Single-Arm Seated Cable Row
Trains the Rhomboids and Middle Trapezius.
- Equipment
- A cable station
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Sit at a low cable row station and take a single handle in one hand.
- Set your feet against the platform with a slight bend at the knees and sit tall.
- Let the working arm reach forward until the shoulder blade travels forward around the ribs.
- Pull the handle to your ribs, drawing the shoulder blade back and the elbow behind you.
- Let the torso stay square — the temptation to rotate is what the single arm creates.
- Return under control, letting the arm reach forward again before the next repetition.
Common mistakes
- Rotating the torso open as you pull. Turning toward the cable adds range that comes from the spine rather than the shoulder blade, and it means each side is being trained through a different movement.
- Leaning back at the end of the pull. The trunk stays upright; leaning back is the lower back finishing a repetition the upper back could not.
- Skipping the reach at the front. The single arm lets the shoulder blade travel much further forward than a two-handed row does, and that extra range is most of the reason to do it one side at a time.
- Matching the weight to half of your two-handed row. One side at a time also means the trunk has to resist rotation, so the load that works here is usually less than half.