13 Best Dumbbell Back Exercises for Lat Strength & Size

13 Best Dumbbell Back Exercises

Dumbbells are a versatile fitness tool that can be found in any gym, regardless of its level of sophistication. However, many weightlifters are only familiar with a few back exercises with dumbbells and may not be using the best ones.

To address this, I have compiled a list of the top 13 dumbbell back exercises, which will help you enhance your back workout and achieve larger, stronger lats.

Introduction to Dumbbells

Back Muscle Anatomy

Dumbbell Back Exercises

1-7 Rowing Movements

8-11 Pulling Movements

12-13 Lifting Movements

Dumbbell Back Workout

What Are Dumbbell Back Exercises?

Dumbbell back exercises involve rowing, pulling, or lifting movements that work the major muscle groups in your back while using dumbbells as resistance.

There is a wide variety of dumbbells available in different shapes and sizes, ranging from traditional iron ones to newer rubberized versions. Additionally, there are adjustable dumbbell bar sets that allow you to add weight plates.

Regardless of the type of equipment you choose, the benefits of these exercises remain the same.

Benefits of Dumbbell Back Exercises

You can get a complete back workout with limited gym equipment using dumbbell back exercises. And you can quickly change exercises because you don’t have to wait for machines or racks to open up.

Many of these dumbbell back exercises are compound movements that recruit multiple muscle groups, which is superior for building strength. In addition, they burn a ton of calories compared to machines or cables.

Lastly, dumbbells allow you to control the movement path and work each arm independently. This freedom allows you to target specific parts of your back and lats.

Perform a complete lat workout at home with minimal equipment
Free weights like dumbbells activate more muscle groups
Burn more calories compared to machines or cables
Able to work each lat independently or both lats simultaneously
More body position options for targeting specific parts of the lats

Muscles Worked by Dumbbell Back Exercises

Before getting into the dumbbell back exercises, it’s vital to understand back muscle anatomy. This way, you’ll know which exercises to use to target specific areas of your back and lats.

The back comprises several muscles, including the latissimus dorsi (lats), erector spinae, traps, teres major/minor, and rhomboid. In addition, many back exercises also recruit the rear delt and biceps due to the pulling motion.

Latissimus Dorsi (Lats)

The back muscle group with the most mass is the latissimus dorsi or “lats.” These muscles connect to the back of your upper arms and extend along your spine from the mid to lower back.

The primary role of the lats is to pull your arm down and backward around the shoulder joint. To effectively target all parts of your lats, it’s essential to incorporate a variety of rowing and pulling movements.

Upper Back Muscles

Several smaller muscles on your upper back are connected to your shoulder blade. These muscles include the rhomboid, teres major, teres minor, and infraspinatus.

Functionally, the upper back muscles work with the lats to move your extremities around the shoulder joint. But they also stabilize and control the movement of the scapula during back exercises.

Trapezius (Traps)

The trapezius or traps are a large diamond shape muscle connecting your neck, shoulders, and upper back. And you can think of the trap muscles as having an upper and lower part.

The lower traps get used extensively during rowing or pulling back exercises. At the same time, the upper traps’ primary function is elevating the shoulders during exercises like deadlifts or shrugs.

Dumbbell Trap Exercises:

12 Dumbbell Trap Exercises for a Thick Upper Back & Neck

Add these dumbbell trap exercises to your shoulder or back day for a beastly upper back and thick neck. Plus, my top trap workout tips.

Best Dumbbell Back Exercises

Now that you understand the anatomy of all the back muscles, let’s get into the best dumbbell exercises for lats. I’ve grouped these exercises into rowing movements, pulling movements, and lifting movements.

Rowing Dumbbell Back Exercises

These dumbbell back exercises include rowing movements at various angles, loads, and intensities to build your back strength and size.

1. Single Dumbbell Row

The single dumbbell row is probably the most popular dumbbell back exercise. Often, you will see this exercise performed with one knee on a bench and one foot on the floor.

