Wide Grip Chest Supported Row

Also known as: Chest-Supported Wide Row, Wide Grip Chest Supported Machine Row, Wide Grip Machine Row

StrengthPull

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Body Part: Back

Description

With your chest on the pad of a row machine, pull the wide overhand handles to your lower chest, elbows flared, to build your upper back and rear delts. Most of the work happens between and just below your shoulder blades (middle and lower traps), in your rear delts and in the small muscles on the back of each shoulder blade: infraspinatus, teres minor and teres major. Your lats chip in a little. The pad holds your torso still, so your lower back gets a break and there's nothing to swing. Pick these handles over the neutral ones when your upper back matters more than your lats.

How to Perform

Set the seat so the handles line up with your shoulders or upper chest once your chest rests on the pad.
Move the chest pad until you can just reach the handles with straight arms and your shoulder blades drawn forward.
Sit tall, breastbone on the pad and feet on the foot supports, and take the outer horizontal handles overhand with your thumbs wrapped around.
Start each rep by pulling your shoulder blades back, then drive your elbows back and out, about 45–60° from your sides.
Row until your elbows pass your torso and your hands reach your lower chest. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold for a second.
Let the handles go forward over about 2 seconds, until your arms are straight and your shoulder blades spread. Your chest never leaves the pad.
Finish the set by guiding the handles back to their resting spot instead of letting the stack drop.

What Muscles Work

Primary Muscle:

Secondary Muscles:

Tips

Two to four sets of 8–15 reps suit this row, or 6–10 when strength is the goal. Add reps before weight: stay at one load until you reach the top of your range, say 3 × 12, with your chest on the pad and straight arms at the front. Then move the pin down one plate, usually 5 kg (2.5 kg with an add-on weight), or add 2.5 kg per side on a plate-loaded machine, and work up again from the bottom of the range.
Feel it between and just below your shoulder blades and across the backs of your shoulders. A burning neck means you're shrugging; if it's mostly your lats under the armpits, your elbows have drifted in to your sides.
Front of the shoulder pinching at the end of the pull? Stop your elbows level with your torso or switch to the neutral handles. If the next plate is too big a jump, make the reps harder first: hold 2 seconds at the chest and take 3 seconds on the way back.
Substitutes: Chest Supported Machine Row (neutral handles, elbows closer, more lats and more weight), Seated Cable Wide Grip Row (the same wide pull, but nothing props up your torso), and Barbell Incline Wide Grip Row or Incline Bench Dumbbell Wide Row when there's no machine.

Common Mistakes

Peeling your chest off the pad or leaning back to heave the handles in. Your breastbone stays on the pad for every rep; if it has to come off, the weight is too heavy.
Elbows tucked against your ribs. That turns it into a lat row; keep them out at about 45–60°, in line with the wide handles, and finish with your hands at your lower chest.
Short reps at the front: the arms stay bent and the shoulder blades stay pinched. Before every pull, let your arms straighten all the way and your shoulder blades slide apart.