Training guide
A T-bar row is a bent-over row with one end of a barbell anchored in a landmine or a corner, so the loaded end moves in an arc as you pull it towards your chest. You can do it standing with a V-handle or your hands on the bar, on a T-bar machine, or lying face down on a chest-supported machine. It works your lats, your middle back, the back of your shoulders and your biceps.
No study has measured the T-bar row itself, so this guide uses what studies of other rows show. The standing version holds your lower back in the same bent-over position as a barbell row, the chest-supported version probably takes much of that load away, and the grip you choose matters less than where your elbows go.
It covers the set-up step by step on the 3D figure, the landmine, machine, chest-supported and one-arm versions, grip and elbows, how heavy and how many, and your lower back, with a back and biceps workout to follow.
One end of a barbell sits in a landmine or a corner, and you row the loaded end towards your chest with a V-handle under the bar or your hands just behind the plates. A strength coaching journal describes the landmine row as a pull using the barbell as a lever, and a coaching article lists the T-bar row with the harder rows, alongside the barbell row.
What's known comes from other rows. Of three rows tested in 7 men, the bent-over row loaded the lower spine most, and a free-weight row drew 34% more lower-back muscle activity than a machine row in 15 trained men. The standing T-bar row holds the same unsupported hinge.
Lying on a pad should take much of the load off your lower back. That's an inference: it comes from machine rows and a 3-person study of a bench-supported row whose differences weren't statistically significant. Choose the chest-supported version if your lower back is sore or tires before your upper back.
Across 23 muscle-activity studies, grip changed how hard the lats worked only a little. Keep your elbows close to your sides for the lats; let them travel out towards shoulder height for your upper back and the back of your shoulders.
As your main row, 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10, stopping about 2 reps short of failure, with about 2 minutes' rest; chest-supported or as a second row, 2 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 with about 90 seconds' rest (the doses in our bent-over row guide). About 10 or more hard back sets a week, across all your rows and pulls, builds muscle.
Discomfort up to 5 out of 10 that settles within an hour is acceptable; pain spreading down a leg is not. Numbness around the genitals or bottom, or new bladder or bowel trouble, needs a 999 call.
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One end of a barbell goes into a landmine sleeve, or into a corner with a towel round it so it can't slide, and the other end takes the plates. You stand astride the bar, hinge forward and row it with a V-handle hooked under the bar or both hands on it. A T-bar machine has its own lever and handles, and a chest-supported (lying) T-bar machine adds an angled pad you lie on.
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Your lats, the middle and lower trapezius and the rhomboids (which pull your shoulder blades back), the back of your shoulders, and the biceps and the other muscles that bend your elbow. In the standing version your lower back, glutes and hamstrings hold the bent-over position, and they work hard to do it.
A coaching article on programme design places the T-bar row among the complex rows, with the barbell row: the standing version asks you to hold a hip hinge under load, so our move page lists a steady hinge and the bent-over barbell row as its starting points. The chest-supported machine needs neither, which makes it the easier place to start.
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Most row studies use EMG (electromyography: electrodes measuring how hard a muscle works over a few reps). It isn't a validated predictor of which exercise grows a muscle more, so treat the numbers below as clues, not verdicts.
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We searched the research and found no study of muscle activity, spine load or training results in the T-bar or landmine row; a coaching column describes the landmine row's technique and muscles. Everything below comes from other rows, and the T-bar row is assumed to behave like the row it most resembles.
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In 7 healthy university men, the standing bent-over row put the largest load and stiffness on the lower spine of three rows, with large, even back-muscle activity. The inverted row worked the lats and upper back hardest with the least spine load, and the authors suggested it for people who want to spare the lower back.
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In 15 trained men at matched effort, a two-arm free-weight bent-over row drew 34% more lower-back (erector spinae) muscle activity than a two-arm machine row, and 12% more than a one-arm free-weight row. One-arm rows worked the obliques at the side of the trunk harder.
