Back Exercises - One-Arm Row
July 28, 2008
One-Arm Row is a great home exercise to try if you’re looking for great, toned arms. This arm exercise will help you achieved toned arms, but it’s also a terrific, strengthening back exercise, bicep exercise, and shoulder exercise as well. Denise Austin helps you build your upper body strength, especially your arms — exercise daily with her and you’ll see those toned arms emerge faster than you’d ever thought possible.
One-Arm Row Exercises
Use your non-dominant hand to hold a dumbbell, while placing your dominant hand and knee on a bench, as illustrated.
Keep your back flat as you let the dumbbell hang down to your side so your arm lines up just in front of your shoulder.
Pull the dumbbell upward and back toward your hip while keeping your elbow close to your body. Focus on using your upper-back muscles in doing this motion. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position.
Hold one heavy weight or two lighter weights doubled up in your right hand and stand with your legs split wide apart, left in front of the right. Bend both knees slightly, then lean forward with a straight back, bending where your hip and thigh meet, rather than at your waist. Rest your left arm on your left thigh and hang your right arm down on the inside of your left leg, palm facing in. Keep your chin tucked into your neck.
The key to keeping this move safe is, first, avoid twisting at the top of the motion. Use a weight you can lift with control and keep the elbow close to the body as you pull it up just to torso level. Another key point is to use your back to lift the arm. This sounds odd, but it’s tempting to squeeze the biceps to pull the elbow up. While your biceps are involved, start the motion by focusing on the shoulder blade, squeezing the back to pull the arm up.
Lean forward and grab the cable. The first rep of the exercise requires that you lean forward to grab the cable. Pull yourself back to an upright sitting position. Then, with your elbow slightly kinked out, pull back until your elbow passes your ribcage on the same side. Squeeze one second at the down phase of the pull and then slowly release the weight until your arm is nearly straight.
Vary the motion. The one arm high row allows you to bring in different muscles, depending on how much of your torso you move. Lean forward at the beginning of each rep, slightly curving your back, and then straighten out before you pull back with your arm to dynamically involve muscles in the spine. You can also dip back, twisting at the torso, on the down phase to work muscles in the lower back.
How to Perform Elbow-Out One-Arm Row
Lean forward placing your hand and knee on an exercise bench. Your back should be flat. The other leg on the floor for stability.
The opposite hand holding the dumbbell should hang down to your side below the shoulder. The elbow should be pointing out.
With your focus on the elbow and not on the dumbbell, lift the weight as high as you can without altering your torso position. Slowly lower and repeat exercise.
Tip: It is very important that you do not round out your lower back as you perform this exercise as this could easily lead to an injury. Instead, focus on sticking your butt out and keeping a nice arch in your lower back. It is also okay to move naturally throughout the exercise and allow your back to rise up slightly as you lift the weight.
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