Back Training with Calisthenics: A Guide To Upper Body Pulling Strength

raykay

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Intro

This guide will discuss how to use calisthenics to train the upper and mid-back muscles. We will primarily look at exercises to target the lats, mid-back, and scapula, as well as a few accessories with high carryover to pulling movements.

A Common Mistake With Back Training

In the pursuit of impressive bodyweight skills like the front lever, do not abandon the foundational exercises of pullups and rowing once you get to an intermediate or advanced level of strength. They are not as flashy, but just because they are simple does not mean they are ineffective. Continue to improve your rowing and pullup strength to optimize your training of isometric skills.

Adding Weight and Resistance Bands

To help strengthen the back muscles, use weight vests or dip belts as extra load.

Bands resistance should be utilized for horizontal pulling exercises whenever possible, since they improve the resistance curve of the movements. Otherwise, the movements are less challenging at the top of the exercise. FitnessFAQs has a good video explaining this idea further:

Futhermore, bands are useful because the back muscles respond well to maximum contraction, and they can help build good motor patterns by avoiding the use of momentum to "cheat" a movement. For these last two reasons, I also suggest using bands for vertical pulling as an accessory to the traditional pullup exercise. In the case of vertical pulling, band-resisted pullups do not need to be the entirety of your pullup training, they are just a helpful and challenging accessory movement.

Note on Pullups vs. Chinups

As pullups and chinups are the same exercise with different grip positions, I make no distinction between them in this post. You may choose an overhand, neutral, or underhand grip as you see fit. That being said, there are different areas of the back emphasized by grip and hand width, so I recommend using more than one to add some variance to your training.

Front Lever (Straight Arm Pulling Strength)

These exercises require mastery of the front lever progression you'll be training, and very strong pulling strength. Front lever training is not required to build back strength, but since it is a staple of many programs, I am including it. Not for beginnners.

Ice Cream Makers:
Front Lever Raise:


Rows (Horizontal Pulling)

The row is sometimes overlooked in calisthenics in favor of the pullup, when really it is a movement of immense value. I suspect this is because the bodyweight row progressions beyond an intermediate level are not as straightforward as the pullup. Also, they're not complex, flashy, or a "high skill" movement. Those things are actually some of the major advantages of training the row, but I digress.

A Few Lesser-Known Benefits of The Bodyweight Row: https://youtu.be/dYRnvrWcz8w

Another note: The ceiling for horizontal pulling strength is much higher than it is for vertical pulling strength. Examples:
What this means is that if you are not incorporating heavy rowing into your pulling work, you're leaving a huge amount of strength potential unrealized. Overcome your fear of gains and start rowing.

Where to Start with Your Rows
Unilateral Row Variations

Unilateral work is a great way to build strength without needing to do a front lever or having a lot of added weight. However, I still strongly recommend the band for one arm row variations. They fix the resistance curve and mitigate some of the body rotation that happens with one arm variations.

One Arm One Leg Row
  • https://youtu.be/PH9-nQ7Lu2I
  • Regression (Two arms one leg row): https://youtu.be/iGzfuXd85R0
  • An advanced pulling variation. Similar to the one arm pullup, in that you are lifting most of your bodyweight with one arm. I have not tested it for this purpose, but I suspect it would be a very useful stepping stone to the one arm pullup.
One Arm Row
Archer Row
Front Lever Rows
  • Front-Lever Rows allow you to row with your full bodyweight, providing a challenging stimulus. More advanced front lever variations have worse leverage, making them harder. These cannot be band-resisted very easily, but a weight vest can still be used, particularly for tuck and l-sit variations.
  • Several Progressions: https://youtu.be/Peax8Xu4m04
  • L-Row https://youtu.be/eZxjpg3DLGU
    • This is my favorite front lever row variation, as it is easy enough that it be can be trained in a higher rep range than most of the options. It can also be combined with a weight vest for advanced trainees, which does not work as well with more advanced front lever variations.
Pullups (Vertical Pulling)

Resistance Band Pullups
Gironda Pullup Progressions

The gironda pullup is easily of the most challenging two arm pullup variations that can be done. Note that the gironda pullup is far more challenging than the arched back pullup. You will most likely need to spend a lot of time with weighted arched back pullups, gradually increasing the arch.

