With a Master of Science in Dietetics and Exercise Science, 11 years of experience in fitness, and 5 years in nutrition, Hollee Mohni is a professional dedicated to improving individuals' health and confidence through sustainable habits.
The V-shape is a coveted symbol of strength and athleticism. It results from training the back muscles, particularly the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, and trapezius muscles.
Beyond aesthetics, training your back has tremendous benefits. Your posture will improve, reducing the risk of pain and injury that can result from our increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Also, you’re more likely to perform those daily tasks, from lifting groceries to playing with your kids without discomfort (1).
Here’s the ultimate guide to back calisthenics exercises, including detailed descriptions of 20 movements that will enhance your strength, improve your posture, and help you sculpt a powerful, well-balanced physique.
You can train back with calisthenics, provided you have a solid understanding of back anatomy and eventually, mastery of the best calisthenics that target your back muscles.
Let’s start with the more straightforward question. Which muscles constitute the back?
The back muscles include four main muscle groups:
These are the four major muscle groups you need to target when training your back, but there are also smaller, supporting muscles that play a role in back strength and stability.
These muscles include:
Now that we know the anatomy of the back, let’s take a look at which exercises in a back calisthenics workout will target these muscles.
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The v-body shape, sometimes referred to as the “v-taper,” is achieved through a combination of proper nutrition and targeted back exercises.
To achieve a v-shaped back, you need to build strength and muscle mass in your lats, traps, rhomboids, and erector spinae. Additionally, having low body fat levels will help define these muscles for that desired v-shape (3).
Find out more about what to eat for a V-shape back in our Calisthenics Diet Guide.
Here are 20 back calisthenics exercises that will help you achieve a v-shaped back:
The Prone Cobra effectively activates the lower trapezius and the erector spinae, with minor engagement in the rhomboids and serratus posterior.
This movement pattern involves lying face down and lifting your chest off the floor while rotating your arms to activate the upper and middle back.
It is highly scalable; beginners can start with shorter holds and fewer reps, building up to longer durations as strength improves. Here’s how to do it:
Superman targets the erector spinae primarily, with support from lower back muscles like the quadratus lumborum. It simulates a flying motion, extending arms and legs upwards away from the floor.
This back calisthenics exercise is excellent for beginners and can be scaled by varying the hold time and repetitions. To perform the Superman:
The ITY raises are perfect for a dynamic back calisthenics routine, hitting your traps, lats, and posterior deltoids in unique angles formed by the arm positions: ‘Y’, ‘T’, and ‘I’. This movement pattern conditions back postural muscles and is scalable for all fitness levels.
To perform ITY:
This no-equipment back calisthenics exercise enhances shoulder stability as it hits the posterior deltoids, teres minor, and infraspinatus. The motion involves lifting your arms to your sides, while bent over.
Variations in arm position allow beginners through advanced to scale the difficulty. Perform the Bodyweight Rear Delt Fly as follows:
Read more: Calisthenics for Strength: Will It Make Me Stronger?
Scapular wall slides benefit the back by improving shoulder mobility, motor control, and scapular stability. Scapular stability and shoulder mobility are important for being able to perform back exercises with good form, thus improving strength.
This exercise can start easy, with minimal slides, increasing in repetitions as control improves. Here’s how you do it:
Scapular push-ups are designed to strengthen the serratus anterior, a vital player in scapular movement and shoulder stability. This back calisthenics no equipment exercise requires you to keep your arms straight and simply retract and protract your shoulder blades.
For scalability, start on your knees and progress to full plank position. To execute the scapular push-ups:
This unique back calisthenics for beginners engages the rhomboids and traps, helping counteract the forward slouch. It involves pulling the elbows back as if performing a row against the resistance of a door frame or wall.
This exercise can be adjusted for intensity by changing the angle of your body to the wall. Performing door frame rows goes as follows:
A pull-up bar is a handy piece of equipment for back calisthenics exercises. Some fixtures are freestanding and installable in doorways or on walls with enough headroom.
Pull-ups are a staple in any back calisthenics workout, primarily targeting the latissimus dorsi (lats) and secondary engaging biceps, rhomboids, and lower traps. This powerful compound movement pattern involves pulling the body up to a bar from a hanging position, which can be varied in grip width and style for scalability.
To perform Pull-ups:
Scapular pull-ups focus on the scapular muscles, specifically the serratus anterior and lower trapezius. This nuanced movement includes scapular depression and retraction without bending the arms, perfect for beginners working on their form.
To perform Scapular Pull-ups:
Front Lever Raises challenge the entire upper body, emphasizing the core, lats, and delts. This advanced calisthenics back and bicep exercise involves lifting the legs up while keeping the body straight, essentially creating a hanging, horizontal plank.
To perform Front Lever Raises:
The back lever is considered an advanced back calisthenics routine exercise that works the lower back, biceps, lats, and shoulders. This isometric hold involves suspending the body face down while holding onto the bar, requiring significant strength and control.
To perform the Back Lever:
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Suspension trainers provide a versatile tool for calisthenics, enabling a range of exercises that can be modified to suit various fitness levels. They use one’s body weight and gravity as resistance and are particularly effective for engaging the muscles of the back and core.
The Suspension Bodyweight Row primarily targets the major muscles of the mid-back, including the latissimus dorsi (lats), rhomboids, and trapezius. The biceps and rear deltoids also play a secondary role as assisting muscles during the movement.
