Back Thickness Workout (How To Get A Thick Back)

Certain sports leave clues. Olympic Weightlifters, Strongmen, and wrestlers have the thickest backs compared to other athletes. What do they all have in common? Picking up heavy things often. But this is one aspect of back thickness workouts.

But to fully understand what muscles contribute to a thick back, we must know basic back anatomy.

Back Anatomy

The back is comprised of many muscles. But the ones responsible for back thickness are:

Lower, mid, and upper traps
Erector spinae (spinal erectors)

While the lats are the largest back muscle, bigger lats typically create a wider back instead of a thickness. Focusing on the erector spinae and traps will create the thickness making your back “pop.”

3 Tips To Get A Thick Back

Prioritize Rows Over Vertical Pulling

For back thickness, prioritize rows in your training over pull-ups and pulldowns. Rows still target the lats but are better at hitting the lower, mid, and upper traps and the rhomboids between your shoulder blades.

Use Deadlift And Pull Variations

From my experience, nothing builds a powerful thick back like heavy deadlift and pull variations. I prefer pulls over deadlifts for back thickness because it includes a powerful shrug. However, these Olympic Weightlifting derivatives take more technical refinement than a deadlift.

Therefore, the deadlift is easiest for most people. But if you have a background in Weightlifting or have time to learn the movements,

Implement Strongman Exercises

Along with pulls, Strongman carry exercises will build tremendous strength and size on your upper back and erector spinae. Use farmers walks to target your upper traps and front-loaded carries like sandbag carries to target your entire back and erectors.

The bonus with carries is you must deadlift the awkward loads to carry them, placing more stress on your back muscles for thickness.

10 Best Back Thickness Exercises

Deadlift

Some lifters will downplay the effectiveness of the deadlift to build a thick back because the muscles act isometrically and don’t go through a full range of motion. But to support heavy loads, your back works overtime so you don’t fold like a deck chair. Here’s how to do it:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, with the barbell on the floor in front of you.
Perform a Romanian deadlift to reach down and grab the bar with an overhand or mixed grip, with your hands just outside your legs.
Pull yourself into position by pulling the slack out of the bar creating full body tension. Load your hamstrings and glutes, and keep tension in your lats, all while keeping a big chest.
Push with your legs to initiate the deadlift. Once the bar passes your knees, thrust your hips forward as hard as possible to lock out.

Floating Clean Pull

The floating clean pull is an exercise you'll only see in Olympic Weightlifting. But Weightlifters have thick backs because of their huge pulling volumes. One variation is never to return the bar to the floor.

This means you support the load for the entire set forcing your back to work harder than performing continuous reps from the floor. A recipe for a thick back. Here’s how to do it:

Pull yourself into the clean pull starting position with your weight distributed through the middle of your feet, big chest, and shoulders over the bar. Initiate the pull by pushing with your legs and maintaining your back angle.
Once the bar passes the knees, raise your shoulders as you brush the bar up your thighs. Once in a tall position, violently shrug and extend onto your toes.
Lower the bar reversing the entire movement but stopping just shy of the floor, then start the lift again.

Floating Snatch Pull

The floating snatch pull is another option with a wider grip forcing your upper back to work harder to maintain posture. You won't be able to load as heavy as the floating clean pull, but you must work harder to maintain the correct positions. Here's how to do it:

Pull yourself into the snatch pull starting position with your weight distributed through the middle of your feet, big chest, and shoulders over the bar. Initiate the pull by pushing with your legs and maintaining your back angle.
Once the bar passes the knees, raise your shoulders as you meet the bar with your hips. Once in a tall position, violently shrug and extend onto your toes.
Lower the bar reversing the entire movement but stopping just shy of the floor, then start the lift again.

Snatch High Pull

The snatch high pull has been included in every back exercise for mass list. It's the most slept-on exercise for building a huge upper back which I use often. If you are new to this exercise, your traps will be screaming the next day. Here's how to do it:

Take a snatch grip (use straps for this exercise) and pull yourself into the starting position with a big chest, tight lats, and head and eyes forward.
Push through your legs into the ground. Once you are standing up tall, extend onto your toes and violently shrug your shoulders while pulling the barbell as high as you can, similar to an upright row.

