Sometimes we reach a point when training one muscle or a pair of large and small groups neither excites us nor muscle growth. That’s when we think about performing more intense and challenging exercises, such as pairing back and chest workouts.
Training back and chest require decent muscular endurance. However, if you want to test your muscle endurance and increase muscle mass, you can train them together.
In this article, I’ve shared an ultimate 8 week chest and back workout routine that will help you build strength, mass, and aesthetic torso.
This program is for experienced lifters who want to build a beefy and muscular back and chest.
Pros and Cons of Training Back and Chest Together
The back and the chest are agonist and antagonist muscles, so it is okay to train them together.
The chest primarily works during push exercises, while the back mainly engages during pull movements.
You can pair push and pull exercises to hit your back and chest and build a firm and wider torso.
But before you do that, you should know the benefits and downsides of training the chest and back together as they will help you decide whether you should pair these muscles or not.
Benefits
- Back and chest workouts involve compound lifts, such as bench presses, bent-over rows, and deadlifts. And compound exercises are great for growing strength and mass.
- Working out your back and chest requires more energy that ultimately burns more calories and enhances cardiovascular fitness.
- Training back and chest together also allows you to focus more on shoulder and arms training and helps build an overall firm and muscular upper body.
Disadvantages
- The back and chest are large muscle groups, and training them together will tire you faster.
- Sometimes pushing yourself too much can lead to injuries. So, do it only when you’re confident that you can do it.
The 8 Week Chest and Back Workout Routine for Maximum Mass Growth
You can follow this workout schedule to train your back and chest together.
- Monday – Back and Chest
- Tuesday – Legs and Abs
- Wednesday – Shoulder and Arms
- Thursday – Chest and Back
- Friday – Tuesday – Legs and Abs
- Saturday – Shoulder and Arms
- Sunday – OFF
- If you train three days a week, split this routine into two weeks.
Here’s how the chest and back workout program look:
- Week 1 – Standard Rep Set
- Week 2 – Drop Set
- Week 3 – Standard Rep Set
- Week 4 – Superset
- Week 5 – Superset
- Week 6 – Isolation Sets
- Week 7 – Superset
- Week 8 – Pyramid Set
Warm-up: It is best to do 5-10 minutes of warm-up exercises to increase your heart rate and prepare your muscles for intense resistance exercises. You can jog on the treadmill, do bodyweight cardio exercises, or lift a lightweight bar and dumbbell for warm-up.
Safety tip: When you train your lats, traps, and pecs all muscles together, make sure you pay attention to signs of fatigue or discomfort. When feeling too tired, you can reduce the number of reps and sets and end your workout earlier.
Week 1 – Standard Rep Set
Monday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups + Pushups (Superset) | 3 | 6-10 | 15-sec |
| Front Lat Pulldown | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Seated Cable Row | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Bent-over Barbell Row | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Incline DB Bench Press | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| High to Low Cable Fly | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
Thursday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat Bench Press | 4 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Pec Deck Fly | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Pullover | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Standing Lat Pulldown | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| One-arm Dumbbell Row | 2 | 10/side | 1-min |
| Inverted Row + Bar Dips (Superset) | 3 | 8-10 | 15-sec |
Week 2 – Drop Set
Drop sets involve performing multiple sub-sets within a set. In a drop set workout, you perform a certain number of reps till failure, then decrease weight and again perform some reps, and continue until you can’t.
It’s an intense method of training that requires decent muscular strength and endurance.
If you can do the drop set, follow the below workout or perform the week 3 workouts.
Here’s how you can perform reps and sets in drop-set training.
- Sets per exercise: 3
- Subsets per set: 3
- Rest between sets: 3 minutes
The intensity of lift during subset:
- Subset 1: Lift at 75% of maximum strength (1RM) and perform as many reps as possible.
- Subset 2: Lift at 50% of your 1RM and do as many reps as possible.
- Subset 3: Lift at 30% of your 1RM and do as many reps as possible.
- For example, if you maximally lift 50kg in one rep, then start with 37-38 kg and perform the next subsets accordingly.
Here are the chest and back exercises for the drop set training.
Monday
- V-Grip Lat Pulldown
- Seated Cable Rowing
- Incline Hammer/Smith Machine Chest Press
- Bent-over Cable Fly
Thursday
- Flat Barbell Bench Press
- Seated Pec Deck Machine Fly
- Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
- Bent-over Barbell Row
Week 3 – Standard Rep Set
Monday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups + Pushups (Superset) | 3 | 6-10 | 15-sec |
| Conventional Deadlift | 3 | 6-8 | 2-min |
| Medium-Grip Lat Pulldown | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Seated Cable Row | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Decline Bench Press | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| Low to High Cable Fly | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
Thursday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incline Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Pec Deck Machine Fly | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Dumbbell Pullover | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Standing Lat Pulldown | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| One-arm Dumbbell Row | 3 | 10-12 | 1-min |
| Inverted Row + Bar Dips (Superset) | 3 | 8-10 | 15-sec |
Week 4 – Superset
The superset is a popular training method that involves training a pair of muscles together, typically agonist and antagonist muscles (like the back and chest).
