Upright barbell rows: Exercise variations and the correct techniques
Upright barbell rows are a basic exercise for building the volume and shape of the pectoral girdle and is acknowledged by many athletes. At the same time, this exercise leads to the highest risk of injuring the ligaments and tendons of the rotator cuff. In these terms, a barbell press behind the head or flies with an inappropriate weight are more dangerous. From this article you’ll find out whether you need frontal stretching, what are the dangers and what exercises can be used instead.
Upright barbell, dumbbell or cable rows are a classic exercise that allows for gaining mass, increasing the strength and making the delts and trapezius muscles bigger and stronger. It can be done both as the main or “killing”/auxiliary exercise during the work-outs for the shoulders and back.
Front stretching is an excellent auxiliary tool for technique improvement in such popular weight-lifting sports as the clean and jerk and the barbell snatch.
Advantages of barbell rows
- Actively stimulates the mass and strength of the pectoral girdle.
- It allows making controllable shifts of the load vector between the medium and front deltoid bundles.
- Simple techniques are available even for sportsmen with little experience.
Disadvantages of barbell rows
- Increased risk of injury the shoulders, elbows, wrist joints and ligaments.
- It is difficult to “hit” and isolate the target muscles.
These disadvantages can be avoided if you regularly prioritize practicing the movement path and select the correct apparatus weight.
Don’t hasten or seek progress in exercising volume. Is it better to use a lighter weight and focus on the technique as much as possible, as this will be the key to your success.
Athletes with any preparation level can perform rows. For beginners it is more reasonable to do front stretching as the main exercise or use it as a lower profile by adding it to basic movements such as bench presses or military presses. Recommended repetition range is 8-12 reps per working set.
Experienced sportsmen often do load stretching as an auxiliary exercise, doing it at the end of the super-set or as the last exercise within a shoulder work-out. Here it serves as a pump that creates a complex load for the pectoral girdle and fills the deltoids with blood. Repeat this for 15-25 times in one set.
To help athletes perform well within their workouts, often Clenbuterol is used in order to promote better cardiac outputs and to warm their body up ready for the intensive loads.
Which muscles are working?
Lateral upright barbell rows are a multi-joint exercise, the full cycle of which include the work of several joints and muscle groups.
They are divided into the following groups by load level:
- Target – middle (side) delts, upper trapezius area;
- Synergists – front and rear delts, supra-spinal/infraspinatus muscles, upper chest, serratus muscles, biceps and triceps;
- Stabilizers – bottom and middle of the trapezius, front serratus muscles and abs.
The main muscles worked within the exercise are the middle deltoid bundle and upper trapezius area, the supporting muscles are forearms and biceps. Back and abs serve as stabilizers that support the bulk of the load when lifting.
Please note: The exercise has an intense load on the forearms. They are naturally weaker than the deltoid and trapezius muscles so they are “killed” first of all limiting the full-fledge building of the target group muscles. The problem can be solved with a Z-bar, hand straps, belts and varied grip width.
Due to the stabilizing and auxiliary muscles becoming tired before the target muscles, many athletes use bulking agents to help and develop these muscles much faster within the workouts. These substances include Testosterone Cypionate, Equipoise and Dianabol, or Sustanon, and Anadrol. With the use of these combined substances, a user can rapidly grow their muscle mass and gain up to 15kg of muscle mass within the space of a few months.
The correct technique
Upright barbell rows are a relatively simple exercise to perform. There are no such nuances as, for example, in squats or the bench press. Nevertheless, don’t neglect the technique. To say the least, this will make the stretching useless, at the worst will lead to injury.
Procedure:
- Mount the barbell and put it on the floor, stand or rack. Bend down, grab the bar from above, with the arms a bit narrower than shoulder width apart. Slightly bend your knees and keep your back straight;
- Straighten yourself up smoothly, take the initial position, hold the barbell in lowered hands at the hip level, slightly bend your elbows, shoulders spread and slightly lowered with the loins bent;
- Inhale, with the body vertical, lift the apparatus to the chest level/chin. Move the bar as close to your body and try raising your elbows over your forearms. Stay in the upper point for a few seconds;
- Exhale and slowly lower the barbell to your hips to the initial starting position. Make another pause for 1s and repeat the exercise for the selected number of times.
How to select the working weight?
The weight for the bar depends on the bodybuilding goals.
Do the set number of repetitions in one working set providing that the last movement will be the killing one or similar to this.