Barbell Rows

The barbell row is the ultimate rowing variation for a thick back. You must support the load in a bent-over position as you isolate your back, pulling the bar toward you. I recommend returning the bar to the floor for each rep for stricter reps. Here's how to do it:

Grip the bar creating full body tension in a bent-over posture. Your grip width should be similar to your deadlift. Maintain a big chest.
Initiate the row by pulling your elbows past your ribs until the bar touches your belly button. You can pull the bar to your top abs if you want to target the mid and upper back.
Slowly return the bar to the floor.

Chest Supported Rows

You can rest your chest on a bench or special equipment like the T-bar row to reduce lower back involvement and further isolate the mid and upper back. This is an excellent option after performing lots of deadlifts or pulls because your lower back is already taxed. Here’s how to do it:

Lay with your chest against the bench holding a barbell or dumbbell. Initiate the row by pulling your elbows past your ribs, squeezing at the top.
Slowly return to the starting position.

Machine Rows

Machine rows let you hit the back from different angles. Low, high, and iso-lateral rows give you plenty of variation. Further, you're supported, so you have little to no lower back stress like the chest-supported variations. Here's how to do it:

Set the machine so your hands finish around the bottom of your ribs when rowing. Grip the handles and pull your elbows past your ribs.
Slowly return to the starting position.

Sandbag Bearhug Carry

Front-loaded carries like the sandbag bearhug carry is brutal on your entire back to maintain an upright posture. You have an awkward object trying to round you over. It's one of the best exercises to strengthen and build your spinal erectors. Here's how to do it:

Place one hand under the top side, guiding it to the floor, and then hook the other hand underneath. Bend over with minimal lumbar flexion and get low by pushing your knees slightly outwards and squatting down simultaneously.
Initiate the pick off the ground by driving the legs into the floor. Think of the arms and hands as hooks. After gaining momentum from the leg drive, you will want to stand high enough to pull it onto your knees.
You will want to squat down while pulling the bag close to your body. You will think of driving your hips forwards and standing up simultaneously to stand up.
Use momentum from the previous step to move forwards, short steps, fast feet, accelerate hard with shorter steps at the start, and open up as you get faster.

Sandbag Loading

Sandbag loading is another excellent option for performing multiple awkward round-back deadlifts. These awkward positions develop strength and muscles other exercises won't give you. Here's how to do it:

Place one hand under the top side, guiding it to the floor, and then hook the other hand underneath. Bend over with minimal lumbar flexion and get low by pushing your knees slightly outwards and squatting down simultaneously.
Initiate the pick off the ground by driving the legs into the floor. Think of the arms and hands as hooks. After gaining momentum from the leg drive, you will want to stand high enough to pull it onto your knees.
You will want to squat down while pulling the bag close to your body. To stand up, you will think of driving your hips forwards and standing up simultaneously. It will be more of a combination of a hip thrust and front squat movement.

Farmers Walk

No back thickness exercise list is complete without the farmers walk. Your upper traps will be screaming as you fatigue, holding heavy loads. Use farmers walks at the end of your back thickness workout to finish them off. Here’s how to do it:

Grip your implement and setup as you would for a deadlift. Your implements will be on either side of your body.
Deadlift the implements so you are standing up tall. Don’t start walking until you have stabilized the weight. Start walking forward with small steps while maintaining your brace. Lower your implements back to the floor once you reach your desired distance or time.

Best Back Thickness Workout

Exercise	Set/Rep	Load
A1) Floating Clean Pull	3 x 5	7 RPE
B1) Barbell Rows	4 x 12/10/8/8	8 RPE
C1) Chest Supported Rows	2 x 15	9 RPE
D1) Sandbag Bearhug Carry	3 x 20 m	Cell

Summary

You can prioritize back thickness within your workout by choosing heavy pulling and deadlifting variations and supplementing them with rowing movements. These will target the main muscles contributing to a thick back.

About the Author

I am a professional strength & conditioning coach that works with professional and international teams and athletes. I am a published scientific researcher and have completed my Masters in Sport & Exercise Science. I've combined my knowledge of research and experience to bring you the most practical bites to be applied to your training.

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