Back width and thickness: how to arrange your pulling work

You have been doing pull-ups and rows for a year, your back is clearly stronger, and it still looks narrow at the top and flat from the side. Nine times out of ten the effort is fine and the distribution is not: too many sets going into one pulling angle and not enough into the other. Here is how to separate width from thickness, and how much of each a week actually needs.

Width and thickness come from different angles

Width is mostly the latissimus dorsi — the big fan that runs from the upper arm down to the lower back, whose main job is pulling the arm down towards the body. When you pull from overhead, the lat works through its longest range and flares the back outwards just below the armpit.

Thickness comes from the muscles that retract the shoulder blades and hold the spine upright: mid and lower traps, rhomboids, rear delts and the spinal erectors. Those get loaded when you pull horizontally, towards the stomach or the chest, and when you hold something heavy while your torso is bent forward.

The lats contribute to both, but not equally. A programme built only on pulldowns produces a back that looks thin in profile; a programme built only on rows produces a thick back with no flare up top.

Vertical pulling: pull-ups and pulldowns

Set your hands roughly a hand and a half wider than your shoulders. An extremely wide grip shortens the path and cuts range of motion — it does not build a wider back, despite how long that idea has been repeated. The evidence is strongest for training through a full range, especially the stretched portion, so let your shoulder blades genuinely rise at the top of each rep.

Differences between overhand, neutral and underhand grips are smaller than gym talk suggests. All three train the lat; the underhand version simply hands more of the work to the biceps. Rotating them across the week beats hunting for the single best one.

Reps: 5–10 on pull-ups, 8–15 on the pulldown. If you cannot manage five clean chin-ups, use a band or an assisted machine rather than kicking your legs. On the pulldown, lean back no more than 10–20 degrees — past that you are rowing.

Horizontal pulling: the rows that build thickness

Elbow path decides what the exercise trains. Elbows tucked at around 30–45 degrees, pulling towards the navel, leans more on the lats. Elbows flared out, pulling towards the lower chest, shifts the job to the traps, rhomboids and rear delts — the tissue that gives a back its depth and detail.

Chest-supported rows are badly underrated. They take the lower back out of the equation, so you can run 3–4 sets of 10–15 without your spinal erectors quitting before your lats do. Barbell rows recruit more muscle at once, but technique falls apart quickly once fatigue arrives.

Deadlifts and their variations remain the best way to load the erectors and upper back with real weight. Keep them to 3–5 sets of 3–6 reps and stay well short of failure — it is a strength lift that builds thickness as a side effect, not the other way round. If the deadlift never feels right, look at the assistance work for the squat, bench and deadlift and pick a version you can keep clean.

Shoulders and waist: the other half of the V

The V is a ratio, not a muscle. A wide back sets the foundation, the side delt pushes the top line out by another couple of centimetres, and waist circumference decides how obvious that contrast ever becomes. There is a fuller breakdown of that trade-off in the piece on whether shoulder width or back width builds the V.

In practice: add 6–10 weekly sets for the side delt and 4–8 for the rear delt. Dumbbell lateral raises in the 12–20 range plus some form of heavy overhead pressing covers it, and the standing military press is the simplest choice if you have a barbell.

You cannot train your skeleton. Clavicle width is fixed and sets the ceiling; the muscle inside that frame is what you get to change over years.

Putting it into a week

Twelve to twenty hard sets for the back per week, split across two sessions, is the range where most people make progress. Aim for roughly half vertical, half horizontal. If the back is your weak point, sit near the top of that range and add a third short session rather than cramming one brutal day.

A sample layout:

• Day A (width bias): pull-ups 4×5–10, chest-supported row 3×10–12, close neutral-grip pulldown 3×12–15, straight-arm pulldown 2×15.
• Day B (thickness bias): deadlift 3×4–6, single-arm dumbbell row 3×8–12, wide pulldown 3×10–15, face pull 3×15–20.

Progression is dull, and that is fine: hold the load, add a rep per set, and once you reach the top of the range put 2.5 kg on the bar and start again. If you train infrequently, the twice-weekly minimum strength plan shows how much can be squeezed out of very little.

The mistakes that cost the most

First, pulling with the arms. If your biceps give out before your back does, think of the elbow as the hook and treat your hand as nothing more than a strap. Second, load that eats range — half a rep with 100 kg gives you less than a full rep with 70 kg.

Third, repeating what you are already good at. People who enjoy pull-ups do more pull-ups; people who row easily do more rows. The progress usually sits on the side you keep skipping.

Fourth, the timeline. A visible change in back width is measured in six to twelve months of consistent work, not eight weeks.

When to see a doctor

Pain that runs down a leg, pins and needles or weakness in the hand, strength loss with no clear cause, or back pain that wakes you at night — none of that is a grip-width problem. Stop heavy pulling and get it checked. The same goes for pain that lingers beyond two weeks despite rest.

The short version

• Width comes from vertical pulling, thickness from horizontal — you need both, split roughly evenly.
• Twelve to twenty hard back sets a week across two sessions works for most people.
• Full range and a controlled stretched position are worth more than an extra 10 kg.
• Side delts and waist size decide how visible a wide back ever looks.
• Six to twelve months is the honest timeframe for a change in shape.