Chest-Supported T-Bar Row Instructions

  1. Adjust the foot or chest pad (depending on your machine) so that the top of the chest pad is level with the top of your breastbone.
  2. Grab the handles and let the weight pull your arms straight and your shoulder blades forward as far as they’ll go.
  3. Staring straight ahead, pull the handles back by bending your elbows and retracting your shoulder blades simultaneously. Pull the handles as far back as you can, generally until your hands are level with your chest, and your shoulder blades are pinched together and down.
  4. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as far forward as they’ll go.

Standing T-Bar Row Instructions

  1. Load a T-bar machine with weights and stand on the footplate with the bar between your legs, facing the handles.
  2. Bend your knees slightly and “hinge” forward at the waist until your upper body is at a 30-to-45-degree angle relative to the floor.
  3. Reach down and grab the T-bar row handle with a neutral grip and your hands a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Lift the bar off its rest so that you’re supporting the weight.
  4. While keeping your back flat and torso stable, let the handles pull your arms completely straight and your shoulder blades forward.
  5. Pull the handle back by bending your elbows and retracting your shoulder blades simultaneously. Pull the handle as far back as you can, generally until your hands are level with your chest, and your shoulder blades are pinched together and down.
  6. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as far forward as they’ll go.

Landmine T-Bar Row Instructions

  1. Secure one end of a barbell in a landmine attachment and load the other end with plates. Straddle the bar with your back to the attachment and hook a V-bar handle under the bar just behind the plates.
  2. Bend your knees slightly and “hinge” forward at the waist until your upper body is at a 30-to-45-degree angle relative to the floor.
  3. Reach down and grab the handle with a neutral grip. While keeping your back flat, slightly straighten your legs to lift the plates off the floor.
  4. While keeping your back flat and torso stable, let the handle pull your arms completely straight and your shoulder blades forward.
  5. Pull the handle back by bending your elbows and retracting your shoulder blades simultaneously. Pull until the plates reach your torso and your shoulder blades are pinched together and down.
  6. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as far forward as they’ll go.

Expert Tips

  • Let your shoulder blades move forward at the bottom of each rep (scapular protraction), then pull them back as you bend your elbows (scapular retraction). Concentrate on getting as deep of a stretch in your shoulder blades as you can, then hold the squeezed position for a brief moment at the top of each rep. This is the key to ensuring your traps are trained by this exercise, too.
  • On the chest-supported version, keep your chest pressed into the pad throughout each rep—avoid arching your back, sliding your chest up or down, or swinging your hips back and forth to try to make the exercise easier. The only parts of your body that should be moving are your arms, shoulders, and back muscles.
  • Keep your elbows close to your sides during the T-bar row to emphasize your lats. While many T-bar row machines have wide handles, choose a grip a bit wider than shoulder-width or narrower whenever possible.
  • If your grip gives out before your lats do, use lifting straps. This prevents you from having to end your sets prematurely due to your grip giving out, allowing you to train your back, traps, and biceps more thoroughly.

Workout Programming

Program the T-bar row as part of a back, pull, or upper-body workout. Exactly where in the workout you include this exercise depends on your goals, but as a general rule, the more you want to develop your back and biceps, the earlier you want to do it (while you’re still fresh).

Typically, I like to program it as the second or third exercise in my workouts—usually as one of the last compound exercises I do before moving on to isolation exercises.

A good default is 3 sets of 6–8 reps. Take each set 1–2 reps shy of failure—the point where you can’t move the weight with good form despite giving your maximum effort—and rest 2–3 minutes between sets.

Mike’s Take

The T-bar row is one of the best exercises you can do for building your lats, traps, mid-back, biceps, and rear delts.

The chest-supported version is safe and easy to learn, and it’s quick to set up. It also lets you take your arms and shoulder blades through a long range of motion.

Since you use regular weight plates, you can also add weight in small increments, which is ideal for progressive overload.

There are three versions of the T-bar row, in order of my preference: The chest-supported T-bar row, the unsupported, or standing, T-bar row, and the landmine T-bar row.

