The Best and Worst Back Exercises Ranked by Science

[00:01] exercises for muscle growth well in this video I'll be ranking 20 of the most popular movements on a tier list from s for super to F for fail and at the end I'll Crown one exercise as the best of the best raising it to S tier plus and

[00:15] one as the worst of the worst demoting it to F tier hell and to make sure your favorite back exercise doesn't end up in F tier it'll need to take three boxes one it needs to give a big stretch with high tension if it doesn't give me a

[00:27] good stretch or provide high tension it's going an F tier no exceptions two it needs to feel good this means it doesn't cause pain and it has a smooth and a nice mind muscle connection wouldn't hurt either three it must have

[00:42] a simple progression if you can't easily add weight or reps over time it's the worst out of the way Renegade rows first they don't provide a good stretch because you'll come up solid against the

[00:55] to your back because other muscles have to work so hard just to keep your good back pump sorry Renegade rows are going in F tier this is because the Renegade row is trying to combine two exercises into one a plank and a

[01:09] core and rows are great for your back when you put them together you end up your back receives and the same goes for like the dumbbell row plus curl or the dumbbell row plus press or the dumbbell

[01:23] row plus Kickback this is because the smaller muscle in the pair will always be so much weaker than your back so it'll always give out first this leaves your back totally UND stimulated these exercises will burn some calories and

[01:35] pair but they aren't good back Builders about the deadlift well I am a big fan of the deadlift I think it's one of the best exercises for building total body strength however when we look at the

[01:48] criteria for S tier back Builder it doesn't score too well it doesn't stretch your lats or midback much at all it also doesn't take your lats or traps through an active range of motion so any tension they do receive is isometric and

[02:01] don't give me a great back pump and while they are easy to overload you can always add some weight or some reps that's usually because your hamstrings necessarily your back as a back Builder the deadlift is going in C tier I'm not

[02:15] putting it in D or F tier just because it will beef up your spinal Erectors and thicken up that lower part of your back but as a pure back hypertrophy exercise now if this were a lower body day I'd probably put the deadlift in A or B tier

[02:29] well-controlled negative and since the above theee rack pull is basically just a deadlift with less range of motion it's going in D tier except since it often damages gym equipment Hogs plates and unless your name is bro feels pretty

[02:42] terrible I'm going to go ahead and move it to F tier okay you're probably ready for some better exercises so let's start with the wide grip pull-up it offers motion and a deep stretch at the bottom it feels good and you should get a nice

[02:55] back pump however pull-ups do have a tricky resistance profile they feel very easy at the bottom and very hard at the top this makes for not the smoothest feel that said they are very good for progression as you can easily add one

[03:08] rep each workout or add some load with a weight belt they also look cool and I really respect pull-up strength wide grip pull-ups are going in a tier upsides of wide grip pull-ups with slightly more lat emphasis they're also

[03:21] going in a tier chinups with a Palms up grip shift some back tension to your biceps so while they are still a great upper body exercise I'm putting them in B tier for the back specifically next pull Downs we've got wide grip laat pull

[03:33] Downs neutral grip laap pull downs and half kneeling one arm lap pull Downs wide grip lat pull Downs offer a big stretch on your lats they provide smooth even tension throughout the range of motion they feel great plus you get to

[03:45] sit down which is nice and stable and you get a fantastic combination of both lat and mid trap activation and you can easily overload them by increasing the pin weight the wide grip pull down is our first exercise being awarded to S

[03:58] the same upsides of wide grip pull Downs except they emphasize your lats over the mid traps especially if you think about driving your elbows down so they're also going in s here half kneeling one arm lap pull Downs are heralded as being oh

[04:11] so optimal online so let's see how they do high stretch check high tension check they're easy to overload you can easily add a rep each week and then some weight less stability here than on a pull down machine however you can overcome that by

[04:27] bracing against your knee or against an in bench plus being able to focus on one lad at a time is great for preventing asymmetries so while I'm tempted to put and put them in s tier as well now the cross body lat pull around is a spin on

[04:40] the same movement where you twist your torso by 90° so that you're pulling the cable across your body this will increase the stretch on your lats even further however I find that despite the amazing Stretch A lot of people find the

[04:52] movement a bit awkward especially at first so I'm going to leave these in a tier okay let's cover some of the most popular row variations up first the barbell row it stretches your back quite well and it offers high tension however

[05:04] because it's not the most stable exercise that tension will be dispersed to other stabilizing muscles like your calves glutes and low back just to keep balance this isn't a huge deal your back will still get hammered and you can

[05:16] to week but I don't think it's the best row variation and I don't even think it's the best barbell row variation so the standard barbell row is going in B tier the Yates row is basically just a barbell row with a more upright posture

[05:30] named after bodybuilding Legend and six-time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates while the looser form will help you load more weight it doesn't actually guarantee because of momentum coming from your hips and the more upright posture

[05:44] actually reduces the stretch on your lats and mid traps sorry Dorian the eight row is going in C tier the penl row is essentially the opposite of the eight row instead of going more upright you go more bent over this is good

