maratoolSuspended Row
How to do the suspended row
- Suspend your straps at around chest height. Take a handle in each hand and lean back. Keep your body erect and your head and chest up. Your arms should be fully extended. This will be your starting position.
- Begin by flexing the elbow to initiate the movement. Protract your shoulder blades as you do so.
- At the completion of the motion pause, and then return to the starting position.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the rhomboids and mid-trapezius, which draw the shoulder blades together and back down the ribcage.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the biceps add force at the elbow; the lats keep the upper arm drawn in toward the torso.
Every exercise for:Middle backBicepsLats
How this movement works
The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
These train the middle back too, using equipment this one does not:
- T-Bar Row with Handlebarbell
- T-Bar Rowsmachine
- Two-Arm Kettlebell Rowkettlebell
- Bent Over Two-Dumbbell Rowdumbbell
- Rhomboids-SMRfoam roll
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.