Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
Ready to grow the major muscle groups found on the backside of your body? A pull day workout may be just what you're looking for!
This routine, which should be done as part of a push-pull or a push-pull-legs split, focuses on your pulling muscles, including the lats, traps, rear delts, lower back, biceps, glutes, and hamstrings.
We're about to cover the best pull day workout to build muscle and improve strength, in addition to providing directions for each exercise in the routine, the benefits of this workout, and essential programming tips.
Don't worry: We've got your back (pun totally intended).
Table of Contents:
- The Best Pull Day Workout Routine
- Programming Tips
- Pull Day Muscle Groups
- 8 Best Pulling Exercises
- Pull Day Workout Benefits
- 3 Tips to Improve Your Pull Day Muscle Gains
The Best Pull Day Workout Routine
This pull day workout is part of a push-pull-legs routine. This means that in addition to this pull day program, you also need a push day workout and a leg day. This PPL split routine is a great resource for the additional workouts needed to complete your split.
The best pull day workout for maximal muscle growth and strength is:
- Deadlift: 5x5
- Chin Up: 3x6-8
- T-Bar Row: 3x6-8
- Sitting One Arm Cable Row: 3x8-10
- Cable Face Pulls: 3x10-12
- Cable Rear Delt Fly: 3x10-12
- Back Extensions: 2x15-20
- Arm Curl: 3x8-12
This push-pull-legs split is great for lifters looking for a 6-day split. This means you'll perform this workout twice a week, not on back-to-back days.
This training approach enables you to work out each of the primary muscle groups twice weekly. Recent studies indicate that, for most individuals, adopting this training method, as opposed to targeting a specific muscle group each day, may result in optimal strength gains1.
Here's what a push-pull-legs workout schedule can look like:
- Monday: Push Day
- Tuesday: Pull Day
- Wednesday: Leg Day
- Thursday: Push Day
- Friday: Pull Day
- Saturday: Leg Day
- Sunday: Rest
With this schedule, you can switch up the training days, so for example, you can start with a pull or leg day instead of your pushing routine. You can also add the rest day somewhere else - you don't need to end your week with it if it works better for you to place it elsewhere.
Want to get stronger by following a proven workout program? Check out our SFS Strength Program developed by Garett Reid (NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S).
Prepare to maximize your strength with our exclusive 13-week strength training program. 3, 4, and 5 day per week programming options.
Programming Tips For Your Pull Day Workout
This program includes rep ranges for building strength, gaining muscle, and improving muscular endurance. The deadlift addresses strength gains, while the chin-up and t-bar row improve both strength and mass gains. The sitting one-arm cable row, cable face pulls, cable rear delt fly, and arm curl are in the muscle hypertrophy rep ranges, while the back extension targets muscular endurance.
To continue building muscle and gaining strength with a pull day workout, 3 tips to follow are:
- Use progressive overload.
- Swap exercises.
- Include deadlifts in your program.
1) Using Progressive Overload:
Using progressive overload with the program we've provided is key. For the deadlifts, add weight to the load consistently once you're able to perform the 5x5 with the previous load.
For all other movements, use a combination of adding reps and load. Stay within the rep range provided. For example, if the rep range given is 8-10, first progress by moving from 8 reps to 9 and then to 10, and then bump up your weight high enough where 8 reps becomes hard again.
As you're able to perform more reps, you'll add weight to bring your reps down. You'll then simply continue this cycle.
2) Substitute Exercises:
You will eventually stall out and stop seeing progress in your pull day routine. When this happens, swap out the exercises I've listed with others that share a similar movement pattern.
For example:
- Deadlift-->Deficit Deadlift
- T-Bar Row-->Bent Over Row
- Single Arm Pulley --> Wide Grip Pulley
And so on. Your pull day exercise options are endless!
3) Always include deadlifts in your pull day.
One point that causes some confusion is training the deadlift during your PPL split. After all, doesn't the deadlift belong on an ultimate leg workout day? It could but there are a few reasons we want to put the deadlift alongside the other back muscle exercises in this pull day routine.
Reasons for including the deadlift in your pull day are:
- The deadlift also trains the back muscles.
- Performing the deadlift and squat on your leg day is challenging as they're both highly fatiguing moves. Therefore, deadlift on back day, and squat on leg day.
Pull Day Muscle Groups
Your pull day muscles work to pull toward your body, whether it's weight in a bent-over row, or bending over to pick up grocery bags in every day life.
The primary pulling muscles are:
- Lats
- Traps
- Biceps
- Rear Delts
- Erector Spinae
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
Here's a brief overview of each. To get right to the directions for how to perform your pull day exercises, keep scrolling.
1) Latissimus Dorsi:
The latissimus dorsi, or lats, are the largest muscle in your upper body and are often referred to as your "wings." In Latin, lats means "broadest muscle of the back."
2) Trapezius:
After the lats, the trapezius, or traps, are the second most pronounced upper body pulling muscle, running from the base of the skull, expanding out toward the shoulders, and then proceeding down toward the middle of the back.
The traps are divided into 3 parts: the upper traps, middle traps, and lower traps.
