Building the “Cobra Back”: 3 Underused Row Variations for Unbelievable Thickness

When it comes to building a powerful physique, a lot of lifters focus on the muscles they can see in the mirror. As such, their workouts revolve around chest, biceps, abs, and quads exercises.

However, as important as those body parts are, you mustn’t neglect the muscles that you can’t see, especially your back.

After your legs, your back is the next-largest muscle group and yet many people don’t train it enough. As a result, their physiques lack balance, and they leave a lot of potential muscle mass untapped.

A well-developed back is both wide and thick, giving it the appearance of a hooded snake poised to strike. It’s this image that gives us the expression “cobra back.”

Back width is relatively straightforward to develop—lat pulldowns and pull-ups are among the best exercises for broadening your wings. Back thickness is somewhat harder to achieve, which is why cobra backs are so elusive.

I’m a veteran personal trainer and I’ve been helping people shape and hone their physiques for more than 30 years. During that time, I’ve discovered what I believe are the best exercises for building back thickness and density.

In this article, I reveal my three favorite rowing exercises for sculpting your very own cobra back.

Cobra Back Anatomy Basics

You don’t need an in-depth knowledge of anatomy to develop a muscular, thick back. That said, a basic understanding of the muscles that contribute to the cobra look will help you choose the best exercises for your goal.

So, to that end, here is a simple overview of the muscles that make up your back.

Latissimus Dorsi

Known as the lats for short, these muscles are located toward the outside of your upper back. The lats give your upper back most of its width, although they also contribute to back thickness. The lats are heavily involved in overhead pulling exercises, such as lat pulldowns, pull-ups, and chin-ups. They also play an important role in all rowing exercises.

There is no need to drop lat pulldowns, etc., from your cobra back training plan. However, if you care as much about back thickness as width, horizontal pulls are even more important.

Trapezius

The trapezius or traps is the large, diamond-shaped muscle that covers much of your upper back. It comprises three sets of muscle fibers—upper, middle, and lower, with the middle fibers contributing most to back thickness.

The mid-traps are involved in all upper back exercises but are especially active during horizontal pulls, which is why rows are so important for building a cobra back.

That doesn’t mean you should neglect your upper or lower traps—they’re important too. But, for back thickness, the mid traps should be your priority.

Rhomboids

The rhomboids are located beneath and work with the mid traps. As such, they also contribute to upper back thickness. While you cannot isolate these muscles, it’s reassuring to know that any exercise that targets your mid-traps also works your rhomboids.

Posterior Deltoids

While the deltoids are shoulder muscles, the posterior or rear delts are on the back of your body and, as such, play a part in your back thickness and shape.

Well-developed rear delts will add a lot to your cobra back, providing an extra eye-catching detail to your physique. Strong rear delts will also enhance your rowing performance, making the rest of your workout even more effective.

Now that you know which muscles make up your cobra back, it’s time to reveal the best exercises for developing them!

Three Awesome Exercises for Sculpting a Cobra Back

Bodybuilders have a saying—if you want to grow, you gotta row. As such, most lifters include at least seated cable rows or single-arm dumbbell rows in their upper-back workouts.

However, in my experience, while these exercises are effective, they aren’t necessarily the best for building that elusive cobra back. The following movements are proven back thickeners. They might not be as well-known as other rowing variations, but I guarantee they’ll deliver the results you want!

1. Pendlay Rows

Pendlay rows are named after legendary American weightlifting and powerlifting coach Glen Pendlay. Also known as a dead-stop row, this exercise allows you to use much heavier loads than normal, which makes it super-effective for building slabs of back-thickening mass.

Each rep is punctuated with a short pause which provides your lower back and grip with a brief rest. This allows you to reset your grip and core, so you can load the bar with more weight than you would otherwise be able to lift.

According to studies, this increased weight means more mechanical muscle tension and stress, which is a critical trigger for muscle growth (1).

How To Do It:

1. Place your loaded barbell on the floor. Ideally, it should be around mid-shin height, as it would be for deadlifts.
2. Stand with your toes just behind the bar, feet shoulder-width apart.
3. Bend your knees, hinge from the hips, and lean forward. Grasp the bar with a shoulder-width, overhand grip.
4. Brace your core, squeeze your shoulders back and together, arch your lower back slightly, and lift your chest.
5. Keeping your legs and upper body relatively stationary, pull the barbell off the floor and into your abdomen. Drive your elbows back and do not allow them to flare outward.
6. Lower the bar with control back to the floor, reset your core and grip, and repeat.

Recommended Load and Rep Range:

Pendlay rows are ideal for heavy weights and low reps, with sets of 4-6 being optimal. The classic 5 x 5 set and rep scheme works especially well for Pendlay rows.

Trainer Tips:

• You can also do this exercise with a single or pair of dumbbells.
• Use lifting straps or gym chalk to reinforce your grip when lifting heavy weights.
• Raise or lower the bar to change the angle of your torso and, therefore, the angle at which you hit your upper back.

2. Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row

While classic exercises like bent-over barbell rows and T-bar rows are awesome back-builders, they can also be a source of discomfort and injury. That’s why they’re somewhat controversial, with many fitness experts warning against them.

The problem is that, when you lean forward with a weight in your hands, your lower back has to support a heavy load in a biomechanically inefficient position. While some lifters can do this without issues, for others it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back—pun intended!

Related: 15 Ways to Avoid Back Pain in The Gym

This issue disappears when you switch to chest-supported dumbbell rows. With no strain on your lower back, you are free to focus on massacring your muscles for optimal growth. Plus, using dumbbells means you can move your limbs through a larger range of motion, which studies suggest is beneficial for hypertrophy (2).

So, with no risk of lower back strain and more muscle activation, what’s not to love about this exercise?

How To Do It:

1. Set and adjustable bench to a 20 to 45-degree angle. Raise the bench on blocks/plates if necessary.
2. Like face down on the bench with your head uppermost. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing inward, i.e., a neutral grip.
3. Leading with your elbows, bend your arms and pull the dumbbells up and in toward your lower ribs. Pause briefly at the top of each rep to maximize upper back engagement.
4. Lower the weights under control and repeat.

Recommended Load and Rep Range:

This exercise works best with light to moderate weights and medium to high reps. The classic 8 to 12-rep bodybuilding range is ideal for most lifters, but sets of 15-20 reps can also be effective.

Trainer Tips:

• Keep your upper arms close to your sides—imagine you are squeezing oranges in your armpits.
• Experiment with the angle of your bench. The steeper the incline, the more the tension moves up your back.
• Shrug your shoulders forward at the bottom of each rep and then pull them back at the top to maximize your range of motion.

3. Meadows Row

The Meadows row was invented and popularized by bodybuilder and physique coach John “Mountain Dog” Meadows. He used this exercise to great effect to build a back that was almost as thick as it was wide!

This unique exercise uses a landmine device to work your back in a whole new way. Like many of Meadows’ signature exercises, this movement was designed to bust through training plateaus and stimulate maximal muscle growth.

Sadly, John Meadows passed away in 2021, but the Meadows row is a testament to his creativity as a bodybuilding coach.

How To Do It:

1. Stand side-on to the end of a landmine bar.
2. Adopt a staggered stance so your foot closest to the bar is positioned toward the rear.
3. Lean forward from your hips and grasp the bar with an overhand grip—the thick end where the plates are loaded.
4. Use your non-working arm for support by resting it on your thigh.
5. Brace your abs and arch your lower back slightly.
6. Lift the hip that’s closest to the bar to put a mild stretch in your lat. This is critical for effective Meadows rows.
7. Bend your arm and lift the weight, driving your elbow out and back to maximize lat engagement. Continue pulling until your elbow is behind your body.
8. Lower the weight and repeat for the prescribed number of reps.

Recommended Load and Rep Range:

Meadows rows are most effective with moderate weights and medium to high reps. 10-15 reps per side works well. This rep range, paired with short rests between sets, should provide a satisfying pump and burn, beefing up the most stubborn upper back.  

Trainer Tips:

• Skip the 45-pound bumper plates. Smaller-sized plates allow you to use a larger range of motion, getting a better stretch at the bottom of each rep.
• Use a weightlifting belt to support and protect your lower back.
• No landmine? No problem! You can also do this exercise by holding the end of a T-bar row machine or placing one end of a conventional barbell in a corner.

Cobra Back Workout

While any of these exercises can help you build a cobra back, they’ll work best if you incorporate them into a balanced training routine.

Do the following program 1-2 times a week for 6-8 weeks to take your back development to the next level. It combines the exercises from this article with a couple of additional moves to maximize back width and thickness.

Remember to warm up before lifting to reduce your risk of injury and optimize workout performance.

	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1	Neutral Grip Pull-ups	1*	50	N/A
2	Pendlay Rows	5	5	2 minutes
3	Meadows Row	3	8-12	90 seconds
4	Chest Supported Dumbbell Row	3	15-20	60 seconds
5	Snatch Grip Deadlift	3	6-8	2 minutes

* Complete all 50 reps in as few sets as possible.

Closing Thoughts

The exercises and workout in this article are the tools that’ll help you sculpt a strong, thick cobra back. Unfortunately, building back thickness requires effort and determination—it’s no easy task. That’s why you don’t see many lifters with big backs—even though muscular arms and pecs are pretty common.

So, while there is no need to ditch pulldowns and pull-ups, if you want a back that’s as thick as it is wide, it’s time to prioritize these rowing variations.  

The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be on your way to your very own cobra back.

References:

1. Schoenfeld BJ. The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Oct;24(10):2857-72. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181e840f3. PMID: 20847704.
2. Pallarés JG, Hernández-Belmonte A, Martínez-Cava A, Vetrovsky T, Steffl M, Courel-Ibáñez J. Effects of range of motion on resistance training adaptations: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2021 Oct;31(10):1866-1881. doi: 10.1111/sms.14006. Epub 2021 Jul 5. PMID: 34170576.

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