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

It’s distinctive amongst again workouts as a result of it entails 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 mass do many of the work. 

On this article, you’ll be taught what the chest-supported row is, why it’s useful, carry out it with correct type, one of the best chest-supported row options, and extra.

What Is the Chest-Supported Row?

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

It differs from related workouts, 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 deal with on this article.  

Discover the Excellent Dietary supplements for You in Simply 60 Seconds

You do not want dietary supplements to construct muscle, lose fats, and get wholesome. However the suitable ones might help. Take this quiz to be taught which of them are finest for you.

Take the Quiz

Chest-Supported Row: Advantages

Analysis reveals that horizontal pulling workouts, just like the chest-supported row, prepare your whole again, together with your lats, rhomboids, traps, rear delts, infraspinatus, and teres main and minor. 

Workout routines that prepare a number of muscle teams concurrently are known as compound workouts. They’re helpful as a result of they permit you to raise heavy weights safely, which is mostly higher for muscle and energy acquire. They’re additionally time-efficient because you don’t must do a number of workouts to coach every muscle group individually.

Strengthening your again muscle mass utilizing workouts 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 secure base through the bench press.

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

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 mass to do the vast majority 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 damage.

Chest-Supported Row: Muscle tissues Labored

The chest-supported row works the . . .

  • Latissimis dorsi
  • Trapezius 
  • Rhomboids
  • Teres main and minor
  • Learn deltoids
  • Infraspinatus

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

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



dumbbell chest supported row



Discover the Finest Food regimen for You in Simply 60 Seconds

What number of energy must you eat? What about “macros?” What meals must you eat? Take our 60-second quiz to get science-based solutions to those questions and extra.

Take the Quiz

Chest-Supported Row: Kind

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

1. Set Up

Modify 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 in opposition to the pad, and plant your toes on the ground behind you, then attain down and seize one dumbbell in every hand.

2. Row

Holding 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 high 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 through the row.

Don’t let the burden yank your arms again to the beginning place or attempt to lengthen your arms slowly. The whole “extension” needs to be managed however solely take a few second.

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


chest supported dumbbell row


The Finest Chest-Supported Row Alternate options

1. Chest-Supported T-Bar Row

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

Nevertheless, 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 energy 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 entails 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 steadiness, is extra simple to be taught, 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 mass, particularly your rear delts (the triangle-formed muscle mass situated behind your shoulder joints in your higher again), making the chest-supported rear delt row a great variation for many who wish to prioritize shoulder growth. 

4. Incline Chest-Supported Row

Within the incline chest-supported row, you enhance 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 means that you can raise heavier weights than while you use a pair of dumbbells, which is mostly advantageous for muscle and energy acquire. Nevertheless, the draw back of utilizing a barbell is that it limits the vary of movement, negating a number of the train’s muscle- and strength-building potential.