Reverse Grip Bent-Over RowsMuscles Worked
The reverse grip bent-over row works your upper back, with your lats, biceps and rear delts helping as you pull. The underhand grip keeps your elbows tucked closer to your body, which brings in more of the lower lats and biceps than the overhand version.
PrimaryUpper Back
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Level
- Intermediate
- Type
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
How to do it
- Hold a barbell with an underhand grip, hands about shoulder width apart.
- Bend your knees slightly and hinge at the hips until your torso is close to parallel with the floor, back flat and core braced.
- Let the bar hang at arm's length below your chest.
- Row the bar to your lower stomach, keeping your elbows tight to your sides and squeezing your shoulder blades together.
- Lower the bar slowly to straight arms while holding your torso in place.
Form tips
- Use a weight you can row without heaving, since the underhand grip can tempt you to curl the bar with your biceps.
- Keep your wrists straight and your grip no narrower than shoulder width so your elbows stay comfortable.
- Hold your hinge steady instead of standing up as the set gets hard.
Why it made the list
No. 7 of 12
Best Upper Back Exercises
Supinated grip shifts emphasis to the lower lats and biceps while still hitting the mid-back. Variation for complete development.
More upper back exercises
See it on your own body map
Log your Reverse Grip Bent-Over Rows 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.
