Upright Cable Row

Exercise technique:

You are standing facing the low pulley, feet hip-width apart, back straight, you can bend your knees slightly or just contract your abdominals and glutes strongly simultaneously. Hands in overhand grip, grab the bar.

Standing stationary, you raise the bar to chest level by keeping your elbows apart (make sure your elbows are no higher than your shoulder level) and bringing your shoulders back.

Muscles worked:

Main: shoulders (anterior and middle bundles)
Secondary: trapezius (upper and middle bundles), biceps, forearms

The exercise can be done with a wider or narrower grip. The wider your grip, the more the exercise will locate in the mid-shoulder bundles.

A tight grip, on the other hand, will preferably stress the upper trapezius to the detriment of the shoulders.

Interest of the upright cable row

The use of the pulley allows for more continuous resistance. This makes the exercise less traumatic for both the joints and the muscles. It is a perfect substitute for Standing Rowing with a barbell.

Variants of the upright cable row

Depending on the flexibility of your wrists, you may prefer to use a Z bar instead of a straight bar:

Or with a rope, in which case the exercise will localize more to the trapezoids:

Danger / contraindication

Be careful when you take the bar, do not like those who round the back to grab the bar. Bend your knees back straight and then come up using your thighs. Ditto for the return phase when it is time to put the bar back.

Make sure to fix your pelvis, by insisting strongly on the co-contraction of the abdominals and glutes. Avoid tilting, compensating movements of the bust from front to back. Do not try to lift Heavy, the shoulders are very fragile joints.