Row
Pendlay row
Works
Also works
Equipment
How to do it
- Stand with feet hip-width and the bar over your midfoot, pronated grip wider than shoulders.
- Hinge at the hips until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor with a flat back.
- With a fixed torso, pull the bar explosively from the floor to your lower chest.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades as the bar reaches your lower abdomen without raising your torso.
- Lower the bar under control to rest on the floor again each rep.
- Reset each rep from the floor keeping a neutral spine.
Common mistakes
- Raising the torso when pulling the bar
- Rounding the lower back in the bent-over position
- Using leg momentum instead of the back
What the evidence says
If your lower back is the limiting factor, the variation matters: comparing the inverted row, the standing bent-over row and the one-arm cable row, the inverted row produced the highest latissimus dorsi activation with the lowest lumbar spine load, while the standing bent-over row imposed the largest spine load.
Fenwick CM, Brown SHM, McGill SM. «Comparison of different rowing exercises: trunk muscle activation and lumbar spine motion, load, and stiffness». Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2009;23(5):1408-1417. View the study
At matched effort, free-weight rows demand more from the erector spinae than machine rows, and the unilateral version activates the external oblique more than the bilateral one. Pick a machine or chest-supported row when you want your upper back to be the limit, not your lower back.
Saeterbakken A, Andersen V, Brudeseth A, Lund H, Fimland MS. «The effect of performing bi- and unilateral row exercises on core muscle activation». International Journal of Sports Medicine, 2015;36(11):900-905. View the study
Rows do grow the biceps, but they don't replace curls: over 8 weeks training one arm with the dumbbell row and the other with the biceps curl, elbow flexors grew 11.1% with the curl versus 5.2% with the row.
Mannarino P, Matta T, Lima J, Simão R, Freitas de Salles B. «Single-Joint Exercise Results in Higher Hypertrophy of Elbow Flexors Than Multijoint Exercise». Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2021;35(10):2677-2681. View the study
What isn't settled: No trial has yet compared row variations by measuring how much the back actually grows: what exists is muscle activation and spine load measured in a single session, and activation doesn't predict hypertrophy. Choosing between barbell, Pendlay, T-bar or Meadows rows is, for now, a matter of comfort and of what fails first — not of evidence.
Other variations
Log it in two taps
All 340 catalogue exercises are in the app, with their technique and your history. You log the set and Myosin works out volume, records and estimated strength.