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In a preliminary study of 3 trained students rowing 12 kg dumbbells, lower-back muscle activity was 24% and 53% of maximum lying on a 47-degree bench, against 71% and 75% standing, but no difference was statistically significant. With the machine-row finding above, it's a reasonable inference that the chest-supported T-bar row spares the lower back; no study has measured it.
A 2026 review of 23 studies found grip width or direction changed lat activity only a little, while body support and where the elbows go shifted the work more; no row has been shown to build more muscle than another. In a seated row study of 14 trained men, a narrow grip worked the lats harder (effect size 1.08) and a wide grip the trapezius and the side of the shoulder; holding the shoulder blades still raised rear-shoulder activity. But the review also reports a bent-over row study in which a wider grip worked the lats harder.
Actively squeezing the shoulder blades together didn't change how hard the middle trapezius and rhomboids worked in rows. Let your shoulder blades move with the pull rather than forcing a hold, as our bent-over row guide says.
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In 16 trained men doing chest-supported barbell rows, the lats worked a little harder in top-half reps than across the full range (effect size about 0.58), with no difference for the back of the shoulder or the biceps; the authors called the effect inconsistent and limited. The ACSM lists a full range of movement among the things that build strength.
In 10 untrained men over 8 weeks, the arm that rowed grew its elbow flexors by 5.2% and the arm that curled by 11.1%. In 29 untrained men over 10 weeks, pulldowns alone grew them about as much as curls alone. Rows count towards your arms, but curls still add.
A computer model of 10 men put rear-shoulder force at 47.9 N in a bent-over dumbbell row against 58.6 N in a bent-over raise and 58.2 N in a face pull. In the 3-person study, rowing with the elbows out worked the back of the shoulder and the upper trapezius more, though not significantly.
From our move pages and our bent-over row guide's torso angle. The elbow cue and finishing by bending your knees are coaching practice.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: T-bar row
The usual set-up: a close-grip cable handle hooked under the bar just behind the collar gives a palms-in grip, close together. Wrap a towel round the bar's end in a corner to protect the wall and stop it sliding.
No handle? Hold the bar with both hands, one in front of the other, just behind the plates, palms facing in: our two-hand landmine row move page teaches it this way.
A plate-loaded lever with its own handles and often a foot platform. Set up and row as with a landmine; the handles may offer close, wide or palms-in grips.
Set the foot platform or step so the top of your chest is at the top of the pad, lie face down, take the handles palms down, up or in, and lift the bar off its rack before you row (our move page). With your chest on a pad, your lower back no longer holds you up, as on other machine rows.
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Stand beside the loaded end, grip the bar near the collar with one hand, and hinge with your free hand on your thigh or knee; row it up beside your trunk. One-arm rows work the obliques harder and the lower back less than two-arm free-weight rows.
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With one end anchored, only part of the bar reaches your hands: about 12 to 13 kg of a 20 kg, 2.2 m Olympic bar with your hands just behind the plates. That's our lever arithmetic, not a measurement. The plates count in full or a little more, because they sit slightly further from the anchor than your hands. Machines vary by make, and we found no published figures, so compare your numbers on the same machine.
If the plates reach the floor before your arms are long, use smaller plates or stand on a low, stable platform (our suggestion).
Work up in order. Hip-hinge practice, 2 sets of 8 then a 20 to 30 second hold (our bent-over row technique workout); chest-supported dumbbell rows, 3 sets of 10 to 12 (our pull day workout); the chest-supported T-bar row and the one-arm and two-hand landmine rows, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 (each side for one arm), stopping 2 or 3 reps short (their move pages); supported one-arm dumbbell rows, 3 sets of 10 to 12 each side (pull day B); then the T-bar row with a handle, at the doses below.
