# Wide-Grip Seated Cable Row: how to do it

- Main muscles: upper back, rear delts
- Also works: lats, biceps
- Equipment: cable
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/wide_grip_cable_row/3f9bd713df/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Sit with your feet on the plate and knees slightly bent.
2. Hold the straight bar overhand, hands wide, arms straight.
3. Sit tall and pull the bar to your lower chest, elbows out wide.
4. Squeeze your shoulder blades together for a second.
5. 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.

## 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

| 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 |  |

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/wide-grip-cable-row