However, you can also do the single dumbbell row with both feet on the floor and your hand resting on the bench or another sturdy support. This body position provides more stability and allows you to change the angle of your back to work more upper or lower lats.

Whichever stance and body position you use, begin with your arm extended so that your shoulder blade is stretched. Then pull the dumbbell up towards your rib cage and focus on squeezing your shoulder blade back.

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2. Bent Over Dumbbell Row

The bent-over row is another popular back exercise excellent for building the lats. Usually, you would do this exercise with a barbell, but you can also use dumbbells.

To begin, stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Then pick up a pair of dumbbells and bend forward so your back is at about a 45-degree angle.

Start with extended arms so the dumbbells hang just below and in front of your knees. Then squeeze your shoulder blades and pull both dumbbells up and back towards the sides of your waist.

3. Dumbbell Pendlay Row

The Pendlay row is a variation of the bent-over row initially developed by US Olympic weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay. One of the distinguishing features of the Pendlay row is that your upper body is nearly parallel to the floor.

Another unique aspect is that each rep starts from the floor. The idea behind this posture is to maximize back muscle activation. As well as improve your explosive power off the floor for other Olympic lifts.

In the starting position, your knees should be slightly bent. And your back should be relatively straight, with your eyes looking straight down at the floor.

Quickly pull the dumbbells straight up from the floor towards your sternum. As you pull, your elbows should flare out to your sides at about a 45-degree angle to your body.

4. Incline Dumbbell Row

The incline dumbbell row is a bent-over row variation where you lay face down on an incline bench while performing the exercise.

The idea is to remove your legs from the equation so you can’t use any momentum to move the weight. And with no momentum, your lats and back muscles must do all the work to move the weight.

5. Dumbbell Seal Row

The seal row is similar to the incline row, except the bench is parallel to the floor. It is best to elevate the bench on boxes or other sturdy objects for this exercise to allow your arms to hang straight down.

The purpose of the seal row is to eliminate momentum, which targets the lats. Also, the horizontal body position isolates the lats and uses less upper back and traps.

First, lay face down on the flat bench and hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms extended straight down. Now lift the dumbbells towards your sides by retracting your shoulder blades and pulling your elbows back.

6. Renegade Row

The renegade row is a single dumbbell row performed in the push-up position. The prone stance forces you to use more stabilizer muscles and your core to hold your body steady as you perform the row.

Begin with both dumbbells on the floor. Grab the dumbbell handles and hold yourself in the push-up starting position. Now lift one dumbbell off the floor and pull it towards your side while holding your body up with the other hand.

You can complete a designated number of reps with each side or alternate sides with each rep. Another option is performing a push-up between each rep. This is like a superset for a back and chest workout.

7. Kroc Row

The Kroc row is a super heavy single dumbbell row performed with your back at a slight angle of 15-25 degrees. Unlike other rows, you can use momentum during the Kroc row.

With both feet on the floor and loose form, the Kroc row enables you to pull the heaviest dumbbells. And the purpose is to develop strength in the upper back and forearms for other heavy pulling movements like deadlifts.

To do a Kroc row, lean one hand against an incline bench or other sturdy object. Now pick up the dumbbell in the other hand and hold it at arm’s length with your shoulder blade stretched forward.

Use your legs to initiate momentum from this starting position and pull the dumbbell towards your side. Also, focus on completing the full range of motion by squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top and trying to touch your rib cage with the dumbbell.

Pulling Dumbbell Back Exercises

Next, are dumbbell back exercises involving pulling movements like a pullover or pull-up. These exercises are also excellent for building the stabilizer muscles of the upper back.

8. Dumbbell Pullover for Lats

The dumbbell pullover is a versatile exercise that can target multiple muscle groups. Some people use this exercise to work their chest and serratus muscles, but I will show you how to do it to build your lats.

First, start by laying with your back on a flat bench. Or lay perpendicular across with just your shoulders on the bench. I prefer the latter as it gives you greater stretch and range of motion, plus you can lower your hips to offset a heavier dumbbell.

