Dumbbell Exercises help to build your Muscles, many people tend to neglect their back muscles—like the latissimus dorsi, or the lats, the rhomboids, and lower trapezius, or traps— when strength training simply because, well, they’re in the back of the body.
Exactly how to approach your back workouts will vary based on your goals and resources. You can load up barbells with heavy weights, pull against variable resistance on a machine, or even spice up your session and challenge yourself with bodyweight movements. While all those implements have their merits (and you can perform some exercises similarly using all of them), you’ll likely find that dumbbells are the most versatile tools in your arsenal to train your back muscles.
The Best Dumbbell Exercises
1. Bent-Over Row
The bent-over row is another solid exercise that allows you to target your back muscles. Start holding the weights with your palms in a neutral position, pull up, then pause and flare your elbows for the eccentric portion of the movement to overload the rear delts.
How to Do it
- Start holding your dumbbells in standard bent-over row position, core tight, knees bent slightly
- Row both weights upwards, keeping your upper arms tight to your torso and your palms in neutral. Pause when you reach the top of the motion.
- Keeping shoulder blades tight and making sure not to flex your traps, shift your elbows out to a 45-degree angle relative to torso, or slightly wider.
- Slowly lower the weights, thinking of lowering for 2 to 3 counts
2. Renegade Row
The classic renegade row is a solid way to blast your entire upper body. You hammer your chest and triceps during the pushup phase of the movement. Then, as you press up and row the dumbbell toward your hip, you crush your abs and stimulate your lats and rhomboids, essentially finishing with a plank row.
How to Do it
- Start with a pair of dumbbells on the floor. Get into a high plank position with your feet about shoulder-width apart, holding the handles of the weights in each hand. Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension.
- Perform a pushup rep. After this, row one arm up to your chest, keeping your core engaged to prevent your torso from shifting.
- Repeat the pushup, then perform the row with the other arm.
3. Incline Row
Not far behind the dumbbell row is the incline row, one of the strictest row variations there is. The incline bench helps eliminate that as you glue our chest to the pad, while also changing the angle of pull just slightly, helping you attack your lower lats more.
When doing standard dumbbell rows, it’s easy to wind up letting your torso rock back and forth, creating momentum instead of moving the weight solely with muscle.
How to Do it
- Start with your chest on an incline bench at a 45 degree angle, dumbbells held in your hands
- Squeeze your abs and glutes to keep your core tight. Engage your mid-back, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
- Pull your upper arms back to row the dumbbells to your chest. Emphasize the squeeze in your shoulder blades at the top of each rep.
- Lower back down to the starting position.
4. Pull-Over
This exercise only requires one dumbbell. Lie on your back on a flat surface and grab your dumbbell with both hands, think of cupping one end of the dumbbell for an optimal holding position. Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor. Raise the dumbbell up so it’s over your chest. Slowly let the dumbbell move behind your head, keeping your arms straight, until it creates a 45-degrees with the floor. Return back to the starting position.
How to Do it
- Set up with your shoulders placed on the side of a weight bench, forming a 90 degree angle with your knees and the floor. Squeeze your abs and glutes to create tension and keep your ribcage from flaring.
- Raise the dumbbell straight overhead, holding the top of the weight with both hands, and drive your shoulder blades into the bench. Drive the pits of your elbows forward to “turn on” your lats.
- Slowly lower the dumbbell back over your head, keeping your elbows straight. Only descend as deep as your mobility allows.
- Pull the weight back up to the starting position.
5. Dumbbell Row
The basic dumbbell row is one of the best exercises for your back, attacking both the lats and rhomboids. One of the best parts about the dumbbell row: It’s an exercise that you can eventually load up with serious weight, making it a key muscle-building move.
And if you do it right, focusing on keeping your hips and shoulders square to the ground, it’ll build serious core strength, too. Just make sure not to round your back.
How to Do it
- Push your butt back and lower your torso down, extending your off arm to rest your palm on the bench. Make sure your shoulders stay above your hips.
- Grab the dumbbell with your working hand. Squeeze your glutes and abs to create full-body tension. Your back should be flat, with your head in a neutral position.
- Squeeze your mid-back muscles to drive your elbow up, rowing the weight. Keep your shoulders level and avoid rotating your lower back.
- Pause for a beat, then lower the weight back down.
6. Upright Row
Standing with your feet hip-width apart, grab a dumbbell in each hand and hold them with palms facing you. With your core engaged and your chest up, raise the dumbbells up toward your chin by lifting the elbows to the ceiling. Lower to the starting position. Repeat for 10 reps.
How to Do it
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells in a pronated position (palms facing in). Squeeze your glutes and engage your core.
- Raise the dumbbells straight up (think vertical pull).
- Once your elbows are slightly lower than your shoulders, pull back (think horizontal pull) and squeeze your shoulders for the row.
- Only lift the weights to a position parallel to your shoulders.
- Lower the weights back to the starting position with control.
