I love pretty much every rowing variation out there to help grow muscle in your upper back and develop strength.
If you read this previous post on movement types, then you know that training the backside (posterior chain) is crucial to staying strong and healthy. Unfortunately, I still see people in the gym training the muscles they can see more frequently than the muscles they can’t.
So today I’m giving away three of my favorite one arm rowing variations that are slightly different from the standard version you might be familiar with. If you’re not, watch this video. Make sure to click the links to view examples of all three exercises.
Option #1: Chest Supported One Arm Row
This has become my favorite over the last couple of months. It feels so natural to me. The setup is simple (make sure to click the link to view the video). Think of it as standing on an incline with the bench supporting you. Your legs should be straight and feet on the ground. Your head will be over the top of the bench. Use your opposite arm to hold onto the bench to create some extra stability. Once you’re in position, lock it in and stay sturdy. Initiate the pull towards your back hip and squeeze under your armpit as if you’re trying to keep a magazine or newspaper there. Squeeze your upper back muscles at the top and return to the bottom position in the reverse motion.
I love this exercise for people who have some low back troubles or people who really want to focus on gaining muscle in their backs. The chest supported position allows you to focus a bit more on the movement and less on the position of your body. I typically program this in sets of 6-12 reps, but it always depends on the training phase and goal!
Option #2: Landmine One Arm Row
I’ve been doing this exercise in the last 6 weeks on The Strong Human Program (read more about that here) and I’m loving the challenge of it. By grabbing the sleeve of the bar, you also challenge your grip strength quite a bit. The setup is pretty simple, load up your bar on one side and stick the bar in a corner or a landmine attachment if you’re lucky enough to have one. Home gym hack: I use a tennis ball on the opposite side of my barbell to protect my bar and wall since I don’t have an actual attachment.
Once you have your bar all set up, you’ll take a split stance with your opposite leg further out in front. Grab the bar by the sleeve (fat part) with an overhand, false grip meaning your thumb is over the top as well. You’ll want to make sure you are locking in and engaging your glutes and abs to create a strong base. Slightly hinge the hips, keep your chest up, and back straight. You’ll initiate and execute the pull the same way discussed in exercise #1. Lead with the elbow, squeeze under the armpit and finish the exercise with a nice squeeze of the upper back at the top before controlling your way back to the bottom.
Here is exactly how I programmed the last 6 weeks of this exercise as our secondary strength exercise in an upper body pull day.
Week 1-2: 3 sets of 6-10 reps with the last set to failure
Week 3-4: 3 sets of 8-12 reps with the last set to failure
Week 5-6: 3 sets of 10-12 reps with the last set to failure
Keep it simple.
Option #3: The Deadstop One Arm Row
Probably my favorite row variation for developing upper body strength and power. I usually program this exercise during a max strength or power phase for myself or for athletes. You’ll start this exercise with the dumbbell on the ground and feet split just like in exercise #2. Screw the front foot into the ground and place your hand on the bench or sturdy surface in front of you. Keep abs and glutes tight! Grab and pull the dumbbell up in the same motion as mentioned above but do so with some power! Return the dumbbell all the way back to the ground, pause, and then repeat.
This exercise is meant for developing strength and power so for tempo you should utilize more of a 1-1-1 or an as fast as possible method. I like to keep the reps lower than 8 for this with a higher number of sets (4+). You want a load that is heavy relative to your strength, but not so heavy that you struggle to maintain your positioning.
Wrapping it up
I hope you give those three exercises a try to mix up your next back day! Stick with one for 6+ weeks and get super strong with it before moving on to the next one. I like all three of these exercises for all humans, whether you’re a Strong Human, Everyday Human, or Athletic Human!
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