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Did you know there are 6 key muscles responsible for back thickness? But each one has a unique function that most people’s back workouts overlook. I know because after years of doing the “best” back thickness exercises in my back training, my back still looked flat. But once I learned how to properly target these muscles, my back thickness and definition completely transformed. It even improved my posture. Today, I’ll break down the only 2 exercises you need in your back thickness workout — plus an underrated technique that can help you build the kind of back most guys never achieve.

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The first of our thick back exercises will focus on the mid and lower traps, rhomboids, and teres muscles. Usually, people will use a wide-grip barbell or Pendlay rows. While these can build an impressive back, they demand a lot from your lower back for stability. Plus, if you’ve got a longer torso like me, the increased lever makes the movement more fatiguing, especially as you get stronger. Nowadays, I’ve seen better results by training my lower back separately and isolating my mid and upper back with a stabilized low-to-high row.

There are 2 things you need to get right for back thickness. First is the arm path. The sweet spot for this thick back exercise is right around 45 degrees. Next, you want to set up your pulling angle. And to hit more of the upper back muscles, you’ll want a row that goes from low to high. If you’re using a fixed pulley like me, you can replicate this by bracing your core and then leaning back slightly. You can see now how the pulling angle is as if the cable were set lower. However, you don’t want to lean back too far as this will start hitting the muscles we’ll use in the second of our thick back exercises. Once you get the angle right, lock your torso and don’t let it move.

One mistake you need to fix in your back training? The “arm pulling mistake”. You can tell if you’re an arm puller when you row if your arms move but your shoulders stay in the same position or end up rolling forward. To fix this, understand that the main role of the muscles we’re trying to hit in these thick back exercises is retraction. So, to get them to do that when you row, let them open up fully at the start of each rep. Then, start the rep by thinking about pulling back and out with your elbows, and then keep pulling back as far as you can. A cue that might also help is think about opening and pulling your chest toward the bar, as if you were doing an inverted row.

Don’t have cables? First, set an incline bench to about 30 degrees, usually 2 to 3 notches up from the bottom. Lay your chest on it and hang your arms down. From here, pull your elbows back in that arrow shape I mentioned earlier. Have longer arms or find this awkward with your elbows against the bench? You can do a single-arm version by bending over with a side stance and supporting one hand on an incline bench. Just keep your body angled up slightly to replicate that low-to-high pulling motion, then simply pull your elbow back while keeping it angled out.

But although this first move is great for building thickness in your mid-back, we need a second exercise in our back workout to make sure your upper back muscles don’t get left behind. The upper fibers of the traps lift the shoulder blade in what’s called elevation. So we still want to do a row, but one that involves more of an upward “shrug” motion. Now, you can simply perform the cable row from Exercise 1, but with a steeper lean back. A better option, though, is to use the same bench and dumbbell setup from earlier, but this time, use a higher angle. Around 60 degrees, which is usually 2 to 3 notches down from the top position. While standing, set your chest on the bench, then pull your elbows back—but this time, keep them flared out wider than we did in Exercise 1. It’s not quite an upright row; it’s essentially a very low-to-high row with the elbows going up and back. Think about rowing back while shrugging your shoulders up.

But even with these 2 thick back exercises in your back thickness workout, your back won’t grow as fast as it could without this bonus technique. For the first of our 2 thick back exercises, after you can’t do any more full reps, take your back to true failure by keeping your arms straight and focusing on simply opening up your shoulder blades, then using your mid-back muscles to squeeze them together. You should be able to bang out at least 4 or 5 reps like this. For the second of our thick back exercises, do the same thing, but this time focus more on “shrugging” the weight up using your upper traps. I personally do this after every set, but start by trying it on your last set or doing a 4th set where you focus solely on this motion, and consider ramping it up from there.

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The belly fat you know is visible, and you can literally pinch it. But that’s just one type of belly fat. While everyone focuses on how to lose belly fat, there's a hidden layer of belly fat called visceral belly fat. It can not only make your gut look bloated but it wraps around your organs, pumping out inflammatory molecules linked to heart disease and even early death. You might be like, ‘Well Jeremy, if it’s so bad, I’ll just zap it with liposuction.’ Nope. Even a surgeon can’t get to it. But, you can! Visceral fat is actually easier to get rid of. With the right plan, you can see and feel visceral fat loss in just 30 days, just like my brother-in-law, Dayton. Here’s how you can get rid of visceral belly fat.