3) Biceps:
Compared to the others, the biceps are one of the smaller muscle groups. The biceps brachii is a two-headed muscle that sits on the front of your upper arm, between your elbow and shoulder joint.
4) Rear Deltoids:
The shoulder joint is manipulated by a muscle known as the deltoids, which is comprised of 3 different heads.
Unlike other muscles with various heads, the different heads (front, lateral, and rear delts) of the shoulder muscles are relatively easy to isolate due to the polar opposition in their focus. Of these 3, the rear deltoid is the one primarily responsible for pulling movements.
5) Erector Spinae:
The erector spinae, often incorrectly referred to as "your lower back", runs all the way up your back on both sides of your spine. It serves as your torso's entire support system, providing rigidness and protection for your spine.
6) Glutes & Hamstrings:
We're going to address these muscles together as they will be trained together during the deadlift. The glutes and hamstrings, along with your erector spinae, make up your posterior chain, which is essential for injury prevention as well as improving your other lifts and overall human performance.
8 Best Exercises For Your Pulling Routine
There are a ton of awesome pulling exercises and it's impossible to do all of them in the same pull day session. But, this is a great assortment to get started with.
The 8 best pulling exercises are:
- Deadlift
- Chin Up
- T-Bar Row
- Sitting One Arm Cable Row
- Cable Face Pulls
- Cable Rear Delt Fly
- Back Extensions
- Arm Curls
Following the correct form will ensure you're activating the right muscles and reduce your chances of injury.
1. Deadlift:
You shouldn't be too surprised that the deadlift is on this list of pull day exercises. It's going to lead off the entire list of pulling exercises as it's the king of exercises.
While a "lower body" exercise, the deadlift trains the entire body including your pulling muscles. Pay special attention to the starting position as it's especially vital for proper form.
How to do the Deadlift:
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and with the bar over your mid-foot. Grab the bar outside your shins with an overhand grip.
- Sink your hips and keep your shoulders pulled back with your arms straight down as well as your shins. Keep your back straight and pull back your shoulders. Your hips should be above your knees and below your shoulders.
- Begin the movement by pushing your feet into the ground to propel your body upward. As the bar hits your knees, you then begin extending your hips to complete the movement.
- Always keep the bar on your body and aim to maintain a vertical bar path.
Looking for some extra hamstring attention? Give the sumo deadlift a shot.
2. Chin-Up (Pull Up):
Even though they are bodyweight moves, the chin-up and pull-up are top-notch pulling exercises that hit all of your back muscles. They function as a vertical pulling movement and require you to lift your entire body weight upwards.
While they both do a great job of hitting the same muscles, chin ups, meaning your palms face you, can build more muscle and cause much higher activation levels in the biceps.
If you can't do pull ups, it's time to learn using our pull up progression plan.
How to do Chin Ups:
- Grab the pull-up bar with an underhand shoulder width grip (your palms should be facing you). Your starting position will have your arms straight down in a dead hang.
- Pull your shoulder blades back. Pull your body up until your chin crosses the pull-up bar, and then lower yourself in a slow and controlled motion.
3. T-Bar Row:
We love the T-Bar Row for building muscle because it enables you to safely lift a significant load while still requiring full activation from all your stabilizer muscles. Even the "non-stabilizing" muscles fire harder to stabilize and control the load.
Plus, you can use multiple grips. While you'll generally use an overhand grip with a standard grip width of slightly outside shoulder width apart, both the neutral grip and underhand grip will provide a new stimulus.
How to do T-Bar Rows:
- To get into the starting position, stand on the foot platform and bend down to grab the handles with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and feet hip width apart.
- Stand up with the weight similar to a deadlift, and then push your hips back slightly and lean forward so your arms hang straight down and in front of your knees. Have your torso leaned over at a 45-degree angle or greater.
- Brace your core and pull your elbows back. Think about driving your elbows to the ceiling. Pull the load up as high as you can go.
- Allow the load to be lowered slowly and controlled.
4. Sitting One Arm Cable Row:
The sitting one-arm cable row is a great isolation exercise that targets your upper back. Since we've already included the deadlift and T-Bar row for standing exercises, we'll perform these sitting down for variety.
How to do Sitting One Arm Cable Rows:
- Set up a pulley flat bench with a single-hand attachment. Sit on the bench with your feet on the footrest and your legs nearly straight with slightly bent knees.
- Bend over to grab the handle. Come back until your torso is erect. Retract your shoulder blade, driving your elbow straight back.
- Maintain a ridged torso the whole movement.
5. Cable Face Pulls:
While a super simple exercise, face pulls are also one of the most effective movements for strengthening the entire upper back and shoulders. They're also great for mobility, as long as you use a lighter load.
This movement will blow up your upper back while ensuring your shoulder is bulletproof. Looking to switch things up in your pull day routine? These face pull alternatives work the same muscles.
How to do Cable Face Pulls:
- Set up a rope attachment on the cable pulley machine at a height slightly higher than your head. Stand back and grab the rope handle with your thumbs on top.
