Barbell Rear Delt Row

How to do it

1. Stand holding a barbell with an overhand grip wider than your shoulders.
2. Hinge forward from the hips with a flat back until the torso is close to parallel with the floor.
3. Let the bar hang at arm's length below your chest.
4. Pull it toward your upper chest, driving the elbows out to the sides rather than back along your ribs.
5. Stop when the upper arms are level with your torso.
6. Lower under control until the arms are straight again.

Common mistakes

• Rowing to the stomach with the elbows tucked. That is a lat row; the wide grip and flared elbows are what make this a rear-delt movement, and the bar comes high.
• Standing up as the set goes on. The hinge is set before the first repetition; rising is the hips helping and it hides how much the shoulders did.
• Loading it like a bent-over row. The elbows out at shoulder height is a much weaker position than elbows tucked, and the weight has to reflect that.
• Rounding the back to hold the hinge. If a flat back will not reach parallel, take a higher torso angle rather than a rounded spine.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Posterior DeltoidShoulders

Secondary

• Biceps
• Lats
• Rhomboids
• Middle TrapeziusTraps