RIRLift app icon RIRLift

Exercises

Bodyweight back exercises, with and without a pull-up bar

Published October 19, 2026

With no equipment at all, the superman and the plank IYTW are the back exercises you can do on the floor: one trains your lower back, the other your upper back and shoulder blades. To train your lats with bodyweight you need something to hang from, and then the pull-up, chin-up and neutral-grip pull-up are the core, with the archer pull-up and front lever raise as the next steps once you can do 10 or more clean reps.

  1. Superman Lower Back
  2. Plank IYTW Abs, Upper Back
  3. Pull-Up Lats
  4. Chin-Up Lats
  5. Neutral-Grip Pull-Up Lats
  6. Wide-Grip Pull-Up Lats
  7. Archer Pull-Up Lats, Upper Back
  8. Front Lever Raise Lats, Abs

Back exercises without equipment

On the floor, your back can only work against gravity by lifting your arms, legs or chest, so these exercises train holding positions rather than pulling heavy loads. They are the right start if you have nothing else, and they work as a warm-up once you do. Your lats, the biggest back muscle, need a pull, which is why the next section needs a bar.

Lower back, floor only

Superman

Lower Back

Lying face down and lifting your arms and legs together makes your spinal erectors and glutes hold your body in an arch. It needs no equipment and only a floor, and holding the top for a few seconds makes it harder without adding anything.

How to do it

  1. Lie face down with your arms reaching overhead and your legs straight behind you.
  2. Squeeze your glutes and raise arms, chest and legs a few inches off the floor at the same time.
  3. Hold the top for two to three seconds, looking at the floor so your neck stays long.
  4. Lower everything slowly and rest for a breath before the next rep.

Cues

  • Long, not high
  • Glutes tight
  • Eyes on the floor

Common mistakes

  • Cranking your head up to look forward: keep your neck in line with your spine.
  • Jerking up as high as possible: a smooth few inches with a hold beats a fast, big arch.

Swap for: Plank IYTW, Dead Hang, Front Lever Raise

Build a session with Superman

Upper back and shoulder blades, floor only

Plank IYTW

Abs, Upper Back

From a high plank, you lift one arm at a time through an I, Y, T and W shape. Each shape trains a different part of the upper back and the muscles that steady your shoulder blades, while the supporting arm and your core hold the plank.

How to do it

  1. Start in a high plank on your hands with your feet a little wider than your hips.
  2. Shift your weight onto one hand and raise the other arm straight overhead in line with your body for the I.
  3. Return it, then raise it out at a 45 degree angle for the Y, straight out to the side for the T, and with the elbow bent and pulled back for the W.
  4. Repeat the four shapes with the other arm. That is one rep.

Cues

  • Hips level
  • Thumb toward the ceiling
  • Reach long each time

Common mistakes

  • Rotating your hips toward the lifted arm: widen your feet until your hips stay square.
  • Rushing the shapes: hold each one for a second so the upper back actually works.

Swap for: Superman, Dead Hang, Archer Pull-Up

Build a session with Plank IYTW

Pull-up and chin-up variations

Every exercise in this section is the same hang-and-pull. The grip decides the emphasis: palms facing you puts more work on the biceps and lets most people do more reps, palms away and wide stresses the lats at the top of the arm, and palms facing each other sits in between and is the easiest on the elbows and shoulders. Pick one grip as your main pull and rotate a second.

Lats, overhand vertical pull

Pull-Up

Lats

The overhand pull-up is the standard bodyweight back exercise: it trains the lats through a big range and moves your whole bodyweight, more than most people row. It also sets the bar for the harder variations below.

How to do it

  1. Hang from a bar with your palms facing away, hands a bit wider than your shoulders and arms fully straight.
  2. Draw your shoulder blades down before you bend your arms.
  3. Drive your elbows toward your back pockets until your chin clears the bar.
  4. Lower until your arms are straight again, then pull again without swinging.

Cues

  • Shoulders down first
  • Elbows to your pockets
  • Full hang every rep

Common mistakes

  • Half reps that stop with bent arms: start every rep from a full hang.
  • Kicking the legs to get over the bar: if you need to kick, end the set.

