The chest-supported row is an upper-body train that trains all of the muscle tissue in your again.

It’s distinctive amongst again workout routines as a result of it includes pulling a weight towards your torso whereas mendacity susceptible on a bench. This prevents you from utilizing momentum to assist raise the burden and ensures your again muscle tissue do many of the work. 

On this article, you’ll study what the chest-supported row is, why it’s useful, the right way to carry out it with correct kind, the most effective chest-supported row alternate options, and extra.

What Is the Chest-Supported Row?

The chest-supported row is a again train that includes pulling a weight towards your torso.

It differs from comparable workout routines, together with the one-arm dumbbell row and barbell bent-over row, since you carry out it whereas mendacity susceptible on an incline bench.

The 2 most typical variations of the chest-supported row are the chest-supported dumbbell row (or “chest-supported DB row”) and the chest-supported barbell row. Whereas each variations are efficient, most individuals discover the dumbbell chest-supported row simpler to arrange and carry out, in order that’s the variation we’ll concentrate on on this article.  

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Chest-Supported Row: Advantages

Analysis exhibits that horizontal pulling workout routines, just like the chest-supported row, practice your total again, together with your lats, rhomboids, traps, rear delts, infraspinatus, and teres main and minor. 

Workouts that practice a number of muscle teams concurrently are referred to as compound workout routines. They’re helpful as a result of they mean you can raise heavy weights safely, which is usually higher for muscle and power acquire. They’re additionally time-efficient because you don’t must do a number of workout routines to coach every muscle group individually.

Strengthening your again muscle tissue utilizing workout routines just like the dumbbell chest-supported row additionally helps you raise heavy weights—you’ll be able to consider it because the scaffolding that helps the remainder of your physique.  

It retains your higher physique tight and prevents you from tipping ahead within the squat, stops your backbone from rounding within the deadlift, and creates a steady base in the course of the bench press.

In different phrases, together with workout routines like chest-supported rows in your coaching boosts your efficiency on different key workout routines. 

One other advantage of chest-supported rows is that resting your chest on a bench prevents you from producing momentum together with your hips and higher physique to “cheat” the burden up. This forces your again muscle tissue to do nearly all of the work, which ensures they’re sufficiently stimulated by the train.

Moreover, resting on a bench means you don’t help the burden together with your backbone, making the chest-supported row superb for folks coaching round a lower-back harm.

Chest-Supported Row: Muscle tissue Labored

The chest-supported row works the . . .

It additionally trains your biceps to a lesser diploma, too.

Right here’s how these muscle tissue look in your physique:



dumbbell chest supported row



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Chest-Supported Row: Kind

One of the simplest ways to learn to do the chest-supported dumbbell row is to separate the train into three components: arrange, row, and descend.

1. Set Up

Alter a bench to a 30 diploma angle and place a dumbbell on both facet of the bench towards the highest finish. Straddle the bench, place your chest towards the pad, and plant your toes on the ground behind you, then attain down and seize one dumbbell in every hand.

2. Row

Retaining your elbows tucked 4-to-6 inches out of your sides and your chest pinned to the pad, pull the weights towards your torso. Proceed pulling till the burden touches your torso. As you raise the burden, pull your shoulders again, and on the prime of every rep, squeeze your shoulder blades collectively. 

(Tip: A useful cue is to think about touching the ceiling together with your elbows.)

3. Descend

Reverse the motion and return to the beginning place. This mirrors what you probably did in the course of the row.

Don’t let the burden yank your arms again to the beginning place or attempt to prolong your arms slowly. Your entire “extension” ought to be managed however solely take a few second.

Right here’s the way it ought to look once you put all of it collectively:


chest supported dumbbell row


The Greatest Chest-Supported Row Alternate options

1. Chest-Supported T-Bar Row

The principle advantage of the chest-supported T-bar row is which you could change your grip width and orientation to discover a place that’s most comfy for you. 

Nonetheless, its barely shorter vary of movement in comparison with a dumbbell chest-supported row would possibly make it marginally much less efficient for muscle and power acquire.

2. Chest-Supported Machine Row

The chest-supported machine row (or “seated chest-supported row”) is a variation of the chest-supported row that includes a chest-supported row machine. The chest-supported machine row is a good various to the common chest-supported row for newbies as a result of it requires much less coordination and stability, is extra easy to study, and requires much less setup. 

3. Chest-Supported Rear Delt Row

Within the chest-supported rear delt row, you flare your elbows as you row the weights in order that your higher arms are virtually perpendicular to your torso. This emphasizes your higher again muscle tissue, particularly your rear delts (the triangle-formed muscle tissue positioned behind your shoulder joints in your higher again), making the chest-supported rear delt row an excellent variation for individuals who need to prioritize shoulder improvement. 

4. Incline Chest-Supported Row

Within the incline chest-supported row, you improve the bench angle to 45-to-60 levels. Performing the train on a better incline shifts the emphasis out of your mid again to your higher again, which makes the incline chest-supported row a helpful chest-supported dumbbell row various for these desirous to develop their rear delts, rhomboids, and traps greater than their lats. 

5. Chest-Supported Barbell Row

The chest-supported barbell row lets you raise heavier weights than once you use a pair of dumbbells, which is usually advantageous for muscle and power acquire. Nonetheless, the draw back of utilizing a barbell is that it limits the vary of movement, negating a few of the train’s muscle- and strength-building potential.