Pull Day Back Workout for Push-Pull-Legs Training Splits

Understand what a pull day back workout is

A pull day back workout focuses on exercises where you pull weight toward your body. In a typical push pull legs training split, you divide your week into three main sessions: push, pull, and legs. On pull day, you train the back, biceps, rear shoulders, and forearms using pulling movements like rows, pulldowns, pull ups, and curls.

According to Gold’s Gym guidance in 2026, a pull workout uses the muscles of your back, forearms, and biceps to pull resistance toward you, which helps strengthen the back and spine and correct strength imbalances created by push heavy routines.

A well planned pull day back workout will help you:

Build a stronger, thicker back
Improve posture and spinal support
Balance push focused chest and shoulder training
Develop grip strength and forearm endurance

Learn the key back muscles you train

When you set up your pull day, it helps to know which muscles you are targeting. Pulling exercises mainly work:

Latissimus dorsi (lats). Large back muscles that pull your upper arms toward your body and create the “V taper” look. They also support a shoulder safe bench press.
Trapezius (traps). Upper and mid back muscles that stabilize your shoulder blades.
Rhomboids. Muscles between your shoulder blades that help you retract and stabilize them.
Erector spinae. Spinal erector muscles that run along your spine and support posture and lower back strength.
Rear deltoids. The back portion of your shoulders that assist with pulling and posture.
Biceps and forearms. Elbow flexors and grip muscles that are involved in every pull movement.

Your pull day back workout should include exercises that hit all of these areas, not only the muscles you see in the mirror.

Warm up properly before pull day

Before you start heavy pulls, you want to increase blood flow and prepare your joints. The research recommends dynamic warm up work and light sets of your main lifts to reduce injury risk and improve performance.

You can use this simple 5 to 10 minute warm up:

Arm circles, small then larger, to loosen shoulders
Shoulder dislocations with a band or broomstick
Thoracic rotations, slow and controlled
Bodyweight rows on a bar or TRX
1 to 2 light sets of your first compound lift, such as deadlifts or bent over rows

Treat your warm up as part of the workout. It sets you up to pull heavier and with better form.

Start with heavy compound pull movements

On pull day, you generally want to start with big compound lifts that use multiple joints and large muscle groups. Research on pull day structure recommends beginning with exercises like deadlifts or bent over rows so you hit the most demanding lifts when you are fresh.

Common heavy compounds for a pull day back workout include:

Deadlifts
Muscles: glutes, hamstrings, lower back, core, and lats
Example: 3 to 4 sets of 5 to 6 reps
Role: cornerstone of posterior chain strength and full body pulling power
Bent over barbell row or Smith machine row
Muscles: lats, rhomboids, traps, rear delts, and lower back
Role: builds thickness through the mid and upper back and reinforces hip hinge position
Dumbbell rows
Muscles: lats, rhomboids, and grip
Role: allows a more natural path of motion and can correct side to side imbalances

If you are a beginner, you might prioritize rows and use a variation of deadlift with lighter loads. If you are more experienced, you can make deadlifts the first lift of the session, for example 3 sets of 5 reps as recommended in the pull day guides.

Add vertical pulls like pull ups and lat pulldowns

After your heaviest compound, move into vertical pulling to target the lats and upper back from another angle. Key options are pull ups and lat pulldowns.

Pull ups

Pull ups are a classic pull day movement that heavily involve the lats and biceps. Gold’s Gym trainers recommend starting with basic pull ups, then progressing to more advanced variations as you get stronger.

You can structure them as:

Bodyweight pull ups, 3 sets to technical failure
If you are using added weight, 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps

If pull ups are not yet accessible, use assisted pull up machines or band assistance to practice the pattern while developing strength.

Lat pulldowns

Lat pulldowns are highly effective for strengthening your lats and also engage the shoulders, arms, and upper back. These are especially useful when you want a controlled range of motion or when you cannot yet do multiple pull ups.

Proper lat pulldown form includes:

Taking a grip slightly wider than shoulder width with palms facing away
Keeping your back straight with your core engaged
Pulling the bar down in front of your chest, not behind your neck
Controlling the bar on the way back up instead of letting it snap upward

Common mistakes to avoid:

Using too much weight and swinging your body for momentum
Rounding your back or pulling behind the neck, which stresses the shoulders
Using the wrong grip width or failing to actively engage your lats

You can use lat pulldowns in different ways across your training blocks:

3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps with a heavier load to build strength
Slightly higher reps to focus more on muscular endurance

Useful variations include:

Close grip pulldown for more upper lats and bicep involvement
Underhand grip pulldown to emphasize lower lats and biceps
Single arm pulldown to address muscle imbalances
Resistance band pulldown if you do not have access to a cable machine

Use rows to build a thick back

Rowing movements are central to any pull day back workout. Research on effective back training suggests you aim for at least 6 sets of rowing exercises per week because these moves recruit your rhomboids, lats, and smaller stabilizing muscles while promoting shoulder health.

Helpful row variations include:

Seated cable row
Muscles: lats, mid back, rear delts, biceps
Often used as 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Chest supported machine row
Muscles: lats, rhomboids, traps
Limits cheating with body English, which helps you focus tension on the back
Dumbbell row, single arm
Muscles: lats and mid back with strong core engagement
Good for correcting side to side differences

A key technique tip from back training guidance is to use full range of motion. On rows and pull ups, you want to fully reach and stretch your shoulders at the bottom of the movement, then pull until your shoulder blades are squeezed together. Avoid the common mistake of cutting the range short, which limits muscle growth.