Swap for: Chin-Up, Neutral-Grip Pull-Up, Wide-Grip Pull-Up

Build a session with Pull-Up

Lats and biceps, underhand vertical pull

Chin-Up

Lats

Palms facing you lets your biceps help more, so most people get more reps on a chin-up than a pull-up. That makes it the best place to start building your first sets of bodyweight pulling.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar with your palms facing you and hands about shoulder width apart.
  2. Set your shoulders down and pull your chest toward the bar.
  3. Keep pulling until your chin rises past the bar and your elbows point at the floor.
  4. Lower slowly to a full hang.

Cues

  • Chest to the bar
  • Elbows point down
  • Slow on the way down

Common mistakes

  • Craning your neck to get the chin over: pull higher with your back instead.
  • Dropping fast out of the top: control the lowering, it builds strength too.

Swap for: Close-Grip Chin-Up, Neutral-Grip Pull-Up, Pull-Up

Build a session with Chin-Up

Lats, palms-facing pull

Neutral-Grip Pull-Up

Lats

With your palms turned in on parallel handles, your elbows travel in their most natural line. It is usually the easiest grip on sore shoulders and elbows and sits between the pull-up and chin-up for difficulty.

How to do it

  1. Grip parallel handles, palms turned inward, and hang with your arms straight.
  2. Set your shoulder blades low and tight.
  3. Pull until your chin passes the handles, keeping your elbows in front of your body.
  4. Lower under control to a full hang.

Cues

  • Thumbs toward you
  • Chest up to the handles
  • Full hang at the bottom

Common mistakes

  • Flaring the elbows wide: let them track forward as they would naturally on this grip.
  • Swinging on the handles: start each rep from a still hang.

Swap for: Pull-Up, Chin-Up, Commando Pull-Up

Build a session with Neutral-Grip Pull-Up

Lats, wide overhand pull

Wide-Grip Pull-Up

Lats

Widening your grip shortens the range and puts more of the work on the lats with less help from the biceps. It is harder than a standard pull-up, so most people do fewer reps and use it as a second variation.

How to do it

  1. Take an overhand grip well wider than your shoulders and hang with your arms straight.
  2. Draw your shoulder blades down to start the pull.
  3. Pull your upper chest toward the bar until your chin clears it, elbows driving down and out.
  4. Lower to straight arms.

Cues

  • Elbows down and out
  • Chest toward the bar
  • Stay still underneath

Common mistakes

  • Going so wide your range shrinks to a few inches: hands just outside where they would be for a regular pull-up is wide enough.
  • Shrugging at the top: keep your shoulders away from your ears.

Swap for: Pull-Up, Archer Pull-Up, Neutral-Grip Pull-Up

Build a session with Wide-Grip Pull-Up

Lats and biceps, narrow underhand pull

Close-Grip Chin-Up

Lats, Biceps

Bringing your hands close together on an underhand grip lets your elbows travel past your body at the bottom of the lowering phase, which stretches the lats longer and loads the biceps hard. It is a good second pull to pair with a wide overhand one.

How to do it

  1. Grip the bar underhand with your hands a few inches apart and hang with straight arms.
  2. Pull your shoulders down, then pull your chest toward your hands.
  3. Finish with your chin over the bar and your elbows tucked tight in front of you.
  4. Lower slowly to a full hang.

Cues

  • Hands close, elbows in
  • Chest to the hands
  • Control the bottom

Common mistakes

  • Letting the wrists bend back: keep them straight so your forearms take the load evenly.
  • Stopping short of a full hang: the stretched bottom is what this grip is for.

Swap for: Chin-Up, Neutral-Grip Pull-Up, Pull-Up

Build a session with Close-Grip Chin-Up

Harder bodyweight pulls for strong lifters

Once your bodyweight is light for 10 or more reps, you need more load without a weight belt. These shift more of your weight onto one arm, add a rotation, or lengthen the lever until your lats and core are working near their limit again.

Lats, one-sided pull

Archer Pull-Up

Lats, Upper Back

With a very wide grip, you pull toward one hand while the other arm straightens out to the side. Most of your bodyweight ends up on one lat, so it is the next step toward a one-arm pull-up and a way to make bodyweight heavy again.

How to do it

  1. Take an overhand grip about twice your shoulder width and hang with your arms straight.
  2. Pull your body toward your right hand, letting your left arm straighten along the bar.
  3. Get your chin near your right hand at the top, then lower back to the middle.
  4. Alternate sides each rep, or do all reps on one side and switch.

