# Inverted Row: how to do it

- Main muscles: upper back, lats
- Also works: biceps, rear delts
- Equipment: smith
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/inverted_row/36d648d948/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Set the bar at hip height and lie under it, bar over your chest.
2. Grip it overhand, hands just wider than your shoulders.
3. Straighten your legs, heels down, and lift your hips into a straight line.
4. Pull your chest to the bar, squeezing your shoulder blades.
5. Lower slowly until your arms are straight.

## Cues

- Body stiff like a plank.
- Chest to the bar.
- Shoulders down, neck long.

## Common mistakes

- Hips sagging: squeeze your glutes and brace before each rep.
- Reaching with your chin: keep your head in line and pull your chest up instead.
- Shrugging: set your shoulders down and back first.

## Starting position

Smith bar locked at about the athlete's standing hip height (about 0.9 m for a 1.75 m athlete), safeties set. Lie face up under the bar with the bar over the lower chest. Overhand grip, hands a little wider than the shoulders (about 1.2 × shoulder width), thumbs wrapped. Legs straight and together, heels on the floor, toes up. Squeeze the glutes and brace so the body is one straight line from heels to head; chin slightly tucked.

## The movement

The whole body rotates as one rigid plank about the heels; the heels do not slide. The chest travels up towards the bar in a short arc. Hands stay fixed on the bar. The head stays in line with the trunk; the hips neither sag nor pike.

## End position

Lower chest touching (or within 2 cm of) the bar. Body still one straight line, now about 35° up from the floor. Elbows behind the trunk, about 45° out from the sides (top view), elbow flexion about 125°. Forearms close to vertical. Shoulder blades squeezed together and down. Pause 0.5 s.

## Tempo

Pull 1 s / squeeze 0.5 s / lower 2 s, then 0.3 s at straight arms.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bar height | standing hip height | 0.85–1.0 m for a 1.75 m athlete |  |
| Grip width | 1.2 × shoulder width | 1.0–1.5 × |  |
| Hip flexion (sag or pike) | 0° | under 10° either way |  |
| Knee flexion | 0° | 0–5° |  |
| Elbow flexion at the start | 0° | 0–5° |  |
| Elbow out from the side at the end (top view) | 45° | 30–60° |  |
| Chest-to-bar gap at the end | 0 cm | 0–2 cm, lower sternum |  |
| Heel slide | 0 cm | none |  |

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/inverted-row