Pull: back and biceps

Horizontal and vertical pulling: the movements that build a strong back and biceps.

• Assisted pull-up

  A pull-up with a counterweight or band: the direct road to the real thing.

• Barbell curl

  A barbell biceps curl that lets you load the arms with the most weight.

• Barbell row

  A hinged horizontal pull that builds a thick, strong back.

• Cable curl

  A biceps curl with constant tension from top to bottom.

• Chest-supported row

  A row with your chest on a pad: all back, no lower-back fatigue.

• Chin-up

  An underhand vertical pull that hits the lats hard and the biceps harder.

• Concentration curl

  A seated single-arm curl braced against the thigh, the strictest curl there is.

• Dumbbell curl

  The classic isolation exercise for the biceps.

• Dumbbell pullover

  An old-school lift that takes the lats and chest through a long overhead stretch.

• Dumbbell row

  A single-arm horizontal pull that builds the back and evens out imbalances.

• Face pull

  A cable pull to the face that builds the rear delts and upper-back health.

• Hammer curl

  A neutral-grip curl that builds the biceps and the brachialis and forearms.

• Incline dumbbell curl

  A curl on an incline bench, loading the biceps in its stretched position.

• Inverted row

  A bodyweight row under a fixed bar, scalable from beginner to hard by foot position.

• Lat pulldown

  A cable vertical pull, the scalable stand-in for the pull-up.

• Machine row

  A chest-supported row on a fixed path, easy to load heavily and hard to cheat.

• Meadows row

  A single-arm row on the end of a landmine bar, hitting the lat through a long arc.

• Pendlay row

  A barbell row from a dead stop on the floor, each rep starting fresh.

• Preacher curl

  A curl on an angled pad that removes the swing and loads the biceps at length.

• Pull-up

  A bodyweight vertical pull and a benchmark of relative upper-body strength.

• Rear delt fly

  An isolation movement for the rear deltoid, the most commonly neglected shoulder head.

• Renegade row

  A dumbbell row from a push-up position, where the core pays for every rep.

• Reverse curl

  A curl with the palms down, training the brachialis and the top of the forearm.

• Seal row

  A row lying face down on a raised bench, with the lower back taken out entirely.

• Seated cable row

  A supported horizontal pull with constant cable tension for the mid-back.

• Shrug

  A direct trap-builder, elevating the shoulders against load.

• Single-arm lat pulldown

  A one-armed pulldown with a longer range and no strong side compensating.

• Spider curl

  A curl leaning face down on an incline bench, strict through the top half.

• Straight-arm pulldown

  A cable pullover that isolates the lat with no help from the biceps.

• T-bar row

  A heavy, neutral-grip row for thickness through the mid-back.

• Wrist curl

  A small-range forearm curl that builds grip endurance and forearm size.