Training guide
A seated row machine is the row with a chest pad: you sit facing the machine, chest lightly against the pad, and pull two handles back until your elbows pass your sides, then let them go forward slowly. It's a strength machine for your back, not the cardio rowing machine, and not the cable row with your feet on a plate. Set the seat so the handles are about level with your shoulders, and the pad so your hands just reach them with straight arms.
It works your lats, the muscles between your shoulder blades and your rear shoulders, and the neutral and wide handles shift the work between them, though that comes from cable-row studies. The pad stops you rocking back and probably takes load off your lower back, but nobody has measured it.
This guide shows the set-up step by step on the 3D figure, which grip to use, what it works, your back and shoulders, how much weight and how many, and a machine back workout to follow.
Sit facing the machine with your chest lightly on the pad, take the handles with straight arms, and draw your elbows back past your sides; pause, then let the handles go forward slowly. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) rates the seated row machine a beginner exercise.
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This is the strength machine with a chest pad. The cardio rowing machine, where most of the work comes from your legs, has its own guide.
The lats, the middle trapezius and rhomboids between your shoulder blades, the rear shoulders and the biceps. Of four pulls held by 12 men, the seated row worked the middle trapezius and rhomboids hardest.
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No study has measured spinal load on a chest-pad row machine. A free-weight bent-over row drew 34% more lower-back muscle activity than a machine row in 15 trained men, and the bent-over row loaded the lower spine most of three rows in 7 men. So the pad may take load off your lower back, but that's our inference, not a measurement.
A narrow, palms-facing handle with your elbows low favoured the lats and let trained men lift about 18% more (50.2 against 41.4 kg for 8 reps); a wide grip with your elbows out favoured the trapezius and the side and rear shoulder. These studies used cable rows; we apply them to the machine. Let your shoulder blades move rather than pinning them.
3 sets of 8 to 12 (2 in your first two weeks), stopping 2 or 3 reps short, about 90 seconds' rest, training your back about twice a week, as our seated cable row guide says. The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) gives the same 3 sets of 8 to 12.
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From our move page ("Keep the chest on the pad"; "Don't shrug"), ACE's seated row machine (handles "approximately level, or near level, with your shoulders"; the chest pad "to contact your chest lightly"; pull "until your elbows pass the sides of your body"), NASM's mid-chest handle height and our seated cable row guide's "Let your shoulder blades move".
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The movement on the figure: Machine row
A seated row with a chest pad. Pin-loaded machines run from a weight stack; plate-loaded lever machines take plates on each arm, and "iso-lateral" ones let each arm move on its own. Most have neutral (vertical, palms-facing) handles and wide (horizontal, overhand) handles. The machine high row pulls from above, and the chest-supported T-bar row lies you face down.
The rowing machine is a cardio machine where you slide on a seat and most of the work comes from your legs. Our rowing machine guide covers it. People often call both a "row machine", which is why this page says so up front.
The seated cable row has no chest pad: your feet brace on a plate and your trunk holds itself upright. Most studies of the "seated row" used a cable station, so what we know about grips and the shoulder blades comes from cable rows; only one trial used a chest-pad, plate-loaded machine.
In 12 men holding the positions on a cable seated row, the middle trapezius and rhomboids and the lats each worked at about 30 to 37% of a maximal test effort. The reverse fly machine worked the rear deltoid more than the seated row in 12 trained men. Rows work the biceps too, but less than curls: dumbbell rows grew the elbow flexors 5% against 11% for curls in 10 untrained men.
Taller people may need the seat lower and the pad further away. If the pad presses uncomfortably on your chest, breasts or stomach, move it or raise the seat, as our chest-supported row guide suggests. Stack and plate numbers don't compare between machines, and a plate-loaded machine's empty arms weigh something too.
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ACE: "Adjust the seat height to a level that positions the machine handles approximately level, or near level, with your shoulders." NASM says mid-chest. We found no study that varied seat height, so this is coaching practice.
ACE: "Adjust the position the chest pad to contact your chest lightly." Set it so your hands just reach the handles with straight arms. Moving the pad away makes your trunk work harder, which is ACE's harder version.
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"Continue pulling until your elbows pass the sides of your body", then return slowly until your arms are straight, as ACE describes. Avoid leaning back, which ACE says adds stress to your lower back.