3D demoHip-hinge practiceBeginner · No equipment
3D demoChest-supported dumbbell rowBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoChest-supported T-bar rowIntermediate · Strength machine
3D demoSupported single-arm dumbbell rowIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoOne-arm landmine rowIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoBent-over one-arm landmine rowIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoTwo-hand landmine row (hands on the bar)Intermediate · A barbell
3D demoT-bar rowAdvanced · A barbellA close, palms-in V-handle is the usual choice. Wider handles move the work towards your upper back, but across 23 studies grip changed lat activity only a little, so use the handle that lets you pull hardest without pain.
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In a seated row study of 14 trained men, a narrow grip with the elbows travelling low worked the lats harder in both the lift and the lowering (effect size 1.08).
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A wide grip worked all three parts of the trapezius and the side of the shoulder harder in the same study, and rowing with the elbows out at shoulder height worked the back of the shoulder more in the 3-person study, though not significantly.
A bent-over row study of 20 men, as the 2026 review reports it, found a grip 1.5 times shoulder-width worked the lats harder than shoulder-width, the opposite of the seated row study. The honest summary: the lats work in every row, and grip is a matter of comfort and variety.
The same unsupported hinge, as our bent-over row guide says. The anchored bar moves in an arc and takes a close, palms-in handle; no study has compared the two, so choose the one that feels strongest and kindest to your back.
Less lower-back work and no body swing, so all the effort goes into the pull. A good second row, or your main row while back pain settles.
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No hinge at all, and the cable lets you change grips easily: our seated cable row guide covers them.
A vertical pull rather than a horizontal one. Both work the lats, so most programmes use one of each, as our bigger back guide does.
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In the one study that compared them, the inverted row worked the lats and upper back hardest with the least load on the lower spine.
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Bent-over barbell rows, 3 sets of 6 to 10 (our pull day workout); seated cable rows, 3 sets of 8 to 12 (our upper body gym workout); the neutral-grip incline dumbbell row, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short (its move page); the machine row, 3 sets of 8 to 12, and the 45-degree incline row, 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 (our editorial starting points); inverted rows, 3 sets of 8 to 12 (our arm workout without weights).
3D demoBent-over barbell rowAdvanced · A barbell
3D demoSeated cable rowBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoNeutral-grip incline dumbbell rowBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoMachine rowBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoIncline bench pull (45-degree incline row)Intermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoInverted rowIntermediate · Pull-up barAs your main row, 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 with about 2 RIR (reps in reserve: how many more reps you could have done). As a second row, or on the chest-supported machine, 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 with 2 or 3 in reserve. These are our bent-over row guide's doses, which we use for the T-bar row; the chest-supported T-bar's move page starts at 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12.
There's no need to reach failure: across 15 studies it added a trivial amount of growth at most. People underestimate how many reps they have left by about 1, so stop when your torso angle starts to slip. In your first two weeks, leave 3 or 4 reps to spare, as our plans advise.
About 2 minutes on your main row and about 90 seconds on supported rows; a review found a small growth benefit from resting more than about 60 seconds, and nothing clear past 90.
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About 10 or more hard sets a week for your back, across all your rows and pulls, over two sessions as a sensible default. More sets build more muscle, with smaller gains from each extra set.
Add the smallest plates once every set reaches the top of your rep range, then build the reps back up (our plans' double progression).
Count each set of rows as about half a biceps set, as our bicep curl guide does. Rows also tire your biceps for curls afterwards: in 15 trained men, curls after rows were weaker than curls after bench presses. Our back and biceps workout puts the curls last for that reason.
If your torso swings up to start the bar, lighten it, pause at the top, or use the chest-supported version.
Less weight, a slightly more upright torso (towards 45 degrees), or chest support.
Stop each rep just above the floor, as our move pages cue.
Think of pulling your elbows towards your hips rather than your shoulders towards your ears.
The lats worked only a little harder in top-half reps, and the effect was limited: use the full range and a weight you can control.
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Keep your neck in line with your back rather than looking up at a mirror (coaching practice).
Your back muscles hold your torso still against the weight for the whole set. That's useful training, but it means your lower back can tire before your upper back does.
The chest-supported T-bar row, a chest-supported dumbbell row or a seated cable row takes the hinge out, which very likely spares your lower back (an inference, as above). Use one when your back is sore, or as your second row.
