Wide-Grip Body Row

What is the Wide-Grip Body Row?

The wide-grip body row is a bodyweight horizontal pull done under a bar with the hands set wide, pulling the chest up while the body holds a straight line. Taking the grip wide and pulling higher into the chest flares the elbows out, which shifts the emphasis from the lats toward the upper back and rear delts compared with a standard body row.

Muscles worked

Primary: Back

The upper back (rhomboids, mid-traps, and lats) drives the flared 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 retract and hold the shoulder blades at the top of the wide, high pull.

Stabilizers

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

How to perform the Wide-Grip Body Row

1. Set a bar at about hip height and lie beneath it, taking a pronated grip well outside shoulder width, wider than a standard body row.
2. Hang from straight arms with the body rigid from heels to head, glutes and core braced to hold the plank.
3. The wider grip shifts emphasis toward the upper back and rear delts, so plan to pull the bar higher toward the collarbones.
4. Retract the shoulder blades and pull by flaring the elbows out and back, bringing the upper chest up to the bar.
5. Squeeze the upper back and rear delts at the top while keeping the hips from sagging out of the straight line.
6. Lower under control to a full stretch at the arms, resetting the plank before each rep rather than bouncing.

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

Mechanics

A bilateral horizontal pull against bodyweight with a wide grip: hanging under the bar, the shoulders horizontally extend and the elbows flex and flare to bring the chest up while the body holds a rigid plank. As a compound it trains the back and arms, and the wide grip with a high pull biases the upper back and rear delts more than the lat-focused standard body row.

Form cues

• •Grip the bar wider than shoulder width and set a straight line from heels to head.
• •Pull the upper chest to the bar with the elbows flaring out to the sides.
• •Squeeze the shoulder blades hard together at the top before lowering.
• •Make it harder by walking the feet forward, or easier by staying more upright.

Common mistakes

• •Letting the hips sag out of the straight line as the wider, harder grip position fatigues the trunk.
• •Pulling the bar low to the belly rather than up toward the collarbones where the wide grip belongs.
• •Using the arms to yank instead of flaring the elbows out and back to hit the upper back and rear delts.
• •Cutting the range short and never reaching a full stretch at the bottom of each rep.

Variations & alternatives

• •Standard body row: a narrower grip pulling lower to the ribs that biases the lats.
• •Feet-elevated wide-grip body row: raising the feet for a fully horizontal, harder pull.
• •Wide-grip seated cable row: a loaded upper-back pull with the same wide, flared-elbow bias.
• •Face pull: a cable movement that isolates the rear delts and upper traps directly.

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 wide-grip body rows as an accessory horizontal pull in the library’s 8–15 rep range, using body angle to set the difficulty. Their upper-back and rear-delt bias makes them a good complement to a lat-focused pull or lots of pressing. Progress by getting more horizontal or elevating the feet, and add a vest once you exceed the range. Two to four sets build the upper back and posture.

Frequently asked questions