It is a time-efficient workout where you perform multiple sets of different exercises with little or no rest between them.
Supersetting is an excellent way to utilize your workout time. However, it is an advanced method of training. And following a superset workout routine requires a great deal of muscular endurance.
Here’s the superset workout routine for back and chest you can do during the fourth week of the 8-week program:
Monday
| Supersets | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups + Pushups (Bodyweight) | 3 | 6-10 |
| Lat Pulldown + Flat DB Bench Press | 3 | 8-12 |
| Cable Row + Bent-over Cable Fly | 3 | 8-12 |
| Bent-over Row + Low-to-High Cable Fly | 3 | 8-12 |
Thursday
| Supersets | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Standing Lat Pulldown + Incline DB/Machine Bench Press | 3 | 10-12 |
| Bent-over Barbell Row + Pec Deck Fly | 3 | 10-12 |
| One-arm DB Row + Pullover | 2 | 10-12 |
| Inverted Row + Bar Dips | 3 | 8-12 |
Week 5 – Standard Rep Set
Monday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups + Pushups (Superset) | 3 | 6-10 | 15-sec |
| Conventional Deadlift | 4 | 10, 8, 6, 4 | 2-3 min |
| Seated Cable Row | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Incline DB Bench Press | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| High to Low Cable Fly | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
Thursday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat Bench Press | 4 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Pec Deck Machine Fly | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Dumbbell Pullover | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| V-grip Lat Pulldown | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| Pendlay Row | 3 | 10-12 | 1-min |
| Inverted Row + Bar Dips (Superset) | 3 | 8-10 | 15-sec |
Week 6 – Isolation Sets
The isolation exercises target specific muscle groups and helps improve muscle definition and strength imbalance.
Dedicating a workout week that only includes isolation exercises will help you improve the appearance of your torso.
Here’s the workout:
Monday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-arm Lat Pulldown | 3 | 10/side | 1-min |
| Seated Cable Row | 3 | 10-12 | 1-min |
| Unilateral Dumbbell Row | 2 | 10/side | 1-min |
| Flat DB Bench Press | 3 | 12-15 | 1-min |
| Pec Deck Machine Fly | 3 | 12-15 | 1-min |
| Decline Cable Fly | 2 | 10/side | 1-min |
Thursday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behind the Neck Pulldown | 3 | 10/side | 2-min |
| Rope Lat Pulldown | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Incline Dumbbell Prone Row | 3 | 10/side | 2-min |
| Incline DB Bench Press | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| Dumbbell Pullover | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| Upward Cable Fly | 3 | 10/side | 2-min |
Week 7 – Standard Rep Set
Monday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups + Pushups (Superset) | 3 | 6-10 | 15-sec |
| Conventional Deadlift | 3 | 6-8 | 2-min |
| Medium-Grip Lat Pulldown | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Seated Cable Row | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Decline Bench Press | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| Low to High Cable Fly | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
Thursday
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incline Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Pec Deck Machine Fly | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Dumbbell Pullover | 3 | 10-12 | 2-min |
| Standing Lat Pulldown | 3 | 12-15 | 2-min |
| Low-Back Extension | 3 | 10-12 | 1-min |
| Inverted Row + Bar Dips (Superset) | 3 | 8-10 | 15-sec |
Week 8 – Pyramid Rep Set
The pyramid set workout is another excellent way of training muscles for bodybuilding. Like the drop sets, it also involves performing multiple sub-sets within a set. However, during the pyramid sets, the number of reps will increase after each subset.
Here’s how you can do the back and chest pyramid set workout.
- Sets per exercise: 3
- Subsets per set: 3
- Rest between sets: 3 minutes
The intensity of lift during subset:
- Subset 1: Lift at 75% of maximum strength (1RM) and perform three reps.
- Subset 2: Lift at 50% of your 1RM and do six reps.
- Subset 3: Lift at 25% of your 1RM and perform nine reps.
- You can also reverse it by increasing weight and decreasing the number of reps. It is up to you how you do it.
Monday
- V-Grip Lat Pulldown
- Seated Cable Rowing
- Incline Hammer/Smith Machine Chest Press
- Bent-over Cable Fly
Thursday
- Flat Barbell Bench Press
- Seated Pec Deck Machine Fly
- Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
- Bent-over Barbell Row
Download The Back and Chest Workout Routine PDF
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