This exercise pattern involves a horizontal pull, where balance and core stabilization are key components. It is highly scalable by simply adjusting the feet position closer or farther from the anchor point to modify the difficulty level.
To perform Suspension Bodyweight Rows, follow these steps:
Similar to the bodyweight rows, Suspension Australian Pull-ups work the mid-back muscles such as the lats, rhomboids, and trapezius. Additionally, the exercise engages biceps and rear deltoids.
This exercise involves a pull-up motion in a less vertical plane, reducing the intensity and making it more accessible to beginners. Scalability is achieved by adjusting the body’s incline relative to the ground.
To execute Suspension Australian Pull-ups:
Suspension Face Pulls directly target the posterior deltoids, with synergistic engagement from the upper trapezius, rhomboids, and even the external rotators of the rotator cuff.
This movement pattern is a face-level horizontal pull crucial for shoulder health and posture. Scalability can be easily managed by adjusting foot position and body angle relative to the suspension trainer.
Performing Suspension Face Pulls is as follows:
The Suspension Reverse Fly specifically targets the rear deltoids and is excellent for addressing the smaller stabilizing muscles of the upper back, including parts of the rotator cuff.
The movement pattern requires a balanced, dual-arm horizontal abduction. This exercise is highly scalable; the lower the body’s positioning is, the more challenging the movement.
To do Suspension Reverse Flys, these steps should be followed:
Read more: Starter Calisthenics: Shape Yourself Up With Beginner Full-Body Training
Resistance bands are a portable and affordable piece of equipment that can add resistance to bodyweight exercises, increasing the intensity and simulating weight training (2). They’re ideal for calisthenics because they can be easily adjusted for different fitness levels and can add variety to a back workout routine.
Band Pull Aparts are great for targeting the posterior deltoids, which are the muscles at the back of the shoulders. They also work the rhomboids and trapezius muscles of the upper back.
The movement pattern of pulling the band apart horizontally engages these muscles in a way that promotes better shoulder stability and scapular retraction. This exercise is scalable by using bands of varying resistance levels or by adjusting the tension on the band.
The Band Face Pull exercise primarily targets the rear deltoids, while the secondary muscles engaged include the upper trapezius, rhomboids, and external rotators of the rotator cuff.
The pulling movement towards the face with rotation of the shoulder joint is essential for balanced shoulder development and health.
This exercise can be made easier or more difficult by changing the resistance level of the band or standing further from the anchor point to increase tension.
The Band Bent Over Row works the latissimus dorsi, which are the broadest muscles of the back, as well as the rhomboids and the middle part of the trapezius. This exercise mimics the traditional rowing movement pattern and is scalable by either using bands with more resistance or standing on the band with a wider stance to increase the tension.
Band Lat Pulldowns focus on the latissimus dorsi but also involve the biceps, rear deltoids, and the lower trapezius as secondary muscle groups. The movement mirrors that of a lat pulldown machine, bringing the arms down into a ‘W’ formation from an overhead position.
Scalability is achieved by altering the resistance of the band or changing your seated/standing position relative to the anchor point.
Specific exercises that engage muscles like the latissimus dorsi, posterior deltoids, rhomboids, trapezius, and rotator cuff muscles to promote better shoulder stability and scapular retraction target the upper back in calisthenics. Some of these exercises include Band Pull Aparts, Band Face Pulls, and Band Bent Over Rows.
“Wings” refer to the muscles on the side of your back, known as the latissimus dorsi. To train these muscles in calisthenics, exercises like Band Lat Pulldowns, Pull-Ups, and Inverted Rows can be utilized. It’s also important to focus on proper form and engaging the lats throughout each exercise for optimal results.
Lats, or latissimus dorsi muscles, can be targeted in calisthenics by incorporating exercises that involve pulling movements such as Pull-Ups, Inverted Rows, and Band Lat Pulldowns. Additionally, proper form and engaging the lats throughout each exercise is essential for targeting and strengthening these muscles effectively (4).
Bodyweight exercises such as Pull-Ups, Inverted Rows, and Band Pull Aparts are great for training the back without weights. These exercises can be easily modified based on fitness level. Simply adjust the resistance of bands or change positions relative to the anchor point.
Our, Morning Calisthenics Guide, has a bunch of different exercises for the back that don’t require any weights!
Pushups primarily target the chest muscles, but they also engage the back muscles such as the latissimus dorsi, trapezius, and rhomboids through stabilization of the movement. However, pushups alone may not be sufficient to fully train and strengthen the back muscles, so it’s important to incorporate other exercises that specifically target the back as well.
Pull-ups are an excellent exercise for targeting the back muscles, specifically the latissimus dorsi. They also engage other muscles such as the biceps, rear deltoids, and lower trapezius. Incorporating different variations of pull-ups, such as wide grip, close grip, or underhand grip can help target different areas of the back muscle group.
Planks primarily target the core muscles, but they also engage the back muscles as stabilizers. While planks alone may not be enough to fully train and strengthen the back, incorporating exercises that specifically target these muscles is recommended for a well-rounded workout routine.
In our Pilates vs Calisthenics comparison guide, we explore the benefits of planks and other core exercises for overall strength and stability.
Back calisthenics exercises are an effective way to target and strengthen the back muscles without the need for weights. By incorporating exercises like Band Pull Aparts, Band Face Pulls, and Band Bent Over Rows into a regular workout routine, one can improve their overall back strength and develop better posture and stability.
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