7. V-Taper Dumbbell Row Series
The V-Taper Row Series will help you build your outer lats and also add size and depth to your rear delts. Here, you’re mixing a traditional elbow-close-to-torso row with a row where your elbow flares outward. That flared-outward row will attack your rear delts, building much-needed mass behind your shoulders. The tempo used here will also blast your lats on the close rows, as you hold for a brief second.
How to Do it
- Set a bench to a 45 degree angle, so you can hinge at the hips and lean one arm on the headrest.
- Hold a dumbbell in the other hand. Your feet should be squared, with your knees slightly bent. Squeeze your core to keep your spine straight as you lean over the bench.
- Squeeze your back muscles to perform 2 row reps, flaring your elbow out. To do this, the hand holding the weight should be facing behind you.
- After the flared reps, complete 1 traditional row rep with your elbow close to your body and your hand facing inward. Pause at the top of the rep for 1 second and squeeze your shoulders together before lowering to the starting position.
8. Romanian Deadlift
Standing with feet hip-width apart, slightly bend your knees. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, push your hips back to hinge forward. Think of trying to push your butt against a wall behind you or shut a door with your butt. Maintain an engaged core. Press your feet into the floor as you allow the dumbbells to brush down your legs stopping around your shins. Each person is different, but the goal is to continue moving down your legs until your hips can’t push back any further and you feel a stretch in the hamstrings. Pause, then return back to the starting position by engaging the hamstrings. Repeat 10 times.
How to Do it
- Standing with you feet about shoulder-width apart, grab a pair of dumbbells from a bench or box.
- Keep the dumbbells close to your sides, with your shoulders back, your core tight, and glutes squeezed.
- Push your butt back as far as possible as you begin lowering your torso, keeping the dumbbells close to your shins—don’t let them hang too far forward.
- Pause at the bottom for a count, then begin to stand back up.
- Pause again once the weights reach knee-level. Make sure that your hips are still lower than your shoulders.
- Stand up to the starting position.
9. Incline Pause Row
Take the position from the incline row, then make the exercise even tougher with an isometric hold. If you follow the exact protocol in the video above, you’ll also torch your core as you work unilaterally. But the back should be the major focus—and you should be able to really emphasize the squeeze in your back during the final round of rows after all the isometric work.
How to Do it
- Start on the incline bench in a strong front-facing position, resting your chest on the pad and bracing your glutes and core. Hold a dumbbell in each hand.
- Squeeze your back to pull the weights up to your chest.
- Hold that row squeeze with one arm in the top position. Perform 5 single-arm row reps using the other.
- Lower both weights to the starting position. Row them both back up, the hold the row squeeze with the arm you had just used to work and perform 5 single-arm row rep on the opposite side.
- Perform 5 pause row reps with both arms, holding the top position for a count on each rep before lowering to the start.
10 Farmer’s Carry
Another classic exercise, and a move that man’s been doing since the beginning of time, the farmer’s carry has you picking up heavy dumbbells and walking with them, typically either for time or distance. Either way, as you focus on squeezing your shoulder blades and tightening your abs, you build a bigger, stronger back (and a resilient body overall).
How to Do it
- Grab a pair of dumbbells, emphasizing a strong squeeze on the handles as you hold the weights at your sides.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension, and keep a neutral spine position with your gaze directed just in front of you.
- Step forward and keep the tension in shoulders and core, making sure your ribs don’t flare out. Stride intentionally as you walk forward.
The Benefits of Dumbbell Back Exercises
1. Dumbbell are Great for Rows:
Your posture will benefit in part because dumbbells open your body up to do the row, which may be the single most critical back exercise out there. It’s an exercise that trains rhomboids, mid-back stabilizers, and your lats all at once—and it’s a key dumbbell exercise that helps offset life.
Always think about this: You’re likely leaning forward just a bit, shoulders forward, back muscles loose. A row is a “horizontal” pulling exercise, which means it’ll pull your shoulders back toward your back on every rep, helping you emphasize shoulder blade squeeze. That’ll have you standing taller in a few weeks, and it’ll bulletproof you against shoulder injuries.
2. Dumbbell can help you to progress and build muscle:
Adding dumbbell back exercises into your routines does all that for your posture—and helps you build the back muscle and strength you want, layering thickness in between your shoulder blades and throughout your upper back.
You’ll build muscle and strength through progressive overload—and while you won’t be able to go as heavy with DBs as you can with a barbell and plates (especially for leg-focused moves that still hold some back benefits, like deadlifts), most trainees will be able to train to failure on exercises like rows using a standard set of dumbbells.
3. Dumbbells are Approachable and Scaleable:
Dumbbells allow you to work within a wide range of loads, which makes them a more approachable implement for beginners to back training.
Pullups and chin-ups can have an extremely high barrier to entry for people who are just starting out due to strength and form demands, while barbell exercises can also be difficult for newbies for the same reasons. Better for you to be able to learn the movements with loads you can handle than struggle to complete a single rep, compensating on form and exposing yourself to potential injuries.