In lat pulldown or upright rows, the working weight depends on the number of repetitions in the set. As a rule, mass- and definition-gaining exercises are done for 6-15 reps. The rule is simple; the heavier the apparatus is, the less number of repetitions you should do in the set and vice versa.
For example:
- Suppose you decided that you can do stretching with a barbell with a 30kg weight with 8 repetitions in one set.
- Mount an apparatus for 15kg (50% from the planned weight) and make a warm-up set or two with 8-12 repetitions.
- Add 15kg more and make the maximum possible number of repetitions with perfect technique.
- Suppose you’ve done 15 repetitions. This means that you can add 10%-15% to the weight on the barbell (two 2.5kg weight plates) and try again.
- If you’ve failed and can’t do more than 6 repetitions, don’t worry. Remove 10-15%, have a rest and perform another set.
- If you’ve managed to do 8-10 repetitions, congratulations! You’ve found your working weight.
Please note: barbell stretching is one of the exercises that are the most dangerous for the shoulders. The reason is overestimation of one’s abilities with too heavy apparatus, an absence of science, cheating, uncontrolled barbell movement (throw) during lowering, wrong grip and too wide amplitude.
Due to these harder movements, many athletes use sports supplementation is order to perform better within their workouts and develop their strength. For this and any other lean muscle gaining purpose, the most popular combinations are; Testosterone Propionate, Trenbolone Acetate and Superdrol. With the use of any of these combinations, a user can grow rapidly in strength, endurance and muscle definition within the space of 6-8 weeks.
Ways of performing the exercise
There are several ways of replacing the basic upright barbell row. The athlete should decide what to choose in any certain case individually depending on the preparation level and goals.
Dumbbell rows
The safest way for the shoulders. The arms are not rigidly fixed when one exercises with dumbbells so the load on the rotator cuff is lower. Its injuries are the bane of all sportsmen.
On the other hand, the structure broken due to absence of a bar requires a more active involvement of additional stabilizing muscles, such as the trapezius, triceps, lats and serratus muscles and for holding the dumbbells, although it partially removes the load from the delts, the target group muscles.
Smith machine row
Vice versa; as unlike dumbbell rows, the Smith machine allows disabling stabilizer and focus the load on the deltoids directly. Besides that, the machine allows working with heavy working weights without the risk of losing the technique control.
Another Smith machine advantage is that it allows doing the row with one hand. This method is often used by professional sportsmen-bodybuilders for focusing on local muscle groups that require isolated work.
Cable-pull machine rows
The advantage of a cable-pull machine is the constant load on the shoulders from the first phase which is the pull to the chest and to the end of the second one, lowering the weight to the hips.
As a rule, experienced athletes don’t exercise for enlargement in cable-pull machines (with small repetitions and heavy weight), but eagerly use it for shoulder building (“pumping”) with a shortened amplitude with 15-25 repetitions per working set.
Recommendations and possible errors
Upright barbell rows sound simple, but many bodybuilders make typical mistakes during this exercise. Some of these are stated below:
- Too heavy weight. Standard error made by beginners. Too high load does not allow working technically so the sportsman has to cheat with inertia and stabilizers. So the weight blasts off due to the throw with the whole body; firstly, the trunk is inclined forwards too much and at the end of the movement is pulled back. So on the main phase the barbell moves due to loins movement, not due to deltoid or trapezius muscles.
- Small amplitude Too heavy weight of the barbell or dumbbells does not allow working in the proper amplitude thus limiting the deltoid involvement on the final path section. So the shoulder load has no effect and turns into a useless dash for repetitions.
- Lowered elbows. Elbows on the hand level or below is a common error. In this position the main load falls on the forearm and biceps. According to an efficient technique, the elbows should be above the barbell axis during the lift. The barbell should be pulled not with your hand (they just hold the bar or handle), but with the shoulders. Do your best, but not beyond the joint comfort and keep your elbows raised.
Beginners often ask what muscles are working in the cases of a narrow and a wide grip. If you hold the bar with the hands narrower than shoulder width apart and stretch your elbows forward, most of the load will fall on the deltoid bundles. Try moving the weight in the maximally full amplitude, i.e. to your chin.
Vice versa, as if you use a wide grip, hands wider than shoulder width apart and spread your elbows sideways, the load vector will be moved to the middle bundles. In this case you’ll need to work in a shorter amplitude. Lift the barbell to your chest or even lower excluding the trapezius to the utmost. You must select a proper weight and do 1-2 warm-up sets before starting the working loads.