Heres the thing about training your back: Most major back exercises (think: lat pulldowns, chinups, and rows) also recruit your biceps and forearm muscles. In fact, one of your biceps main functions is the process of pulling things closer to you. Yes, big biceps jump out of a T-shirt or sweater, but they also assist in helping you pull everything from dumbbells to the rope in a tug-of-war showdown.

That means that your biceps and forearms, by default, end up getting a mini-workout when you train your back. So why not finish the job and fatigue all your pulling muscles at once?

Thats what youre going to do in this workout. Doing that in this workout has plenty of advantages. And if you like this workout, remember to check out even more sessions like this in my workout program, New Rules of Muscle .

You're hitting your biceps on back day, but you can juice that even more with two tricks. Keep these in mind on back day, and you'll get a bigger biceps pump.

Pause!

Targeted pauses and iso-holds on back exercises can often force greater biceps challenge. If you're in an iso-hold row or chinup and your back is fatiguing, your biceps has to pick up the slack.

Squeeze!

Squeezing the dumbbells, barbells, and handles hard will help you activate your forearm and biceps muscles that much more on all motions. Very often, people lightly grip barbells, dumbbells and bars; take an aggressive grip and your biceps will thank you.

Training back and biceps has a lot of benefits. Among them is this: It lets you arrange all your training around the everyday-life uses of your muscles. Think about what you do all day. You pull doors open and you pull your backpack close to you and then around your shoulders.

You also do plenty of pushing, pushing your car trunk closed, pushing past people in crowded areas, and essentially holding push positions when you type at your desk and drive your car. Pushing typically involves your chest, triceps, and shoulder muscles.

Those motions, along with basic leg movement motions you squat, lunge, and hinge at the hips more often than you may think can easily form the backbone of a good weekly training schedule. On one day, you can train all the muscles that help you push. On another, you can train the muscles that you use to pull. On the next, you can train your leg muscles. Its a simple split that you can repeat once or twice a week, depending on how often youre training (if youre going three-days-a-week, do everything once. If you can train five or six days a week, you can hit pull, push, and legs twice a week).

Most bodybuilders and veteran trainers are aware of the push-pull-legs split. I like making one more adjustment to it, and it's how I generally train . Whenever possible, its better to prioritize pulling muscles since, in general, you need your pulling muscles to be stronger than your pushing muscles. So on your first day, youd train pulling motions. On the second day, youd train pushing motions, on your third day, youd train your legs.

Its a natural, safe, well-rounded way to train.

Do this pull day workout once or twice a week. Rest at least two days between each session, ideally training your chest on one of those days, and working your legs the next. Focus on technique during this workout, honing perfect exercise form.

Towel Grip Dumbbell Row

Start your workout off by firing your scapular retractors and focusing on squeezing your back muscles. The use of the towel here will also challenge your grip strength and forearms, upping biceps involvement just slightly. Do 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps per side.