Upper back exercise
Wide-Grip Seated Cable RowHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Upper back, Rear delts
- Also works
- Lats, Biceps
- Equipment
- Cable
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Wide-Grip Seated Cable Row?
- Sit with your feet on the plate and knees slightly bent.
- Hold the straight bar overhand, hands wide, arms straight.
- Sit tall and pull the bar to your lower chest, elbows out wide.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together for a second.
- Let your arms straighten slowly, leaning forward only a little.
Cues
- Elbows wide and high.
- Bar to the bottom of your chest.
- Sit tall; no rocking.
Common mistakes
- Dropping your elbows to your sides: keep them just below shoulder height.
- Leaning back to finish: lighten the weight and stay upright.
- Shrugging: keep your shoulders down as you squeeze.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Sit on the bench facing the low pulley, feet on the foot plate, hip-width apart, knees soft (about 20°). Overhand grip on a straight lat bar, hands about 1.5 × shoulder width, thumbs wrapped, wrists straight. Chest up, shoulders down, spine neutral from pelvis to head.
The movement
The trunk rocks only from about 10° forward to upright, as one rigid piece pivoting at the hips. The bar travels in a near-horizontal straight line along the cable, staying level (no tilt). Elbows travel out and back, not down to the ribs. Legs, feet and head stay still.
End position
Bar touching the lower chest, at about the bottom of the sternum. Trunk upright (0°). Elbows out wide and high: about 65° out from the sides (front view), just below shoulder height, and pulled back behind the line of the chest. Elbow flexion about 120°. Forearms roughly in line with the cable. Shoulder blades squeezed together, shoulders down. Hold 1 s.
Tempo
Pull 1.5 s / squeeze 1 s / return 2 s, then 0.3 s at the stretch with the stack still off its rest.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grip width | 1.5 × shoulder width | 1.4–1.7 × | |
| Elbow flexion at the stretch | 5° | 0–10° | |
| Elbow out from the side at the end (front view) | 65° | 60–80° | |
| Elbow height at the end | just below the shoulder | 0–10 cm below | |
| Bar contact at the end | bottom of the sternum | mid-chest to upper abdomen |
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 Wide-Grip Seated Cable 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.
