EXERCISE · BARBELL
Barbell Row
The biggest mistake is heaving with your hips as you pull — that turns it into a scrappy deadlift and the row disappears. Set your torso somewhere between parallel to the floor and about 45 degrees up from it, pick the angle your lower back can actually hold, and keep it there for every rep. Hips back, chest up, locked in. Pull the bar toward your lower belly, driving your elbows back and together. Squeeze your shoulder blades at the top — that is what tells you the back is working and not just your arms. Where the bar finishes depends on your build; some people naturally pull higher to the chest, others to the mid-belly. Full range matters more than hitting a fixed height. Lower it with control and reset each rep from the floor. Don't bounce it, and don't hover it in the air between reps.