Inverted Row

What is the Inverted Row?

The inverted row is a bodyweight horizontal pull done under a fixed bar, pulling your chest up to it while your body stays in a straight line. Adjusting how horizontal you lie scales the difficulty up or down, making it the horizontal-pull counterpart to the push-up and a great mid-back builder that needs only a bar.

Muscles worked

Primary: Back

The mid-back (lats, rhomboids, and mid-traps) drives the elbows back to pull the chest to the bar and retract the shoulder blades against bodyweight.

Secondary: Biceps, Traps

The biceps assist by flexing the elbows, and the traps help retract and hold the shoulder blades at the top of each rep.

Stabilizers

The core and glutes brace hard to hold the body in a rigid straight line so the back rows rather than the hips sagging.

How to perform the Inverted Row

1. Set a barbell in a rack or a Smith machine at about hip height and lie underneath it, gripping it slightly wider than shoulder width.
2. Hang with arms extended, heels on the floor, and the body in a straight rigid line from heels to head, glutes and core braced.
3. Set the shoulder blades and begin the pull by retracting them before the elbows bend.
4. Pull the chest up to the bar by driving the elbows down and back, keeping the hips lifted so the body stays a straight plank.
5. Touch or nearly touch the bar with the lower chest and squeeze the mid-back at the top.
6. Lower under control to full arm extension, and make it harder by elevating the feet or easier by walking the feet back to raise the torso angle.

Suggested working range: 8–15 reps. Default progression: double progression.

Mechanics

A bilateral horizontal pull against bodyweight: hanging under a fixed bar, the shoulders extend and the elbows flex to bring the chest up while the body holds a rigid plank. As a compound it trains the back and arms together, and the more horizontal your body, the harder it is, so difficulty scales without adding external load.

Form cues

• •Set a straight line from heels to head and keep the glutes and abs braced so the hips don’t sag.
• •Pull the chest to the bar by driving the elbows back and squeezing the shoulder blades together.
• •Lower under control to a full arm extension without letting the shoulders round forward.
• •Make it harder by walking the feet forward (more horizontal) or easier by staying more upright.

Common mistakes

• •Letting the hips sag toward the floor so the body loses its straight plank line during the pull.
• •Pulling with the arms first and never retracting the shoulder blades, so the biceps do all the work.
• •Using a partial range that never brings the chest to the bar and never reaches full arm extension.
• •Craning the chin toward the bar to fake the top rather than bringing the chest up with the mid-back.

Variations & alternatives

• •Wide-grip body row: a wider grip that shifts emphasis toward the upper back and rear delts.
• •Feet-elevated inverted row: raising the feet makes the body fully horizontal for a harder pull.
• •Seated cable row: a scalable machine horizontal pull when a bar to hang under isn’t available.
• •Barbell row: the loaded free-weight horizontal pull once bodyweight rows get easy.

Conventional Deadlift

Back · Barbell

Barbell Row

Back · Barbell

Pull-Up

Back · Bodyweight

Lat Pulldown

Back · Machine

Seated Cable Row

Back · Cable

Programming: sets, reps & when to use it

Program inverted rows as a primary or accessory horizontal pull in the library’s 8–15 rep range. Regress by staying more upright or progress by getting more horizontal, elevating the feet, or adding a weight vest once you can exceed the range. They pair well with push-ups as a balanced bodyweight upper-body pair. Two to four sets build the mid-back and pulling endurance.

Frequently asked questions