your overall training performance.

If you need additional time to warm-up, include exercises that work the muscles surrounding the joints you’ll be working in that session. For a back workout, that would include the elbow and shoulder joints.

Building a Complete Back

Designing a back workout doesn’t need to be an arduous process. To be effective, choose three to four exercises that train multiple muscle groups and progress them over time with varying rep ranges. Be sure to train the back both horizontally (with rows) and vertically (with pulldowns) for complete development. This detailed list gives you plenty of options to choose from, ensuring a bigger, stronger back in the long-term.

References

1. Jeno SH, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Back, Latissimus Dorsi. [Updated 2020 Aug 13]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. 
2. Barra-López, M. E., López-de-Celis, C., Pérez-Bellmunt, A., Puyalto-de-Pablo, P., Sánchez-Fernández, J. J., & Lucha-López, M. O. (2020). The supporting role of the teres major muscle, an additional component in glenohumeral stability? An anatomical and radiological study. Medical hypotheses, 141, 109728. 
3. Ourieff J, Scheckel B, Agarwal A. Anatomy, Back, Trapezius. [Updated 2020 Aug 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. 
4. Farrell C, Kiel J. Anatomy, Back, Rhomboid Muscles. [Updated 2020 Jul 27]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. 
5. Elzanie A, Varacallo M. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Deltoid Muscle. [Updated 2020 Aug 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021. 
6. Modes RJ, Lafci Fahrioglu S. Anatomy, Back. [Updated 2021 Mar 27]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021.

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