# Barbell Upright Row: how to do it

- Main muscles: side delts, traps
- Also works: biceps
- Equipment: barbell
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/upright_row/85566f5d8d/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Stand tall, bar on your thighs, hands about shoulder-width apart.
2. Lift your elbows out and up, keeping the bar close to your body.
3. Stop when your elbows reach shoulder height.
4. Pause, then lower slowly to your thighs.

## Cues

- Elbows lead, hands follow
- Bar close to your body
- Elbows no higher than shoulders

## Common mistakes

- Pulling the bar to your chin: stop at shoulder-height elbows.
- Narrow grip: set hands at shoulder width or slightly wider.
- Leaning back to swing it up: stand still and lighten the bar.

## Starting position

Standing tall, feet about hip- to shoulder-width apart, knees soft, torso braced and upright, head neutral. Closed pronated grip (palms facing the body, thumbs round). Not a narrow, hands-together grip.

## The movement

The bar travels straight up, brushing or nearly brushing the abdomen and chest. The elbows lead: they rise out and up ahead of the hands the whole way. The upper traps lift the shoulders slightly only at the very top. Torso, hips and knees stay still: no lean back, no hip drive. The way down retraces the same line slowly to the thighs. Sources disagree on height: the NSCA text puts the elbows level with or slightly above the shoulders and ExRx pulls the bar to the neck; Schoenfeld, Kolber and Haimes (NSCA's SCJ) advise stopping just below 90° to avoid impingement.

## End position

(turnaround point): elbows lifted out to the sides to about shoulder height, just below level: shoulder abduction about 85° (accept 75–90°), never above. Elbows higher than the wrists and slightly in front of the body (about 15–20° in front of the frontal plane, per Schoenfeld's "slightly anterior" to the coronal plane). Wrists bent a little as the bar rises, not cocked hard. A short pause.

## Tempo

About 2 s up, a 0.3 s pause at the top, about 2.5 s down, a light touch on the thighs with no rest.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Shoulder abduction at the top | 85° | 75–90°, never above |  |
| Elbows forward of the frontal plane at the top | 15° | 10–25° |  |
| Elbow height vs wrist at the top | elbow above the wrist | always |  |
| Bar distance from the body | 2 cm | 0–5 cm |  |
| Torso lean from vertical | 0° | under 5° |  |

## Sources

1. [[Schoenfeld, Kolber and Haimes 2011, Strength and Conditioning Journal: The Upright Row: Implications for Preventing Subacromial Impingement](](https://www.lookgreatnaked.com/articles/upright_row_implications_for_preventing_subacromial_impingement.pdf)
2. [[Achievable CSCS study guide: exercise technique part 5](](https://app.achievable.me/study/cscs/learn/exercise-technique-for-free-weight-and-machine-training-exercise-list-part-5)
3. [[ExRx.net: Barbell Upright Row](](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidLateral/BBUprightRow)

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