Best Back and Bicep Exercises & Workouts

The back is a massive complex of muscles that can take a beating, but the biceps are smaller and more delicate. Training this combo 2 times a week is standard. However, be mindful of your forearm health; if you develop tendonitis (golfer's elbow), you may need to reduce frequency or use lifting straps to offload the grip.

Yes, this is the standard "Pull" day. Every row and pulldown engages the biceps to flex the elbow. It makes sense to finish the biceps while they are full of blood. However, if your biceps are a major weak point, you might consider training them on a separate day so you can hit them with fresh energy, rather than as an afterthought.

For the back, you need a vertical pull (Pull-ups/Lat Pulldowns) for width and a horizontal pull (Barbell Row/Seated Cable Row) for thickness. For biceps, avoid redundancy. Choose one exercise where the elbows are behind the body (Incline Curls) and one where they are in front (Preacher Curls) to change the leverage and tension curve.

Most people fail to build big biceps because they swing the weight. To build strength, lock your elbows against your ribcage and refuse to let them drift forward. Additionally, focus on the eccentric (lowering) portion of the curl; resisting the weight on the way down causes more micro-tearing and growth than the lifting phase.

Yes, pull-ups and chin-ups are arguably the best back builders in existence, weighted or not. For the mid-back (rhomboids/traps), inverted rows using a bar, rings, or table are highly effective. You can progress these by elevating your feet or using one arm at a time, providing nearly infinite overload potential.