Upper back exercise
Bent-Over Dumbbell RowHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Upper back, Lats
- Also works
- Biceps, Rear delts, Lower back
- Equipment
- Dumbbell
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Bent-Over Dumbbell Row?
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing each other.
- Soften your knees and push your hips back until your chest leans forward.
- Brace and let the dumbbells hang under your shoulders.
- Pull both dumbbells to your waist, elbows close to your sides.
- Lower them slowly until your arms are straight.
Cues
- Elbows back, along your ribs.
- Chest stays down, back stays flat.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades at the top.
Common mistakes
- Standing up as you pull: keep your trunk angle fixed and use a lighter weight.
- Rounding your back: brace and hinge from your hips, not your waist.
- Flaring your elbows: keep them within a hand's width of your sides.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Feet hip- to shoulder-width apart, toes forward. One dumbbell in each hand, neutral grip (palms facing each other), wrists straight. Knees soft (about 20° flexion). Push the hips back until the trunk is about 55° from vertical. Back flat from pelvis to head, stomach braced, gaze at the floor about 1 m ahead.
The movement
Both arms move together and mirror each other. The hands rise in a near-vertical line, finishing just behind where they started. Elbows travel back along the ribs, not out to the sides. Hips, knees, trunk and head stay still.
End position
Dumbbells beside the waist / lower ribs, forearms close to vertical, dumbbells under the elbows. Elbows tucked close to the sides and driven back past the line of the back: elbow flexion about 90°, upper arm about 35° past the trunk line. Shoulder blades squeezed together. Trunk angle unchanged. Pause 0.5 s.
Tempo
Pull 1 s / squeeze 0.5 s / lower 2 s, then 0.3 s at arm's length.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stance width | hip width | hip to shoulder width | |
| Trunk angle change during the rep | 0° | under 5° | |
| Elbow flexion at the start | 0° | 0–5° | |
| Elbow out from the side at the end (front view) | 10° | 0–20° | |
| Dumbbell height at the end | beside the waist | lower ribs to hip crease | |
| Left/right difference | 0 | under 3 cm |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Bent-Over Dumbbell Row is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
