The barbell bent-over row works the whole back. But the main muscles activated will be the latissimus dorsi (lats), the traps (both middle and lower), and the rear deltoids. If you execute the bent-over barbell row with proper form, you should mainly feel these areas of your back working as you pull the weight.
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Which grip is best for bent over row?
When performing bent-over rows you can either have your hands in a pronated (palms facing down) or supinated (palms facing up) position. A supinated grip will incorporate more of your biceps into the movement, meaning you can hold the bar at a narrower angle โ and lift slightly heavier.
Are underhand or overhand rows better?
Underhand rows target the lower lats near the center of the back as well as the biceps more directly than overhand rows. Overhand rows target the upper lats, traps, and rhomboids more directly. Both are effective, but you need to be careful when performing underhand rows because of the increased strain on the biceps.
Is close grip or wide grip better for rows?
The seated row is normally done with a narrow grip. But if you’d like to focus on the smaller back and arm muscles instead of the lats, you can use a wide grip. These muscles include the: middle trapezius (upper back between shoulders)
Do close grip rows work lats?
The narrow grip barbell row will best work your lats. However, many people like the look of a defined upper back with wide shoulders, and when these muscles are strong, it helps your posture.
Does grip matter on barbell rows?

Should you go heavy on bent over rows?
1 no-no for the Barbell Bent-Over Row and it’s probably the most common mistake. It’s typically the result of using a weight that’s too heavy, forcing you to bounce up and down to generate enough momentum to move the load. This is cheating, plain and simple. The Fix: Use a lighter weight.
Should elbows be tucked in rows?

Which row is best for biceps?
For biceps, high-tension isometric exercises work best, he says. In practice, that means starting each set by holding the hardest part of the moveโthe top of an inverted row, for exampleโand then banging out a handful of regular reps.
Which barbell row is best?
Although there are several kinds of bent-over rows, my favorite for gaining maximum muscle and strength is the conventional bent-over barbell row. It trains every major muscle in your back, as well as your biceps, shoulders, and forearms, and as the weights get heavier, your legs even get involved.
What is the best row?
- Pendlay Rows. This is a great exercise that gives you a barbell row combined with the benefit of a dead stop like the deadlift.
- T-Bar Rows.
- Dumbell Rows.
- Seated Cable Rows.
- Inverted Rows.
How do I make my lats thicker?
- Lat Pull-In.
- Wide Grip Pull-Ups.
- Bent-Over Barbell Row.
- T-Bar Row.
- Supine Dumbbell Row.
- Cable Row.
- Rack Pull.
Do rows increase back width?

Is reverse grip better for barbell rows?
Which Grip Is Best for the Barbell Row? The best grip for the barbell row depends on the muscles you want to focus on. As a general rule, an overhand grip puts the emphasis on your upper back muscles, such as the rhomboids and traps, while an underhand reverse grip puts more emphasis on the lats.
Are rows enough for biceps?
Rows and pull ups are unlikely to be enough stimulus to train your biceps. Lifters may be able to maintain their biceps size with rows and pull-ups. However, those with goals to develop their biceps size and strength should look to include direct biceps training, utilizing various curl exercises.
Do rows build biceps?
In contrast to lat pulldowns, rows don’t seem to work your biceps as well as curls do. The bicep thickness increased by 11.06% in the arms that had trained dumbbell curls, but only by about half (5.16%) in the arms that had trained dumbbell rows.
Are bent-over rows the best back exercise?
You won’t do much better than the bent-over barbell row when it comes to gaining back strength and size. Better yet, the strength you gain from rowing a heavy barbell in a hinged position carries over to the strength movements you love to do (squats, deadlifts, and other rows).
Why don’t I feel rows in my back?

Are reverse grip rows good?
Reverse Grip Barbell Row Benefits The reverse grip barbell row movement requires more work from the biceps, so it strengthens them very effectively. It also really strengthens other muscles like the lats, rhomboids, spinal erectors, hamstrings, and glutes.
Are barbell rows bad for your back?
The freestyle barbell bent-over row is one of the highest-risk exercises because the torso isn’t supported and the lower back is excessively involved. It’s difficult to keep your lower back hollowed and secure once the weight becomes substantialโjust a slight slip in technique can produce a nasty lower-back injury.
What is the king of all bicep exercises?
The barbell curl is the best biceps exercise for overall size and strength gains. This is because it lets you overload the biceps with more weight than is possible with any other exercise.
Why are bicep curls useless?
Doing bicep curls just provide a little extra pump. In terms of performance, they don’t help much at all and in most cases, people over compensate and pull their backs out anyway to jerk the weight up. So stick to pull-ups, cleans and bent over rows if you want strong guns.
Are bicep curls a waste of time?
Bicep curls very well may be beneficial to many athletes, when done with the right intent. However, without adhering to the foundation movements; squats, pulls, cleans, snatches, bodyweight calisthenics, sprints, etc of your specific sports, bicep curls may very well be a waste of time.
Which is better deadlift or bent-over row?
Where deadlifts mostly target the muscles in your lower body and lower back, bent-over barbell rows target several muscles in your upper back. These include the trapezius, rhomboids, latissimus dorsi, teres major and minor, posterior deltoid and infraspinatus, ExRx reports.
How heavy should bent-over rows be?
- 175โ185 pounds as their 1-rep max.
- 160 pounds for 5 reps.
- 150 pounds for 8 reps.
- 140 pounds for 10 reps.