Exercise:

Seated Cable Row

Target Muscle:

Back (Mid/Lats)

Seated Cable Row Machine, Straight-Bar Attachment

Attach a straight bar to a seated row machine and sit down on the seat.

Place your feet on the front platform and grab onto the bar using an overhand grip spaced about 2-3 inches outside of shoulder width.

Pull the bar back and get yourself into a rowing position with your torso upright and a slight bend in your knees.

Row the bar back toward your midsection until you feel a strong contraction in your back muscles, and then return the bar back to the starting position until your arms are extended in front of you before repeating.

- In order to maximize the tension on your back muscles rather than your biceps and shoulders, focus on rowing the bar back using your elbows rather than your hands. Imagine that your hands and forearms don’t even exist, and just place 100% of your focus on driving the weight back using your elbows.

- A slight natural sway in your torso is fine as you lift and lower the weight, but you shouldn't be using excessive momentum and "heaving" the bar back and forth as this will place your lower back at risk.

- As you row the bar toward yourself, focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together as well.

- To increase the activation of your back muscles even further, you can use a set of lifting straps or lifting hooks to fully eliminate your grip from the equation.

- You can optionally use a v-bar attachment for this exercise and grip it with your palms facing in.