Include isolation work for biceps and rear delts

After your heavy compounds and main back work, finish your pull day with isolation exercises. These target specific muscles, add volume, and support overall size and symmetry.

Bicep curls and variations

Pull day research highlights the value of curl variations such as:

Barbell curl
Dumbbell bicep curl
EZ bar curl
Hammer curls
Preacher curl

These moves isolate the biceps and forearms while offering options that can be easier on the wrists or elbows, depending on grip. You might use 2 different curl variations per session and adjust reps based on your goal, for example:

3 sets of 8 to 10 reps with moderate weight
Or 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps for more time under tension

Rear delt and lower back isolation

To round out your pull day back workout, consider:

Dumbbell rear delt flyes to train rear shoulders and support posture
Cable rear delt pulls for targeted work on the rear delts
Back extensions or similar isolation work for spinal erectors, since lower back muscles are often neglected

This helps you build balanced pulling strength so your posture, shoulders, and spine all benefit from the session.

Structure a sample pull day back workout

Here is an example pull day back workout that uses the guidelines from the research and stays within a push pull legs training structure. You can adapt sets and reps to your experience level and recovery.

Warm up

5 to 10 minutes of dynamic shoulder work and light sets of your first lift

Deadlift

3 to 4 sets of 5 to 6 reps
Rest 90 to 120 seconds between sets

Bent over row or chest supported row

3 sets of 6 to 8 reps
Rest 60 to 90 seconds

Wide grip lat pulldown or pull ups

3 sets of 5 to 8 reps for strength focus
Or 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps for more hypertrophy
Rest 60 to 90 seconds

Seated cable row

3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Rest 60 seconds

Rear delt flyes

3 sets of 12 to 15 reps

Bicep curls, choose 1 to 2 variations

Example: dumbbell curls and hammer curls
3 sets of 8 to 12 reps each

If you have less time, you can use supersets as some pull day recommendations suggest. For instance, pairing a lat pulldown with a face pull or a reverse fly with a hammer curl and resting 30 to 60 seconds between rounds can increase training density without extending your time in the gym.

Manage rest and progressive overload

How you rest and progress is as important as the exercises you choose.

Rest intervals

Pull day research recommends:

90 to 120 seconds between heavy sets like deadlifts and pull ups
60 to 90 seconds for moderate weight rows and pulldowns
30 to 60 seconds for supersets or isolation work

You can adjust slightly based on your goals. Longer rests support strength. Shorter rests make the session more conditioning focused.

Progressive overload

To keep building muscle and strength, you need to gradually increase the challenge over time. Research on pull day routines emphasizes progressive overload, which you can achieve by:

Adding small amounts of weight to your main lifts
Increasing total sets or reps week to week
Slowing down the eccentric (lowering) phase to increase time under tension

Track your major movements, such as deadlifts, rows, and pulldowns, and aim to improve one variable at a time rather than trying to increase everything at once.

Avoid common pull day back workout mistakes

Several common issues can limit your results on pull day. Being aware of them makes it easier to get more from each session.

Overusing machines. Machines can be helpful, but relying on them too heavily may restrict your range of motion and muscle activation. Research notes that barbells, dumbbells, and chinning bars often allow a freer path of movement that better stimulates the back.
Letting biceps do all the work. If you pull mostly with your arms and ignore your lats and upper back, your biceps tire early and your back does not fully engage. Focus on pulling with your elbows and think about driving them back and down.
Neglecting lower back and spinal erectors. Standing lifts stimulate these muscles, but isolation exercises like back extensions can maximize their strength and contribute to a resilient lower back.
Weak grip limiting performance. Your hands and forearms are the weak link in many pull movements. If your grip fails before your back is tired, your bigger muscles never get fully trained. Add dedicated forearm and grip work, or use techniques such as thicker handles or static holds with lighter weight.
Cutting range of motion short. Effective back training requires big, sweeping movements with full range of motion. Fully extend your arms at the bottom of pull ups or rows, then pull until your shoulders are retracted and your lats and mid back are fully contracted.

Addressing these points can make the same exercises noticeably more effective without any change to your program on paper.

Fit pull day into a push pull legs routine

A pull day back workout works best when it is part of a weekly structure that allows for enough training and enough recovery. A common schedule is a 4 day per week push pull legs style plan where you repeat one of the days, for example:

Day 1: Push
Day 2: Pull
Day 3: Legs
Day 4: Push or Pull, alternating each week

According to push pull legs recommendations from Gold’s Gym, this kind of structure lets you:

Target specific muscle groups each day
Allow muscles to recover while you train other areas
Maintain consistent exposure to pull training, which is important because many people are stronger in push exercises

Aim for at least one pull day per week, and if your schedule and recovery allow it, you can move toward two pull days every three weeks so your back and pulling muscles continue to progress.

Turn your next pull day into a back builder

Your pull day back workout does not need to be complicated. If you warm up well, start with a heavy compound such as deadlifts or bent over rows, add vertical pulls like pull ups or lat pulldowns, include a couple of row variations, then finish with curls and rear delt work, you will cover all the major pulling muscles.

Begin with the version of each movement that feels sustainable for you, then gradually increase weight, reps, or sets over time. With consistent effort inside a push pull legs rotation, your back strength, posture, and overall pulling power will steadily improve.