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Dayton is not visibly overweight, but his DEXA scan showed 33% body fat with 1,200 grams of visceral fat hiding in his gut. That’s more than Kevin, who had 38% body fat and 50x more than what I have. But after following the plan I share in this video, his visceral fat dropped by 50% in just 12 weeks.

Unlike normal belly fat, visceral fat can be increased by specific foods even if calorie intake stays the same. First food: saturated fat. In a 2014 study, 2 groups were overfed by 750 calories/day from muffins. Group 1: Muffins made with polyunsaturated fat. Group 2: Muffins made with saturated fat. Result: Group 2 gained DOUBLE the visceral belly fat. Not only that, but Group 1 gained less fat and built more lean mass. How much saturated fat is too much? Experts recommend keeping saturated fat intake under 20–30 grams per day. But Dayton’s favorite ribeye steak dinner? ~50g of fat, nearly half of it saturated. Add breakfast and lunch, and he sometimes exceeded 50 g of saturated fat per day. You don’t need to cut out fatty foods completely. Just balance them. E.g., Ribeye → once or twice a week; swap with fatty fish (rich in unsaturated fats and choose leaner cuts like top sirloin (saves 15g saturated fat). Even grass-fed meats are slightly better, though the difference is small.

Some people store more visceral fat due to genetic. But cultural diets packed with added sugar are also to blame. Case in point: bubble tea can have up to 50g of sugar, and the average Taiwanese adult takes 43g/day (vs recommended 25g). The type of sugar also matters. In a 2009 study, researchers gave participants drinks with equal calories, with one sweetened with pure fructose and the other with glucose. After 10 weeks, only the fructose group saw a significant increase in visceral fat. They also had worse insulin sensitivity. Now, don’t worry about fructose in fruit (it has fiber + water). The real problem: table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and foods like cereal, granola, sweetened yogurt, juice, jam, and even condiments like ketchup.

Instead of just cutting sugar to get rid of visceral belly fat, replace it with protein. A 2005 study found that simply doubling protein intake led participants to naturally eat fewer calories and lose over 10 pounds in 12 weeks, with most of it coming from fat (ideal for reducing visceral fat). E.g., my mom’s coffee habit: she swapped 2 spoonfuls of sugar + cream for ½ scoop French Vanilla Built With Science protein mixed with a splash of milk. Result (per month): -750g sugar, -45g saturated fat, +450g protein. As for Dayton’s Chicago mix popcorn? It’s now made with plain popcorn, salted caramel protein, sugar-free syrup, and cheddar seasoning. Result: -100g sugar, +29g protein.

This is just the nutrition side of the 30-day plan. For real visceral fat loss, you also need to eat in a calorie deficit. Good news: Visceral fat is the first fat to go when you’re in a deficit. Even 10 lbs lost = up to 30% reduction in visceral fat. My app found my sweet spot is 2,300 calories/day. Dayton’s is 2,000. It adjusts as you go.

Finally, if you’re wondering how to lose belly fat, the truth is you can’t spot-reduce belly fat.But you CAN target visceral fat with the right kind of cardio. A 2023 study found that all exercise helps, but moderate-to-high intensity cardio and interval training work best. Why? These raise catecholamines, a fat-mobilizing hormone that visceral fat responds to directly. While this might make it sound like you need to kill yourself with endless all-out sprints, that’s not the case. The exercise types that torched visceral fat in the study required getting above 75% of your max heart rate: not a walk in the park, but far from an all-out sprint.

Here’s how you can do it:
Warm-up: 5 minutes
Work: 30 seconds high intensity
Recover: 90 seconds
Repeat: 6–10 rounds

Do this 2–3× per week. Good options include running, cycling, rowing, and using an elliptical machine. And on your rest days? Aim for 8,000+ steps. It’s low-impact and still chips away at visceral fat.