The next step is wrapping both hands around the inside of one end of the dumbbell. Then, with your back on the bench, raise the dumbbell to arm’s length over your chest.

Hold the dumbbell straight in front of your face with your hands on the inside of the top plate. Now slowly lower the dumbbell over your head while bending your arms slightly.

Continue lowering the weight until you feel a stretch through your lats. Then pull the dumbbell back up to the starting position by squeezing your lats.

9. Dumbbell Weighted Pull Ups

Pull-ups are one of the best lat exercises you can do. But as you progress, you may be able to do 10, 15, or even more pull-ups. At that point, you may want to add some resistance to build more strength and size.

One way to make pull-ups more challenging is by holding a dumbbell between your feet. Or you can use a dip belt to hang a dumbbell between your legs while doing pull-ups.

10. Superman Pulls with Dumbbells

The Superman pull is like a horizontal pull-up. So, unlike traditional pull-ups, the Superman pull doesn’t require lifting your entire body weight.

Instead, this exercise involves retracting your shoulder blades as you lay on your belly and perform a pull-up motion. This external rotation of the arms engages the stabilizers of the upper back and the lats.

While the Superman pull is challenging even without weights, you can hold light dumbbells to add resistance. I’ve also used this exercise to correct muscle imbalances associated with upper cross syndrome.

11. Dumbbell Reverse Fly

The reverse fly is an exercise commonly used to train the rear delts. However, you can also use it to work your upper back and lats.

One key to targeting the lats during a reverse fly is holding the dumbbells with your palms in. So at the bottom of the movement, your palms face each other. And at the top, they face the floor.

Another trick is thinking about pulling your shoulder blades together while keeping your arms relatively straight.

Lifting Dumbbell Back Exercises

Finally, we have dumbbell exercises that involve lifting from the floor. These include deadlifts and block pulls for working the lats, spinal erectors, and traps.

12. Dumbbell Deadlift

The deadlift is a posterior chain exercise that works almost every muscle on the back side of your body, including the lats. And the dumbbell version is no different.

However, many people start the dumbbell deadlift with the weights at their sides. This variation is also called a suitcase deadlift and closely resembles a trap bar or hex bar deadlift.

The problem with that starting position is that it utilizes more leg drive and less back. So when doing dumbbell deadlifts for lats, keep the dumbbells in front of your legs as if you’re using a barbell.

Tip: When doing dumbbell deadlifts for lats, think about hinging at the hips instead of bending at the knees. Keep your hips up and don’t drop them like the guy in the picture above.

13. Dumbbell Block Pull

Another potential problem with dumbbell deadlifts is that you start lower to the floor than a traditional barbell deadlift. Essentially, it’s like a deficit deadlift where you’re starting in a hole.

To remedy this, you can elevate the dumbbells on blocks (aka block pulls). Or you can elevate the dumbbells to start with your hands just below your knees. This is basically a variation of rack pulls, which is better for targeting your lats.

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Dumbbell Back Workout

I recommend including at least a couple of these dumbbell back exercises in your next workout. But, if you want, you could do an entire back workout with only dumbbells!

One advantage of this workout is that you can rapidly change exercises, which saves time. In addition, you can burn more calories by using compound movements and working each arm individually.

I’ve included a mix of compound and isolation exercises in the following dumbbell back workout. You’ll also notice the rep range varies from 8-20, which balances strength and hypertrophy training.

Example Dumbbell Back Workout:

Dumbbell Deadlift – 3 sets, 15-20 reps
Single Arm Dumbbell Row – 5 sets, 8-12 reps
Pull Ups – 5 sets, as many reps as possible
Dumbbell Incline Row – 5 sets 8-12 reps
Dumbbell Pullover – 5 sets, 8-12 reps
Reverse Flies – 3 sets, 10-15 reps

More Back Exercises

The dumbbell back exercises you just learned are excellent for working your entire back with limited equipment. But, if you can, you should also include some barbells, cables, or machines.

So click the links below for lat exercises that go above and beyond dumbbells alone.