- Retract your shoulder blades and pull the load toward your face. Keep your elbows high. As you get close to your head, rotate your arms so your arms come up. Your hands should be on either side of your head at the end of the movement with your thumbs facing behind you.
6. Cable Rear Delt Fly:
The cable rear delt fly hits your entire upper back, including the rear delts, traps, and rhomboids. Cables should be a staple in a pull day program as they provide a resistance load that's consistent throughout the entire range of motion.
In addition, you have the freedom to alter the height of the cable to add some variation, which is ideal for hitting all angles of your pulling muscles.
How to do Cable Rear Delt Flys:
- Set up a cable pulley with a double attachment at a height slightly higher than your shoulders. Grab the right handle with the left hand and vice-versa.
- Stand back so you're not in line with the cable machine. Allow your arms to be pulled in front of you crossing your body.
- Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, perform a "reverse hug" and swoop your arms out to your side. Your arms should be pulled back until the back of your arms is in line with each other.
7. Back Extensions:
Can you ever have a lower back that's too strong? No!
Back extensions are yet another extremely simple, yet very effective, back exercise that focuses on training your erector spinae.
How to do Back Extensions:
- Set up a back extension machine so the thigh pad is at your hip joint or slightly lower. Don't have it too low or you will recruit your hamstrings.
- Keeping a straight back, lean forward, and drop your torso. Your torso should flex, or curl, as it moves around the pad.
- Once you hit the bottom, extend your back until it's straight again.
8. Arm Curls:
There are so many great arm curl variations that no one should commit to just one. Pick a few of your favorites and alternate them into our program, ensuring variation.
Here are some of our favorite arm curl variations to include in your pulling routine.
- Spider curls
- Drag curls
- EZ-Bar Curls
- Hammer Curls (Rope)
- Incline Curls
- Preacher Curls
Benefits Of Using A Pull Day Workout
We've gone over the workout, muscles worked, and how to perform each exercise, but if you're wondering why you should do this routine, this section is for you!
The benefits of a pull day workout are:
- Keeps your training organized.
- Allows for sufficient training and recovery.
- Separates the deadlift and squat into different training sessions.
1) Pull Day Programs Keep Your Training Routine Organized:
One of the biggest killers for new lifters is not following a training plan. This routine fixes that because you now have a specific framework to follow every time you hit the gym. To be fair, any of the best workout splits will do this, so it's not necessarily unique to a pull split.
As long as you're following an organized training plan, you're setting yourself up for success.
2) Allows for ideal recovery and training time:
A pull day allows you to train sufficiently hard on all the big moves while being able to recover fully. It's ideal for recovery and training because it separates training for major muscle groups, allowing each to recover as you train your other muscles. In addition, you also have a rest day or two every week to give time for optimal recovery.
In other words, this type of training method allows you to train hard consistently.
3) A Pull Day Separates The Deadlift & The Squat:
We love using this pull day program is it allows you to focus on the squat and deadlift on their own days. These are your most taxing exercises by far so training them separately is smart for recovery and optimal gains.
This allows you to give big lifts, like the deadlift, 100% focus, which is important as these will carry over into your entire fitness routine.
3 Tips to Improve Your Pull Day Muscle Gains
The three biggest factors that will lead to the most success with your pull day routine include sleep, diet, and muscle recovery.
Here's a brief breakdown of each.
1) Prioritize Sleep:
Don't shoot yourselves in the foot. Sleep is when your body recharges itself. It's also the time your body releases several anabolic hormones like testosterone and human growth hormone.
Be sure to get sleep if you're interested in muscle recovery and muscle growth.
2) Focus on your Diet:
If you want to build muscle or strength, you need to be following a proper diet. Be sure to be in a slight caloric surplus which includes plenty of protein (1.6-2.2g/kg), healthy fats (25-35% of your total calories), and then fill in the rest with carbs.
3) Allow For Recovery:
On your rest day, you need to actually allow your body to recover! Don't get trapped in doing a "light jog" only for it to turn into an extended HIIT session. Not that HITT is bad for you, but it's intense and not ideal for recovery.
While you should participate in some active recovery, keep it light so you can recover. This is essential for avoiding overtraining and burnout.
Pull Day Workout Split Summary
When followed correctly, this pull day routine will help you reach your mass-gaining goals. If you're interested in building muscle, gaining strength, or just improving your knowledge of lifting, you'll be extremely happy with your results after running this program for a few months.
We have used this program, or a variation of it, to train everyone from advanced lifters to beginners to bodybuilders to recreational lifters, and even ourselves!
Just be sure to pair this program with a push and leg routine, and a mix of ab exercises for some core stability training. And that's what we call the perfect push-pull-legs workout split!
Don't forget to check out this Push Day Workout to pair with your pull routine! Interested in more push-pull programming? Head to our Ultimate Push-Pull Workout Routine.
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
References:
- Bartolomei S, Nigro F, Malagoli Lanzoni I, Masina F, Di Michele R, Hoffman JR. A Comparison Between Total Body and Split Routine Resistance Training Programs in Trained Men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2020. doi:https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000003573
Garett Reid
Author