Wide-Grip Seated Cable Row

What is the Wide-Grip Seated Cable Row?

The wide-grip seated cable row is a horizontal pull performed with a long bar and a wide grip, rowing to the upper torso. Taking the hands wide and pulling higher flares the elbows out, which shifts the emphasis toward the upper back and rear delts, making it the upper-back-and-detail complement to the close-grip seated cable row’s lat bias.

Muscles worked

Primary: Back

The upper back (rhomboids, mid-traps, and lats) drives the flared elbows back to pull the wide bar to the upper torso, retracting the shoulder blades hard.

Secondary: Biceps, Traps

The biceps assist by flexing the elbows, and the traps retract and control the shoulder blades through the wide, high pull.

How to perform the Wide-Grip Seated Cable Row

1. Attach a long straight or wide bar to a low seated-row pulley and sit with feet braced and a slight bend in the knees.
2. Take a pronated grip well outside shoulder width, sit tall, and start with the arms extended and shoulder blades protracted.
3. The wide overhand grip shifts emphasis toward the upper back, rear delts, and traps compared with a close neutral row.
4. Row the bar toward your upper abdomen or lower chest by flaring the elbows out and back, retracting the shoulder blades.
5. Squeeze the upper back at the top without rocking the torso back past vertical to extend the range artificially.
6. Return the bar forward under control, letting the shoulder blades spread into a full stretch before the next rep.

Suggested working range: 10–15 reps. Default progression: double progression.

Mechanics

A bilateral horizontal pull with a wide grip and flared elbows: the shoulders horizontally extend and the elbows flex to bring the wide bar to the upper chest against constant cable tension. As a compound pull the seated support removes the lower-back demand, and the wide, high pulling path biases the upper back and rear delts rather than the lats.

Form cues

• •Grip the wide bar outside shoulder width and sit tall with a slight forward lean at the stretch.
• •Row the bar to the upper chest or sternum, letting the elbows flare out to the sides.
• •Pull the shoulder blades hard together at the finish and pause before returning.
• •Control the return to a full stretch without rocking the torso to build momentum.

Common mistakes

• •Rocking the torso back well past vertical on every rep to artificially extend the range.
• •Pulling the bar low to the belly rather than up toward the upper abdomen and lower chest for upper-back bias.
• •Rounding the lower back at the bottom to chase a deeper stretch under the cable load.
• •Shrugging the shoulders up at the contraction instead of squeezing the upper back and blades together.

Variations & alternatives

• •Seated cable row: a close neutral grip that keeps the elbows tight and biases the lats.
• •Face pull: a higher-angle cable pull that hits the rear delts and upper traps directly.
• •Wide-grip lat pulldown: a wide-grip vertical pull for the outer lats and upper-back width.
• •Reverse pec deck: a machine that isolates the rear delts and upper back with a fixed path.

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 the wide-grip seated cable row as a secondary upper-back movement in the library’s 10–15 rep range, where the wide, high pull rewards a hard squeeze over heavy load. It’s a strong complement to a close-grip row or a vertical pull, adding rear-delt and upper-back detail most pressing-heavy programs neglect. Two to four sets with a full squeeze build the upper back well.

Frequently asked questions