Cues

  • Pull toward one hand
  • Other arm straight
  • Lower to center

Common mistakes

  • Bending the assisting arm so both share the work: straighten it as much as you can.
  • Rushing back through the middle: control the lowering on each side.

Swap for: Wide-Grip Pull-Up, Commando Pull-Up, Pull-Up

Build a session with Archer Pull-Up

Lats and core, side-on pull

Commando Pull-Up

Lats, Upper Back

Standing under the bar sideways, you grip it with your hands close and pull your head past the bar on alternating sides. The uneven grip forces your lats and core to fight rotation on every rep.

How to do it

  1. Stand under the bar so it runs from front to back above you, and grip it with your hands close together, one in front of the other.
  2. Hang with straight arms.
  3. Pull up so your head passes to the left of the bar.
  4. Lower to a full hang, then pull up to the right side next. Alternate every rep.

Cues

  • Shoulder past the bar
  • Hips stay still
  • Alternate sides

Common mistakes

  • Spinning under the bar: tighten your core and squeeze your legs together.
  • Only going high enough for the chin: bring your shoulder up beside the bar.

Swap for: Neutral-Grip Pull-Up, Archer Pull-Up, Close-Grip Chin-Up

Build a session with Commando Pull-Up

Lats and core, straight-arm lever

Front Lever Raise

Lats, Abs

Hanging from the bar, you raise your body with straight arms until it is horizontal, then lower again. The lats pull your arms down against a very long lever, so it loads them hard without any weight, and you can make it easier by tucking your knees.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar overhand with straight arms, shoulders pulled down.
  2. Tuck your knees to your chest, or keep your legs straight if you are strong enough.
  3. Pull the bar down toward your hips with straight arms, raising your body until your torso is close to horizontal.
  4. Lower slowly back to a hang.

Cues

  • Straight arms, push the bar down
  • Hips up to bar height
  • Slow down

Common mistakes

  • Bending the elbows to help: once they bend it becomes a row, and the lats lose the lever.
  • Going straight-legged too soon: use tucked knees until you control the lowering.

Swap for: Archer Pull-Up, Wide-Grip Pull-Up, Superman

Build a session with Front Lever Raise

Hanging for grip and shoulder health

A dead hang is not a back builder on its own, but it is the first step toward a pull-up and the fastest way to fix a grip that gives out before your back does.

Grip and shoulders, hold

Dead Hang

Forearms

Hanging from the bar with straight arms builds the grip and the shoulder position every pull-up starts from. If you cannot do a pull-up yet, hanging for time is the first thing to get good at.

How to do it

  1. Grab the bar overhand at shoulder width.
  2. Lift your feet so you hang with straight arms.
  3. Let your shoulders rise toward your ears for a passive hang, or pull them down slightly for an active one.
  4. Hold for time, then step down.

Cues

  • Straight arms
  • Breathe
  • Grip hard

Common mistakes

  • Letting go as soon as the forearms burn: that burn is the training effect, so hang on until your grip actually fails.
  • Swinging: hang still.

Swap for: Chin-Up, Plank IYTW, Superman

Build a session with Dead Hang

Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in. Open one in the session builder to change a pick, price it from a recent set, and add it to RIRLift.

Session 1

No equipment, floor only

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets24 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You have no pull-up bar, no weights and only a floor, and want to start training your back today.

Without anything to pull from, the two floor exercises are all that honestly train the back: the superman for your lower back and the plank IYTW for your upper back and shoulder blades. With only two exercises, you do them more often and with more sets, three short sessions a week, stopping 1 to 2 reps short of failure because the holds get sloppy before your muscles give out. 8 working sets, about 15 minutes. A doorway pull-up bar is the single purchase that unlocks the rest of this page.

Back
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
SupermanHold the top 2 to 3 s. 4 × 10–15 1 45 s
Plank IYTWReps are full IYTW rounds per arm. 4 × 4–8 2 1 min
How to run it
Do the session three times a week on non-consecutive days. Add a 2-3 second hold at the top of every superman rep.
How to progress
Add a rep each session until you reach the top of the range. Then make it harder: longer holds on the superman, and a slower count through the IYTW shapes.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

A bar, and 1 to 8 pull-ups

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets19 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentPull-Up Bar

You have a pull-up bar at home or in a park and can do somewhere between one and eight strict chin-ups.

