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Row Progression

General Form Cues

• Straight body
• Elbows in
• Arms straight at the bottom
• Rings/bar to chest and shoulder blades fully retracted (pinched together) at the top
• Don’t let your shoulders shrug up

Recommended Progression

###Vertical Rows

• Perform a row, but with the body position vertical.

###Incline Rows

• Perform a row, but with the body position somewhere between vertical and horizontal. Go closer to horizontal to make it harder.
• Don’t have a low bar? Incline rows using nothing but a bedsheet and closed door.

###Horizontal Rows

• See general form cues.

• I’ve got nowhere to do these!

###Wide Rows

• It’s okay to flare your elbows on this one.
• On a bar: take a wide grip (1.5 times shoulder width) and perform rows like this.
• On rings: while performing a row, bring out the elbows to the side up to a 90 degree angle.

###Weighted Inverted Rows

• These can be done with a weight plate on your chest/belly (uncomfortable and unreliable), or with a weight vest (minimal setup, but limited weight), or with a dip belt hanging from your waist or chest (This method can be loaded the most, however you need to elevate your entire body so that the plates don’t touch the floor at the bottom). Alternatively, you can do Barbell or Dumbbell rows.

##Alternate Progression Paths:

After you reach 3x8 Wide rows you can choose one of these progressions if you don’t want to do weighted rows:

###Alternate Path 1:

####Tuck Front Lever (3x10-30secs)

• PRE-REQUISITE: Must be able to perform skin the cat for 5x2, and arching active hang for 3x8. Practice Skin the Cats after your warmup and before your strength work.

• The main points here are to actively depress and retract the scapulae, as well as keeping the elbows completely straight. There should be a strong activation of the lats (the big muscles on the outsides of your back) coupled with the depression.

Tuck Front Lever Pulls (3x5-8)

• We advise having a solid Tuck Front Lever hold (20-30s) before moving on to the Pulls. if you can complete 3x5 rows with good, clean form before you reach a 20-30s hold, feel free to do these instead.

• The main points here are to actively depress and retract the scapulae, as well as keeping the elbows completely straight. There should be a strong activation of the lats (the big muscles on the outsides of your back) coupled with the depression.

• Don’t spend too much time in the inverted hang or the dead hang position, no more than a second.

  • After you’ve ready to move on from Tuck Front Lever Pulls, repeat the last two progressions with the next progression. Advanced Tuck > Half Straddle > Straddle > Half Lay (sometimes) > Full Lay. This video goes over the progressions briefly. Depending on your level of flexibility you may forego the half Straddle and Half Lay progressions as they aren’t that big of a difficulty jump. If you can do a narrow straddle you can probably skip half lay.

  • Note: The Recommended Routine programming is not designed to get you to a full front lever. The progression above is very simple and made to introduce you to the element. If you like it and want to achieve a full front lever we encourage you to look into more advanced programming.

###Alternate Path 2:

Archer Rows

• See general form cues.
• Try to maintain a straight assisting arm.
• Incline Archer Rows are also a thing.

One Arm Rows

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Equipment

Places to do rows

If you have a pullup bar, pull up a chair and put your feet on that to get you some extra height. Alternatively, hang rings from your pullup bar. Another option is to use a table to do rows. u/RockRaiders made a post here with many options.

Rings

It’s better to have rings for tuck front lever rows as they allow you to get more range of motion. However, they are not necessary and you can do them on a bar instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

I want to do the Tuck Front Lever path, but there is no Skin the Cat in the Recommended Routine. When do I work on them?

Practice STC after your warmup and before the strength work for a couple minutes.

What’s the difference between rows and pullups?

Rows are horizontal pulling, so they hit the muscles on the mid-upper back a bit better than pullups, which rely mostly on lats.

I can’t get my chest all the way to the bar!

Keep working on it. Really focus on bringing the shoulders blades down and back (retraction).

Can I replace rows by pullups?

No. Rows work the mid-back much more effectively, which is important for shoulder health.

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