Bodyweight Back Exercises
Back training with no equipment comes down to two patterns: pulling your body up to a bar, and pulling your body toward a bar you are hanging under. Pull-ups, chin-ups, neutral-grip and wide-grip variations cover the vertical pull and build the lats; the inverted row covers the horizontal pull and builds the mid-back and rear delts that pull-ups miss.
Grip changes more than it looks. A chin-up with palms toward you brings the biceps in and lets most people do more reps; a wide-grip pull-up takes the biceps out and puts the work squarely on the lats. Once bodyweight pull-ups get easy, weighted pull-ups are the natural continuation rather than chasing higher and higher rep counts.
Beginner1
Intermediate8
Advanced3
Other equipment for Back
Frequently asked questions
What if I cannot do a pull-up yet?
Start with inverted rows, which use a fraction of your bodyweight and can be made easier just by walking your feet in. Add slow negatives from the top of a pull-up: jump up, then take five seconds to lower. Most people get their first pull-up from those two alone.
Pull-ups or chin-ups for back?
Pull-ups, with palms facing away, bias the lats more because the biceps contribute less. Chin-ups let you do more reps and more total work, and still train the lats heavily. Running both across a week is the simple answer.
Can you train your whole back with bodyweight only?
Mostly. Pull-ups and inverted rows cover the lats, rhomboids and rear delts well. What is hard to hit without load is the lower back and the heavy spinal-erector work that deadlifts provide, so pair bodyweight pulling with hinge patterns if that is all you have.