Gironda Pullup
  • https://youtu.be/STqWO-kYEnw
  • An advanced pullup variation that requires a great amount of scapula strength as you are pulling your torso from vertical to a nearly horizontal angle. This is similar to the Arched Back pullup, only the pulling and arching are much more extreme. Emphasis shifts from the biceps to the back (don't worry, the biceps are still stimulated).
  • Not beginner-friendly, do not attempt if you have not mastered the arched back pullup.
  • Advice for mastering the movement pattern: https://youtu.be/fEpiU5YuTDc?t=492
Arched Back/Sternum Pullup
Frenchie Pullup
  • https://youtu.be/Zz8JBOoCBVQ
  • Focus on the isometric scapula contractions at each positions. Later progressions have a huge demand on scapula protraction/retraction.
  • I also recommend training active hangs and bodyweight batwings as assistance work.
Unilateral Pullup Variations

Starting Option: Archer Pullup
  • Use the archer pullup as your beginning unilateral pullup before moving on to one of the options below. It is not a very similar movement to many of the exercises below, but it does ensure that you have sufficient pulling strength to move to the more advanced variations.
  • Rings Variation: https://youtu.be/H49htfRg6Tw
  • Bar Variation: https://youtu.be/NuqcoOAsTMA
Option 1: One Arm Pullup Progressions

One Arm L Sit Pullup
One Arm Pullup
Assisted One Arm Pullup
Uneven Pullup
Option 2: Cliffhanger Pullup Progressions
  • Cliffhangers are less intense than the other options, but also much easier to add load to than other unilateral pullup exercises. I recommend this for heavier trainees wanting to incorporate unilateral work. You can use a weight vest or weights and a dip belt fairly easily.
Archer Cliffhanger Pullup
Cliffhanger Pullup
  • https://youtu.be/yS2F17REkPo
  • Make sure to alternate which hand is in front and which is in back.
  • For better results (less of a break in between reps) complete all your reps on one side, then switch hands to work the other side. Alternate which side you start with for each set.
Option 3: Rope Climbing Progressions

Rope climbs can be trained for speed, strength, or endurance. Speed involves climbing as fast as you can, strength would be climbing with as challenge of a leverage as possible (or added weight), and endurance would be climbing for long sets to build up tolerance to muscular fatigue.

Inverted Rope Climb
Straddle/L-Sit Rope Climb
Rope Climb
  • https://youtu.be/1_oY4NdgnFY
  • The goal is to eventually get to a point of no leg assistance in the movement (gripping the rope with your lower body).
Additional Rope Climb Variations: https://youtu.be/5_TY1IHvmKc

Accessory Work

A list of accessory exercises to help you progress with your pulling. If your biceps and forearms tend to hit failure before your back muscles are fully fatigued, implement some of these variations for extra volume.

Lats Accessories

Resistance Band Gironda Row
Resistance Band Lat Pulldowns
Resistance Band Behind The Neck Pulldown
Resistance Band Lying Pullover
Resistance Band Standing Straight Arm Pullover
Ring Straight Arm Pullover
  • A challenging bodyweight variation of the pullover exercises (the weights one not the transition movement). Useful as an accessory that does not put stress on your biceps and forearms.
Bodyweight Lat Slide
  • For best results, use gymnastics rings and have a resistance band loaded at your hip to increase difficulty.
  • Focus on using your lats as much as possible and not turning this into an ab rollout.
  • https://youtu.be/pgX9kMxHmsc?t=377
Mid Back & Scapula Accessories

There is some overlap with posterior and lateral deltoid exercises listed in my deltoid training post. Make sure to check those out as well. https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight...ltoid_training_with_calisthenics_a_guide_for/

Active Hang
Ring Rear Delt Row & Scapula Rotations
Bodyweight Bat Wings
Bodyweight Swimmers
Resistance Band Rows
Resistance Band Pull Aparts
Optional Trap/Upper Back Exercises

I have a post on inverted bodyweight hangs for trap training. https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweight..._trap_training_with_calisthenics_a_breakdown/

However, I thought it would be helpful to present some alternatives.

Resistance Band Upright Rows
  • A simple band exercise that will train the upper traps and lateral delts. Easy to progress in load and intensity.
  • https://youtu.be/SfSnx8BXgoE
Bodyweight Inverted Upright Row
  • These are fairly advanced, I'm posting one of the few examples I have found of the exercise being done with clean form.
  • Prereq: Master the inverted hang, 30 second hold minimum standard.
  • https://youtu.be/9FN4Z26kPVY
 
@raykay Awesome guide! I'm intermediate and wondering which exercises to add to my routine (goal is strength first, size second). Currently, I do tuck FL rows, weighted pullups, rings face pulls, and ring bicep curls for my pull-day. I'll start doing some inverted hang progressions too for traps (thanks to your trap guide!). Anything major muscle groups that I'm missing?
 
