Bodyweight back workouts can not only be done, but they can be brutally effective if done right. All you need to perform this back workout is a straight bar and something to rest it on. It does not have to be an Olympic bar. You can use a broomstick or mop from home and get just as good results.
In the above video, Jeff Cavaliere from YouTube channel Athlean-X show you a 6 minute back workout routine that you can do with just bodyweight exercises to build a bigger back and get wider lats.
To perform this 6 minute back workout you will only need to know three back exercises. The first is a bodyweight straight arm pushdown. Perform this by laying underneath the bar supported on two chairs. With your arms outstretched and your feet as far away from you as your strength can tolerate, start by pushing down into the bar with your hands and pulling your body back under the bar and up. This should simulate what a straight arm pushdown for your lats would feel like done in standing with a cable machine and straight bar.
Perform this back exercise for 20 seconds. Immediately proceed into the next home back exercise which is the one armed row. Here you want to keep your feet in the same position, the same distance away from the bar, and grab the middle of the bar with one hand. Begin by pulling your body up to the bar and reaching for the ceiling with the opposite hand. Make sure that you don’t just let your body drop but that you slowly lower yourself back down to the ground and repeat. Keep doing reps with this arm for 20 seconds. Repeat for the final 20 seconds of the first minute using the opposite arm to do the exact same exercise.
Immediately, without resting, head into the next exercise; the plyo inverted row. Here you want to place both hands on the bar and forcefully pull yourself up. You want to pull hard enough that you can briefly let go of the bar as you propel your body up. Regrip on the way down and slowly lower your body to the floor. See if you can perform this exercise for the entire second minute. If for some reason you need to rest, try and do so as quickly as you can and get back to doing the exercise for the remainder of the minute.
The rest of this six-minute workout will be performed exactly the same however the distance your feet move towards the bar is going to change. In order to make the exercises easier as your level of fatigue mounts, you will want to bring your feet in closer to your body with each successive round of 2 minutes. On your final two minutes, you will be repeating the same three exercises but moving your feet in closest to your body. This will enable you to squeeze out more reps when you thought you were already too fatigued to do so.
