Bent Over Row Muscles Worked and Proper Form

Knowing about the bent over row muscles worked will give you all the more reasons to include them in your workout routine.

The bent-over row is a mainstay exercise for back days and is regarded as one of the best workouts for growing back muscle.

The bent-over row, often known as a barbell row, is the main exercise in most muscle-building routines. It targets the back, biceps, and core muscles of those trying to gain muscle. To improve their strength in the three major motions, people in powerlifting and strength circles practice bent-over rows.

Bent over row muscles worked- back muscles. (Image via Pexels/ Victor Freitas)

Correct Technique for Bent Over Row

It is a compound exercise that increases the size and strength of the lower and upper back. It focuses on almost all of the back muscles, and especially the lats, rhomboids, and lower back. This exercise is frequently employed in upper-body strength and muscle-focused workouts, as well as an auxiliary action for deadlifts in powerlifting.

Here’s how to perform bent over row:

Stand straight and hold the bar with a double overhand grip.
Drive the elbows behind the body and retract the shoulder blades as you hinge forward until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor (or just above).
Lift the bar until it contacts your body at your belly button, then gently and carefully drop it to its starting position.
Repeat for the appropriate number of times.

Bent Over Row Muscles Worked

The bent-over row engages a number of back muscles, including the latissimus dorsi, lower trapezius, infraspinatus, and erector spinae. Moreover, the bent over row exercises target the shoulders and biceps.

Bent-over rows also work the muscles that stabilize your scapula. Your shoulders get stronger and more stable when you retract your shoulder blades during the exercise, going from a protracted to a retracted position.

Bent over row muscles worked- Shoulder muscles. (Image via Pexels/ Victor Freitas)

The bent-over row can substantially simplify matters if you need to keep your workouts short or feel overwhelmed by the thought of using a dozen separate exercises to develop all these muscles.

Dumbbell Row vs Barbell Row

Bent over row can be performed with dumbbells as well as a barbell. One of the biggest distinctions between the barbell row and the dumbbell row is that the former requires both arms to pull the weight, while the latter isolates only one side of your body. This distinction has an impact on how you set up the exercise as well as how you execute the action.

1. Dumbbell Row Muscles Worked

By performing a dumbbell bent over row, you can achieve a wide range of motion and truly concentrate on the muscles that are being worked. You can choose which muscles will work the hardest by pulling the dumbbell closer to your hip or shoulder.

Bent over row muscles worked- Posterior deltoids. (Image via Pexels/ Andrea Piacquadio)

To work your back muscles harder, pull the dumbbell closer to your hips. Meanwhile, to work your biceps and brachialis harder, pull the weight closer to your shoulder.

2. Barbell Row Muscles Worked

A compound exercise, such as the barbell row, works several muscular groups at once. The majority of your back muscles are worked by barbell rows, which primarily target your latissimus dorsi, trapezius, and posterior deltoids.

Your biceps, lower back, forearm flexors, and rotator cuffs are among the secondary targeted muscles.

The amount of effort performed by your lower back and glute muscles increases, but the amount of work performed by your upper back decreases if you employ more of a "swinging" approach, using momentum from your hips to bring the bar up.

Now that you know about the bent over row muscles worked, you can incorporate the exercises into your routine.