Cable Standing Close Grip Row

Description

How to do Cable Standing Close Grip Row

1. 01
   Setup

   Stand facing the cable machine with your feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent.

2. 02
   Setup

   Attach a close-grip handle, such as a V-bar, to the low pulley and grasp it with both hands, palms facing each other. Take a step back to create initial tension on the cable.

3. 03

   Hinge slightly at your hips, keeping your back straight and core engaged, allowing your arms to extend fully forward with a slight stretch in your lats.

4. 04

   Initiate the pull by squeezing your shoulder blades together and pulling the handle towards your lower abdomen, keeping your elbows tucked close to your sides.

5. 05

   Slowly extend your arms back to the starting position, controlling the weight and resisting the pull, to feel a full stretch in your latissimus dorsi.

Tips

• Focus on initiating the pull with your back muscles, specifically your lats, rather than relying solely on your biceps to maximize muscle engagement.
• Maintain a proud chest and keep your shoulders pulled down and back throughout the entire movement to ensure proper posture and prevent rounding of the upper back.
• Control the eccentric (return) phase of the exercise, allowing for a full and controlled stretch in your lats before beginning the next repetition.
• Keep a slight forward lean from your hips, not your lower back, to maintain constant tension on the target muscles and avoid using momentum.

Common mistakes

• Rounding the back during the pull reduces lat activation and can strain the lower back; fix this by keeping your chest up and core tight, maintaining a neutral spine.
• Using momentum to swing the weight diminishes muscle engagement and can lead to injury; fix this by performing the movement slowly and with control, focusing on a strong muscle contraction.
• Flaring your elbows out wide shifts the focus away from the lats and can put stress on the shoulders; fix this by keeping your elbows tucked close to your body throughout the entire pulling motion.