maratoolLying Cambered Barbell Row
How to do the lying cambered barbell row
- Place a cambered bar underneath an exercise bench.
- Lie face down on the exercise bench and grab the bar using a palms down (pronated grip) that is wider than shoulder width. This will be your starting position.
- As you exhale row the bar up as you keep the elbows close to your body to either your chest, in order to target the upper mid back, or to your stomach if targeting the lats is your goal.
- After a second hold at the top, lower back down to the starting position slowly as you inhale.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the rhomboids and mid-trapezius, which draw the shoulder blades together and back down the ribcage.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the biceps add force at the elbow; the lats keep the upper arm drawn in toward the torso; the traps anchor the shoulder blade against the load.
Every exercise for:Middle backBicepsLatsTraps
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the middle back too, using equipment this one does not:
- Lying T-Bar Rowmachine
- Middle Back Shrugdumbbell
- One-Arm Kettlebell Rowkettlebell
- Rhomboids-SMRfoam roll
- Seated Cable Rowscable
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 37 middle back exercises in this database, 21 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.