@vinhhali Everything you've stated looks like a solid pulling plan. What you are doing right now can easily account for the majority or all of your pulling programming and you'd be doing fine. Don't mess with what is working for you. What I list below may not be necessary for you, I'm just throwing out some ideas.

Getting from the intermediate to advanced stage often requires addressing weaknesses. So if you feel there are any weakpoints that are holding back your progress, then it's good to rotate in some targetted accessories. Another thing is specificity, the more similarities a given exercise has to whatever your "goal" is, the more positive carryover you'll see. This is far more important as you get stronger.

For example with rows, that accessory may be a unilateral variation if you feel that one side of your body is stronger than the other. Or you may add in a band-resisted weight vest row if you want to really focus on back contraction and not worry about maintaining balance in a FL.

For pullups, it's a similar story. Unilateral work to address imbalances between sides. An arched/back or gironda variation if you are trying to emphasize back contraction over the arm flexion. A band-resisted pullup for building power and avoiding the cheating with momentum.

Hope this helps.
 
@raykay Ring rows can be very humbling with strict form and a slower tempo. I've been doing decline bw rows with an emphasis on scapular retraction at top position with rings shoulder width and scapular protraction at bottom position with rings touching. You can also play around with where you pull the rings relative to your torso so you get different emphasis on where you feel the tension. You forget how demanding horizontal pulls can be if you've only been working vertical.
 
@raykay
Note on Pullups vs. Chinups. As pullups and chinups are the same exercise with different grip positions, I make no distinction between them in this post. You may choose an overhand, neutral, or underhand grip as you see fit. That being said, there are different areas of the back emphasized by grip and hand width, so I recommend using more than one to add some variance to your training.

Open to comments here:

I always found it a bit odd that so many people out there treat them as essentially the same thing. I started off fat, to chubby, did the basics with pushups/light dumbbell use, then finally worked my way up to a grand total of 2 pullups. I later discovered the chinup & experimented a bit.

Fast forward to now: I almost only ever do chinups now in favor of pullups. The bicep recruitment allows me to put in a noticeably higher amount of reps however what I like is how easy it feels to get my chin WELL above the bar & pause there for a moment. With the increased muscle recruitment I feel in doing chin ups, I can do slower reps with emphasis on quality form which I use to arch my back greatly ensuring I'm absolutely hitting those back muscles.

I see people say "chinups are easier" but I never liked that wording; for my own self, the movement feels more natural. I think it's also interesting to point out that when you do "pullups" on rings, your wrists almost immediately start turning; you're already in a neutral grip position before even getting to the midway point of the pull.

It's known that the back muscle activation is closely similar between them all, but also widely acknowledged that chinups use noticeably more bicep so the way I see it: more reps = more work for the back. Easier reps = great back control.

Finally:


Crazy Pull Up Records. You must see!

In this segments with many cuts of people pulling huge amounts of added weight, the majority are using a semi-narrow chinup grip.

Again, anecdotal: thumbless chinup grip, I can go chest-to-bar super easy. Not so much with a pullup grip.
 
@atheautistic So a lot of interesting ideas presented here. When I say they are essentially the same thing, I am considering the average person. Individual anatomy is going to impact how well you can do one or the other. In your case it seems that your upper body is far better suited for a chinup versus a pullup.

That is going to come up with many exercises, my point is that you should find the variations that are the best for you and just keep training those. You're going to be able to reap similar benefits from any variation you choose, so in that sense it does not make much difference.
 
@atheautistic Interesting comment, i have simmilar feelings with this exercises. Alwasy wondering which grip to choose, and how to improve my technique. In my case, back in time the pull up grip was so much harder. Now i can do nearly 9 or 10 reps for my first set in pull up grip, almost same withe the chin up. But... for chin ups i can touch the bar with my chest easy meanwhile i struggling with chest to bar pull ups, in fact i cannot touch the bar with that grip. Besides i notice my brachioradialis muscles have increased strenth since i started with the pronated grip. Now i focusing to engage correctly my lats, since i guess is the problem to chest to bar pull ups, i was curving forward my shoulders, therefore more distance to bar, and less lats engaging. I''ll come back to chin ups for mastering that lats emphasis and go for more reps as you say
 
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