Chin-ups and neutral-grip pull-ups are the grips you are strongest on, so they get the most sets and come first. The dead hang builds the grip that otherwise ends sets early, and the superman keeps the lower back trained. Pulling sets stop 1 rep short of failure so the last rep stays clean, and when you can't get a rep at all, the notes have you lower slowly instead. Session A has 10 working sets, session B has 9.

Pull A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Chin-UpIf a rep fails, jump up and lower over 5 s. 4 × 3–8 1 2 min
Dead HangReps are seconds. 3 × 20–40 1 90 s
SupermanHold the top 2 s. 3 × 10–15 1 45 s

Open Pull A in the session builder

Pull B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Neutral-Grip Pull-UpFull hang every rep. 4 × 3–8 1 2 min
Close-Grip Chin-UpSlow 3 s lowering. 3 × 3–8 1 2 min
Dead HangReps are seconds. 2 × 20–40 1 90 s

Open Pull B in the session builder

How to run it
Do Pull A and Pull B once each per week with at least a day between them. Rest 2 minutes between pulling sets; it matters more than you'd expect at low reps.
How to progress
Once you hit 8 on every set of chin-ups, start Pull A with neutral-grip pull-ups instead. When both hit 10, move to the next plan.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

10 or more strict pull-ups

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets23 a week
  • Per workout~35 min
  • EquipmentPull-Up Bar

You can do at least 10 strict pull-ups and your bodyweight no longer feels heavy, but you don't want to add a weight belt.

When your bodyweight is light for 10+, the fix is leverage instead of load. The archer pull-up and the front lever raise put most of your weight on one lat or on a long lever, so reps come back down to 5 to 8. The commando pull-up and wide-grip pull-up add volume at a different angle, and the plank IYTW keeps the shoulder blades trained. RIR is 1 on the hard variations and 0 to 1 on the familiar ones. 12 working sets in session A, 11 in session B.

Pull A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Archer Pull-UpReps per side. 4 × 3–6 1 2:30 min
Wide-Grip Pull-UpChin over the bar. 4 × 6–10 1 2 min
Plank IYTWRounds per arm. 4 × 5–8 1 1 min

Open Pull A in the session builder

Pull B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Front Lever RaiseTuck if needed. 4 × 5–8 1 2 min
Commando Pull-UpReps per side. 4 × 6–10 0 2 min
Pull-UpFull hang. 3 × 8–15 1 2 min

Open Pull B in the session builder

How to run it
Do Pull A and Pull B once each per week, with two days between them if you can.
How to progress
Add a rep per set until you hit the top of each range. Then make the archer more one-sided by straightening the assisting arm more, and progress the front lever from tucked knees to one leg straight.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

How do you do back exercises without any equipment?

On the floor, the superman trains your lower back and the plank IYTW trains your upper back and shoulder blades. Do them three times a week and hold each rep at the top. Your lats need something to pull against, so once you can, add a doorway bar or any sturdy bar you can hang from.

Can you build a big back with bodyweight only?

Yes, if you have a bar. Pull-ups, chin-ups and their harder variations train your lats and upper back as hard as most weighted rows, and when they get easy, the archer pull-up and front lever make them heavy again. Floor-only exercises alone will not build much lat size.

Is 5 exercises enough for back day?

Yes. Even two or three are enough if you take them close to failure. On a bodyweight back day, one main pull-up grip, a second grip, and one floor or hanging exercise for 3 to 4 sets each is a complete session.

What is the best bodyweight back exercise?

The pull-up. It trains your lats through their full range under your whole bodyweight. If you can't do one yet, the chin-up is the easiest grip to start with.

How do I get my first pull-up?

Hang from the bar for time, then jump to the top and lower yourself as slowly as you can, five seconds or more. Do three to five of those lowerings twice a week. They build strength in the same range, and most people are pulling a full rep within a few weeks.

How many times a week should I do bodyweight back exercises?

Two or three times. Pull-ups recover fast enough to do every other day, and two sessions with a day or more between them gives each one enough rest to be done well. Floor exercises can be done three times a week.