[05:57] higher degree of stretch and tension it also allows for more consistent so assuming you do them with a controlled negative I think they belong in B tier although I could easily nudge them into a tier if we factor in

[06:11] quite stable enough as a pure hypertrophy exercise for my taste so deficit penl row is a penl row where you stand on something like a bumper plate negative meaning more stretch on your lats I'm going to put these in a tier

[06:27] all right The Meadows row named after the late great John Meadows who is someone who taught me so much so let's see it stretches your back a ton it super high tension and as long as you brace against your knee you'll be nice

[06:41] and stable the midback pump you'll get from these is unmatched and as a bonus individually this is definitely a personal favorite and easily belongs in s tier for me the inverted row is basically an upside down row where you

[06:54] pull your own body instead of pulling some weight they offer a pretty amazing stretch at the bottom and I can't lie they feel pretty great too if you set it in and you should be able to feel a strong mind muscle connection with your

[07:06] down for progression while you can have your lap this also makes the movement feel really awkward for me at least and then without the weight you're stuck with doing Super High Reps which is fine

[07:18] but it is suboptimal once you go above 30 or 40 reps so despite some positive aspects I'm going to put inverted rows in C tier one arm dumbbell rows the zombie corpse of athleen x's X exercise graveyard obviously this exercise gets a

[07:31] bad rap online but other than athleen x I've actually never heard another Express concerns about it I've been doing them myself and with clients for more than a decade without a single issue so let's see they offer a big

[07:43] stretch on your lats at the bottom and they feel nice smooth and stable the decently strong you may max out the dumbbell rack at your gym which usually knocked down slightly for progression but I'm still going to put them in a

[07:56] tier The Croc row is basically just a dumbbell row with looser form so you use positive now I'm normally not a fan of loose technique however where you're here is actually more controlled and consistent than it normally is also the

[08:11] curve of the back quite well it gives you some assistance and getting through still offering a nice stretch at the bottom I may get some Flack for this from the technique junkies but I'm putting Croc rows in a tier okay

[08:25] freestanding tear rows probably the most epic looking exercise especially if you look like Ronnie Coleman but the problem is I just don't love them they do give a tension that your back gets will be high I just find them to be annoying balance

[08:38] strong and the other end of the bar will often pop up if you don't have a land well by adding reps or load but they're getting knocked down in the feels good but I'll go ahead and put them in B tier

[08:52] you all the positives of the freestanding tar row but with a much more stable and secure feel feel having your chest supported allows you to focus all the tension to your back these are an absolute staple and should 100% be

[09:06] you don't have a chest supported machine you can do dumbbell Helm's rows where an incline bench you can do these as tear rows or whatever machine helps you engage your back the best either way chest supported rows are going in s tier

[09:21] for sure cable rows are another personal favorite they may actually be the single a deep stretch on my lats especially they also give me a crazy laat pump and you can always increase the Reps or

[09:33] weight from week to week these are going in s tier as well switching to a wide traps especially if you squeeze your shoulder blades together but that's not to Target and wide grip cable rows have all the same benefits of close grip

[09:46] cable rows so they also belong in s tier speaking of your midback the Rope face pull is a very popular option it does stretch your midback well as long as you negative and you should be able to feel a strong mind muscle connection

[09:59] connection with your entire midback the issue is they're a bit unstable when cable is always trying to pull your body forward and so a lot of that tension is simply lost trying to keep your balance for this reason the standard rope face

[10:12] pull is going in B tier however if you modify the exercise to do it either seated you eliminate that balancing requirement and you'll be able to being applied directly to your back so I'm going to go ahead and put both of

[10:26] to being an S tier but just looking at the other exercises pulls are quite as amazing definitely still an exercise worth including though for sure the cable lat pullover or the lat prayer offers a huge stretch on your

[10:41] negative and you should be able to feel a strong mind muscle connection with your lats these are better done for higher reps so they aren't as easily exercises we've covered but you can always add a rep here and there and the

[10:53] incredible mind muscle connection and the Deep stretch make up for it in my people people to feel their triceps taking over on this exercise but once you get the hang of the movement and learn how to engage your lats by simply

[11:05] they're a great way to get some extra lat isolation volume without causing any total body fatigue and so I'm going to put cable lat prayers in a tier now the movement except with the dumbbell you have much more tension on your lats at

[11:19] the bottom and very little tension at the top now this isn't such a bad thing likely the most anabolic part of the range of motion anyway so as long as you cut out the very top end of the range of motion I'd also put these in a tier so

[11:32] out of the S tier list if I had to Crown just one exercise as the best of the best I think I'd go with a chest supported row it's just so good for smashing both the lats and the midback and there are so many effective ways to

[11:44] as the worst of the worst it' probably exercise there's just not enough stability to maximize tension and if information to use with a science-based program that you can just go to the gym

[11:57] and execute I'd strongly recommend picking up my 10-week pure bodybuilding praise from other experts in the field and it's easily my most highly rated over here next to my head and don't forget to leave me a thumbs up if you

[12:10] haven't already and I'll see you guys all here in the next one