Discomfort up to 5 out of 10 that settles within an hour is acceptable; pain that spreads down a leg is not, as our deadlift guides say. If rowing hurts more than that, switch to a supported row while it settles.
The UK consensus on exercise for osteoporosis advises avoiding postures with a lot of spinal bending. Keep your back flat throughout, or choose a supported row.
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Use the chest-supported T-bar row, a chest-supported dumbbell row or a seated cable row, as our bent-over row guide suggests, within the back pain rule above.
Rows usually suit sore shoulders: our shoulder impingement guide uses chest-supported and seated cable rows. Keep your elbows closer and the weight lighter.
A palms-in V-handle may be kinder than a straight bar (our suggestion).
Breathe out as you pull, use weights you can lift 10 to 15 times, and get advice before maximal lifting, as our breathing guide says. High blood pressure means readings of 140/90 or higher; with controlled blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe. With glaucoma, ask your eye team before long sets with your head low.
The NHS says strength training at a gym is fine if you already do it. Lying on your front on the chest-supported machine becomes uncomfortable as your bump grows: use a seated cable row or a supported one-arm row instead.
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Face pulls, 3 sets of 12 to 20 (our pull day workout); bent-over reverse flys, 3 sets of 12 to 15 (our shoulder workout); back extensions, 2 sets of 10 to 15 (pull day B); suitcase carries, 2 walks of 20 to 30 m each side, and cat-cow, 6 slow rounds (our bent-over row technique workout).
Our back and biceps workout uses the T-bar row. In the others, use it in place of the barbell row in our pull day workout at the same sets and reps, or the chest-supported T-bar in place of the chest-supported dumbbell row (our suggestion). The bent-over row technique workout teaches the hinge first.
A 55-minute gym session for a split: a pulldown, the T-bar row, a seated cable row and a reverse fly for your back, then two curls for your biceps.
55 minIntermediate11 movesPull-up bar, A bandA pull day workout for back and biceps: pull-ups, barbell rows, chest-supported rows, face pulls and curls, with sets, reps and rest.
55 minIntermediate10 movesPull-up bar, A barbellPull day B: cable rows, lat pulldowns, one-arm dumbbell rows, reverse flyes, incline curls and back extensions, with sets, reps and rest.
50 minIntermediate10 movesPull-up bar, A cable machineA gym back workout: lat pulldowns, cable rows, dumbbell rows, face pulls, back extensions and shrugs.
45 minBeginner8 movesPull-up bar, A bandA 30-minute practice session for the bent-over row: hold the hinge, groove the pull with your chest supported, then row dumbbells and a light bar.
30 minBeginner8 movesA band, A dumbbellA 55-minute gym chest and back workout in push-pull pairs: bench press with pull-ups, incline presses with rows, flys with cable rows, and an optional pullover.
55 minIntermediate12 movesA band, A barbellEach of these plans has a back or pull day with a row the T-bar row can fill.
A 6-day push/pull/legs plan for experienced lifters: two push, two pull and two leg days, with sets, reps, rest and lighter weeks.
6 training days55 minAdvanced5 days a weekA 5-day gym split that trains every muscle twice a week: upper, lower, push, pull and legs, with an honest look at the bro split.
5 training days50 minIntermediate5 days a weekThe classic chest, back, legs, shoulders and arms week, built from our gym workouts, with what research says about training each muscle once.
5 training days45 minIntermediate6 days a weekA 6-day Arnold split: chest and back, shoulders and arms, then legs, each twice a week, with paired sets, weekly set counts and shorter 3 and 4-day versions.
6 training days55 minAdvancedIf you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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Loss of feeling or numbness around the genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changes in genital sensation during sex or problems with erections or orgasm, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These are signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently. Don't drive yourself.
