In this video I'll show you the truth about how to do barbell rows, one of the most commonly performed barbell exercises for big back muscle growth...and one of the upper body exercises that gets performed with bad form the most. I’m going to reveal the different variations of the barbell row and give you a way to determine which version of this popular compound exercise is best for you and your body specifically and avoid common errors.

Many fitness experts will tell you that there is only one way to do an exercise. Realizing that every body type is different from one another and every person has different sorts of muscle tightness and imbalances can make one version of an exercise ideal and one problematic. The bentover barbell row can be done with an underhand grip, mixed grip, overhand grips (pronated grips), wider grip, neutral grip, narrower grip, etc. The right version of the bentover barbell row is going to depend on your ability to perform it with proper execution for your desired fitness goals to safely to avoid risk of injury.

If you look at the most popular advice on how to do a bentover barbell row you will see a variation where your back is held parallel to the ground in a bentover position at a 90degree angle throughout this essential movement. The starting position of the bar is resting on the ground and then explosively lifted up to your navel and lowered to the ground. This is called either a standard barbell row or Pendlay rows (named for Glenn Pendlay). While this is definitely one of the variations of barbell rows it is not the version that most should be doing, simply because most body types cannot perform it with proper form.

For instance, if you have tight hamstrings this version of the standard barbell row is going to wreak havoc on your lower back. Even if the hamstrings were loose enough however, there are other issues with this barbell row technique. For one, the bar is encouraged to be lifted higher on the trunk and held away from the body. The increased moment arm will effectively increase the weight that you are lifting and place extra stress in your back as well. Add to this the explosive lifting motion and you have an unpredictable stress in a compromised position that could injure your back in a single rep, especially as fatigue sets in.

As an alternative to this version of the barbell bentover row, you can keep the explosiveness of the compound movement while raising its safety by doing what I call a barbell dead row. Here, you keep your feet flat and let your legs work together with the back to be more athletic and fluid throughout the entire movement. You can still load up with heavier weights and take the bar from the ground. But with this barbell row form, you just get to raise the trunk a bit at the top so you can be in a stronger and sturdier position for your back every rep.

Beyond that a rule of thumb is that for beginners to weightlifting or when you are just learning how to do a proper barbell row it is smart to start from the top down. Don’t begin the movement from the floor if you don’t even have the requisite muscle strength built up to perform it properly while standing and leaning forward from a 45 degree angle.

In fact, if your only goal is to build your lats with this rowing exercise then I would argue that you could continue to perform it from this correct position without having to pull from the floor. This is especially true if you are already pulling with exercises like the deadlift. The important thing is that the lats will be built from the barbell row and if that is your only goal then you should opt to stay more vertical than the traditional Pendlay row.

If you wish to gain explosive athleticism and build groundup strength then opt for the barbell dead rows instead. Focus on squeezing the bar to your upper abs while keeping your elbows angled down towards your sides. Contract the triceps at the bottom of every rep to silence the biceps and help to keep them from attempting to dominate the row instead of your lats.

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