The Bent Over Row

The Bent Over Barbell Row is an excellent back builder. However, caution should be utilized to ensure you do not hurt your lower back. The exercise begins similar to the bottom position of a deadlift. With hips back, knees slightly bent and spine neutral or slightly arched. This allows the weight of the upper body to be distributed or “hang” on the hamstrings, do not allow the lower back vertebrae to bear the load of your upper body.

Keeping this neutral posture, grab the bar just outside of shoulder width with palms facing you. Pull the bar towards your mid-abdomen region. Imagine a string pulling your elbows back as you retract your shoulder blades. Squeeze the back if possible then lower the weight under control.

Sometimes getting into the correct starting posture can be difficult, when that happens, consider deadlifting the bar up to a standing position, then lowering down into the beginning position for the row.

To work the back in a slightly different manner, you can place a barbell in a corner and use a V-handle attachment to perform a row. Posture and starting position are very similar to a standard barbell row.