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For chest pain that feels tight, heavy or squeezing, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw or back; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling faint; severe difficulty breathing; or angina pain that doesn't stop after rest and your medicine. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
If you haven't exercised for some time or have a medical condition, speak to your GP first, as the NHS advises. Get advice before heavy lifting if your blood pressure is uncontrolled, or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
See a GP after any faint, and for dizziness that won't go away or keeps coming back.
A sudden pop at the front of the elbow during a heavy pull, with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow or a bulge in the upper arm, can be a torn biceps tendon: don't wait for it to settle, because it's best repaired within the first 2 to 3 weeks. In the US, go to urgent care or the emergency department.
For back pain with a high temperature, or if you feel hot, cold, shivery or generally unwell, or the pain came on suddenly and is severe or getting worse quickly.
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A sudden sharp pain in your back, side or armpit during a row may be a strained muscle. Get help from NHS 111 or an urgent treatment centre if it's very painful or getting worse, there's a lot of swelling or bruising, it's very stiff, or it isn't getting better with self-care.
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If back pain isn't improving after a few weeks, or you have pain high in your back, between your shoulder blades.
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No growth trial has tested it, as our bigger back guide says. Muscle-activity studies show rows and vertical pulls both work the lats, and activity doesn't predict where a muscle grows.
The standing T-bar row is the same unsupported hinge as a barbell row. Only the chest-supported version takes the hinge out, and even that is inferred from other rows, since no study has measured the T-bar row.
Partly true in one seated row study, the opposite in a bent-over row study, and a review found grip changes lat activity only a little. Where your elbows travel matters more.
In rows, actively squeezing didn't change how hard the middle back worked. Let your shoulder blades move with your arms.
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A barbell in a landmine or a corner does the same job, with a V-handle or your hands on the bar.
Your lats, your middle back (the trapezius and rhomboids), the back of your shoulders and your biceps, with your lower back, glutes and hamstrings holding the bent-over position. Elbows close favour the lats; elbows out favour the upper back. The chest-supported version takes your lower back out of it.
Close: both are bent-over rows that load your lower back while it holds the hinge. In the T-bar row one end of the bar is anchored, so it moves in an arc and takes a close, palms-in handle. No study has compared them, so use the one that feels strongest and kindest to your back.
Wedge one end of a barbell into a landmine or a corner with a towel round it, load the other end, and row with a V-handle hooked under the bar or both hands on the bar just behind the plates. This is the landmine row. A one-arm landmine row or a chest-supported dumbbell row also works.
A close, palms-in V-handle is the usual choice; wider handles move the work towards your upper back. Studies found grip changes lat activity only a little and where your elbows travel matters more, so use the grip that lets you pull hardest without pain.
Yes, especially with your elbows travelling out towards shoulder height. In a computer model a row worked the back of the shoulder a little less than a reverse fly or a face pull, so add one of those if your rear shoulders are a goal.
The chest-supported row takes the load off your lower back and stops you swinging; the standing T-bar row also trains your hinge. Many programmes use one of each. With back pain, choose the supported version.
All three train your lats and middle back. The seated row and pulldown need no hinge, and the pulldown is a vertical pull. No row or pull has been shown to build more muscle than another, so use a row and a vertical pull each week.
As your main row, 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10, stopping about 2 reps short of failure, with 2 minutes' rest. As a second or chest-supported row, 2 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 with about 90 seconds' rest. About 10 or more hard back sets a week builds muscle.
With one end anchored, only part of the bar reaches your hands: about 12 to 13 kg of a 20 kg Olympic bar with your hands just behind the plates, by our own lever arithmetic rather than a measurement. Machines vary by make, so track your progress on the same one and choose the load by the reps you have left.
The standing version holds your lower back in a loaded bent-over position, like a barbell row. Lighten the weight, keep your back flat and your torso angle fixed, or switch to the chest-supported version. Numbness around the genitals or bottom, or new bladder or bowel trouble, needs a 999 call.
No trial has tested back thickness against width; rows and vertical pulls both work the lats. Enough hard sets of both, over months, is what builds a bigger back.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
