About This Workout
The PPL Pull Day is designed to build a complete back from top to bottom while giving your biceps the dedicated volume they need to grow. Within the Push/Pull/Legs framework, this session is responsible for all horizontal and vertical pulling movements, training the lats, rhomboids, traps, rear delts, and biceps in a single focused workout.
The workout begins with barbell rows, one of the most effective mass-building exercises for the entire posterior chain. Barbell rows allow you to load heavy and they recruit a wide range of back muscles simultaneously including the lats, rhomboids, lower traps, and even the spinal erectors as stabilizers. The key to maximizing this lift is maintaining a rigid torso angle and driving the elbows behind the body rather than simply curling the weight upward.
Following barbell rows, you move into weighted pull-ups or lat pulldowns. This vertical pulling pattern is essential for developing lat width, which creates the V-taper silhouette. If you can perform pull-ups with additional weight for the prescribed rep range, choose that option. If not, lat pulldowns are an excellent substitute that allows precise load management. Focus on initiating the pull by depressing the shoulder blades and driving the elbows toward the hips.
The seated cable row comes next, offering a slightly different angle and a constant tension profile throughout the entire range of motion. Use a close-grip or V-bar attachment to emphasize the mid-back and rhomboids, or switch to a wide grip to increase lat involvement. Pause briefly at full contraction on each rep to reinforce the mind-muscle connection.
Single-arm dumbbell rows round out the back work. Unilateral training addresses asymmetries and allows you to focus on one side at a time, which often results in a better contraction. Use a bench for support and row the dumbbell toward your hip rather than your armpit to maximize lat engagement.
Face pulls are included as both a rear delt exercise and a shoulder health movement. The rear delts are often underdeveloped relative to the front and side delts, which can lead to postural imbalances and shoulder issues. Performing face pulls with an external rotation component at the top helps strengthen the rotator cuff and counteracts the internal rotation bias created by heavy pressing.
The session finishes with two biceps exercises. Barbell curls are the primary mass builder for the biceps, allowing you to overload the muscle with relatively heavy weight. Incline dumbbell curls follow as a stretch-focused exercise. When you curl from an inclined position, the long head of the biceps is placed under a deep stretch at the bottom of the movement, and recent research has shown that training a muscle in its lengthened position can produce superior hypertrophy.
Volume is balanced to allow this session to be performed twice per week in a six-day PPL rotation. If you run the program three days per week, consider adding one extra set to the barbell row and pull-up exercises. Progression should be slow and deliberate, as back exercises are prone to form breakdown when ego lifting takes over. Focus on squeezing each rep rather than chasing numbers.
This workout pairs seamlessly with the PPL Push Day and PPL Leg Day in this collection to form a complete hypertrophy-focused training week.