How to do the Barbell Row
Step by step
- Stand with your feet hip-width and the bar over your midfoot.
- Hinge at the hips with a flat back, grip the bar just outside your knees, and stand up with it.
- Push your hips back and hinge forward again, back flat and arms straight so the bar hangs below your chest.
- Pull the bar to your lower ribs, driving your elbows back.
- Lower the bar under control while keeping your torso still and back flat.
The thing people get wrong
Hold your torso steady at the hinge rather than yanking upright with each rep. Keep your back flat, never rounded, throughout the set.
Coaching cue
Take a big breath and brace your abs before each rep to lock the flat back in place.
Stay safe
Set the bar down and reset if your low back starts to round mid-set.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Use a lighter bar and hinge a little less far forward.
- Harder: Pause the bar at your ribs for one second on every rep.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Upper Back, Lats
- Secondary: Biceps, Core, Forearms
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.