Bent Over Barbell RowMuscles Worked
The bent over barbell row works your upper back, the rhomboids and mid traps that pull your shoulder blades together, with your lats, biceps and rear delts helping. With an overhand grip and your torso bent close to parallel, it is the row most lifters can load the heaviest.
PrimaryUpper Back
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Level
- Beginner
- Type
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
How to do it
- Stand with your feet hip width apart and hold the barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than your thighs.
- Soften your knees and hinge at the hips, pushing them back until your torso is close to parallel with the floor and your back is flat.
- Let the bar hang below your shoulders with straight arms, brace your core, and keep your neck in line with your spine.
- Row the bar toward your lower ribs or upper stomach, driving your elbows back and squeezing your shoulder blades together.
- Lower the bar under control to full arm extension without changing your torso angle.
Form tips
- Keep your torso angle fixed; if you have to stand up to finish each rep, the weight is too heavy.
- Think about pulling with your elbows rather than your hands so your back, not your biceps, leads.
- Set your hips back and brace before every rep so your lower back stays flat the whole set.
Why it made the list
No. 1 of 12
Best Upper Back Exercises
The squat of back training. Highest load capacity for horizontal pulling. Hits rhomboids, mid-traps, rear delts.
More upper back exercises
See it on your own body map
Log your Bent Over Barbell Row sets in KasMaker and watch your upper back, biceps, lats, and shoulders fill in on the map, weighted by how much you did. Logging and the body map are free on iPhone.
