Barbell Upright Row

How to do the barbell upright row

1. 1

   Stand tall with your feet about hip width apart and hold a barbell in front of your thighs with an overhand grip.

2. 2

   Set your hands at shoulder width or a little wider, arms long and shoulders down.

3. 3

   Brace your trunk and keep your chest up without leaning back.

4. 4

   Lift your elbows out to the sides and let the bar travel up close to your body, elbows always higher than your wrists.

5. 5

   Stop when your upper arms are about level with your shoulders and the bar is near your lower chest.

6. 6

   Lower the bar under control until your arms are straight again, then start the next rep without a swing.

Muscles worked by the barbell upright row

The side delts lift your upper arms out to the sides, and the upper traps raise and rotate your shoulder blades, more so in the top half. The front delts help, and the biceps and forearms bend the elbows and hold the bar. In an EMG study with 16 weight-trained men, a grip twice as wide as the shoulders produced more side delt and trap activity than narrow and shoulder-width grips, and less biceps activity than the narrow one.

Common upright row mistakes

• Gripping too narrow

  Hands close together make the elbows bend more and hand work to the biceps. Take a grip at shoulder width or wider, where the delts and traps do more of the lifting.

• Pulling the bar to your chin

  Chasing your chin turns the end of the rep into a shrug and takes the shoulders into their end range under load. Stop when your elbows reach shoulder height.

• Letting the wrists lead

  When the hands rise above the elbows, the movement turns into a curl. Think of lifting your elbows, and let the bar simply follow.

• Swinging the bar up

  A hip kick or a lean back throws the bar through the hardest part of the rep. Stand tall and choose a weight you can lift with a still torso.

• Dropping the bar

  The lowering half trains the shoulders too. Bring the bar down under control until your arms are straight.

Upright row tips from the Muscla training logic

• Muscla's training logic counts the upright row as a compound lift. Its plan does not schedule it, so add it to your own routine and choose its progression there, for example Double progression.
• Do it after your presses and pulls: Muscla orders a day heavy compound lifts first, then the other compound lifts, then isolation.
• End working sets with about two reps in the tank, two to three when you train for strength and one more if you are new to training. Going to failure adds little or no extra muscle, but more fatigue.
• Rest 2 minutes between sets for strength and 90 seconds for muscle and every other goal.
• Once every set reaches the top of your range, Double progression adds 2.5 kg (5 lb) unless you set your own step, and the reps start again at the bottom.

Barbell upright row sets, reps and rest

Muscla's training logic counts the upright row as a compound lift, so the table shows the compound ranges Muscla's plan uses; pick the one for your goal for your own routine. Choose a load that brings your elbows to shoulder height on every rep. In your own routine, Double progression lowers the weight by about 10% after three sessions without progress.

Estimate your upright row one-rep max

Filled in with example values. Replace them with yours.

Barbell upright row alternatives

1. Dumbbell Lateral Raise→
2. Machine Shoulder Press→
3. Dumbbell Arnold Press→
4. Barbell Thruster→
5. Band Front Raise→
6. Barbell Seated Overhead Press→
7. Cable Rear Delt Row→
8. Dumbbell seated shoulder press
9. Dumbbell standing overhead press
10. Cable shoulder press

Upright row questions