Upright Cable Row
Trains the Traps.
- Equipment
- A cable station
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Clip a straight bar to a low pulley and take it with an overhand grip about shoulder-width apart.
- Stand upright a step back from the machine with your arms straight and the bar in front of your thighs.
- Pull the bar straight up along your body by driving your elbows up and out.
- Keep the bar close — within an inch or two of the torso the whole way.
- Stop when your upper arms are level with the floor.
- Lower under control to straight arms, resisting the cable rather than letting it drop.
Common mistakes
- Pulling to the chin. Above shoulder height the upper arm is being rotated inward at the top of its range under load, and nothing the movement is for happens up there.
- Gripping narrow. A narrow grip forces the elbows higher and the wrists into a sharper angle; shoulder-width or a little wider is more comfortable for both.
- Standing too close to the pulley. A step back puts the cable line along the body; standing over it pulls the bar away from you at the top.
- Deciding whether it is a shoulder exercise or a trap exercise. It is both — the arm is lifted out and up while the shoulder blade is elevated — and neither label is the whole answer.