The reason I prefer the chest-supported T-bar row is that it completely removes your lower-back as a limiting muscle in the exercise. By “limiting muscle,” I mean a muscle that generally hits failure before the other muscle groups, especially the primary muscle groups you want to train.

In other words, with the standing T-bar row and the landmine T-bar row, it’s common for your lower-back muscles to hit failure before your back and arms, forcing you to end the set prematurely. And this becomes more of a problem the stronger you get.

That said, if your gym doesn’t have a chest-supported T-bar row machine, the standing and landmine versions can still be great exercises, depending on your anatomy and lower-back strength. If you find that you can generally take your sets close or all of the way to failure without your lower-back forcing you to end the set, then it’s just as good as the chest-supported version.

As a general rule, though, I generally prefer rowing exercises that have some kind of chest support—like seated machine rows—so you don’t need to worry about tensing your lower-back throughout each set.

One word of caution, too: For whatever reason, many manufacturers design T-bar machines with very wide handles—often much wider than shoulder width apart.

Generally speaking, wide-handled rows and pulldowns aren’t as effective as a shoulder-width or narrower grip, because they put your arms in a position where it’s harder to engage your lats. Thus, if the T-bar row machine at your gym has a wide handle, I’d recommend you just do a different exercise.

T-Bar Row Alternatives

  • Seated Machine Row. My favorite alternative. It provides consistent tension throughout each rep, a long range of motion, and allows you to train your biceps, traps, lats, and rear delts (and completely takes your lower back out of the equation).
  • One-Arm Dumbbell Row. One of my favorite back exercises and a great alternative to the T-bar row. Has the advantage of training each arm independently, but also takes longer to finish each set.
  • Seated Cable Row. This is a great alternative, but many people still find their lower back gives out before their traps, lats, and biceps.
  • Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row. Another pulling exercise that takes your lower-back out of the equation, but most people find it limits their range of motion more than the single-arm dumbbell row, which I prefer.
  • Barbell Seal Row. This removes your lower back as a limiting factor and makes it impossible to cheat, but it also has a very challenging resistance curve, can feel awkward, and few gyms have one.
  • Meadows Row. These are similar to one-arm dumbbell rows, and a good alternative if you’ve outgrown your gym’s dumbbells. The main downsides are they’re annoying to set up, your lower back can still be a limiting muscle, and it can be difficult to grip the barbell, but this can be largely overcome if you use straps.
  • Barbell Bent-Over Row. An option when you have a barbell but no T-bar setup, though you still have to hold your torso in position throughout the set.

3 T-Bar Row Workouts

Here are three sample workouts that show how to program the chest-supported T-bar row on a back day, a pull day, or an upper-body day.

Back Workout with the Chest-Supported T-Bar Row

Chest-Supported T-Bar Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Lat Pulldown: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Machine Rear Delt Fly: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
Barbell Shrug: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

Pull Workout with the Chest-Supported T-Bar Row

Barbell Deadlift: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Chest-Supported T-Bar Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Lat Pulldown: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Machine Rear Delt Fly: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
Barbell Curl: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 1–2 min rest

Upper-Body Workout with the Chest-Supported T-Bar Row

Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Chest-Supported T-Bar Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 2–3 min rest
Lat Pulldown: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Machine Rear Delt Fly: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
Bayesian Cable Curl: 2 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

To progress these workouts, use double progression: use a weight that allows you to work within the given rep range, take each set 1–2 reps shy of failure, and once you hit the top of the range for your first set, add weight.

Muscles Worked by the T-Bar Row

The T-bar row primarily trains your latissimus dorsi (lats), middle trapezius (mid-traps), mid-back muscles (such as your rhomboids, teres major and minor, and a few others), your posterior deltoids (rear delts), and your elbow flexors (biceps, brachialis, and brachioradialis). Your forearms also work to maintain a strong grip on the handles.

If you’re doing the unsupported or landmine T-bar row, your spinal erectors and core muscles also work hard to keep your torso in position.

More Back Exercises