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NASM's page tells you to sit "with your back firmly against the backrest", which fits a different machine; on a chest-pad row, your chest goes on the pad.
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In 14 trained men on a seated row, a narrow neutral handle let them lift about 18% more (50.2 against 41.4 kg for 8 reps) and worked the lats more; a wide bar worked the upper, middle and lower trapezius and the side deltoid more, with the rear deltoid and biceps alike. In 21 trained men and women, rowing with the elbows close to the sides produced the most force and lat activity; elbows out at 60 to 90 degrees worked the trapezius and rear deltoid more. Both studies used cable rows; we apply them to the machine's handles (our reading).
Palms-up and palms-facing grips used a little more biceps than palms-down grips in the same study, and the three grips with elbows at the sides produced similar force.
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In 12 men, squeezing the shoulder blades back on purpose didn't change mid-back activity. In 14 trained men, holding them back or letting them move gave similar overall activity and similar loads, with small shifts in which muscles worked in each phase. Let them slide forward as your arms straighten and back as you pull.
In 20 novices, an instruction to use the back raised lat activity by about 15% in the first reps of a set, but not in the last.
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A 2026 review of 23 studies found no training trial comparing grips in any row, and muscle activity over a few reps doesn't show what a muscle will build. Start with the neutral handles, and use the wide ones on other days if you want more upper-back work (our suggestion).
We found no study of spinal load, lower-back bending or back-muscle activity on a chest-pad row machine, and none comparing a chest-supported row with a seated cable row for the spine. So what follows is the nearest evidence, and the conclusion is our inference.
In 15 resistance-trained men at matched effort, a two-arm free-weight bent-over row drew 34% more lower-back (erector spinae) activity than a two-arm machine row; one-arm machine and cable rows drew less still, and made the obliques work more. We couldn't confirm whether that machine had a chest pad.
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In 7 men, the standing bent-over row compressed the lower spine with about 3,576 newtons, against about 2,457 for a standing one-arm cable row and 2,339 for an inverted row, with the lower back bent about 23 degrees against about 3. No seated or machine row was tested, and nobody had back pain.
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With your chest on the pad, the pad does much of the job your lower back does in a bent-over row, so it may take load off your lower back, but that's our inference, not a measurement, as our chest-supported row guide says. Leaning back off the pad to heave the weight undoes it.
No trial has tested the machine row on its own for back pain. In 49 obese adults aged 60 to 85 with chronic back pain, a whole-body machine programme including a seated row (15 reps at 60% of maximum, three times a week for 4 months) cut disability more than lower-back extension training alone. In 40 adults with chronic back pain, a gym programme with cable rows beat motor control exercise and manual therapy.
Aim for discomfort you'd call mild to moderate, no more than about 5 out of 10. It should settle within an hour or so, and your back should be no worse the next morning, as our back pain guides say. Pain, pins and needles or numbness spreading down a leg are the exception: stop, and see our sciatica guide.
Across 13 studies of 1,016 adults, machines and free weights raised strength and muscle alike head to head, each raising strength most on its own kind of test. None of those studies compared rows alone, and none measured back-muscle size.
38 trained men did a prone row (with the squat, bench press and shoulder press) on a barbell or a machine for 8 weeks: strength changes were within 1.8% and muscle growth within 2.0% of each other. Back muscles weren't measured, and we read only the summary.
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In the one trial of a chest-pad, plate-loaded iso-lateral row machine, 34 untrained women trained one arm at a time, both together, or unevenly for 10 weeks. Two-arm row strength rose about 15 to 29%, with no clear difference between groups. It's a pilot without a control group, but one arm at a time looks a fair way to even up your sides.
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In 32 fit adults aged 60 to 86, machines, including an upper row, did about as well as free weights overall over 26 weeks. Across 17 studies of 614 older adults, uncomplicated machine programmes improved strength and function.
No training trial has measured back-muscle growth from a row, so the case for the machine row rests on the machine trials above and on muscle activity studies.
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The machine row at 3 sets of 8 to 12 (our seated cable row guide's dose applied to the machine); the machine high row and the chest-supported T-bar row at their move pages' dose, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 stopping with 2 or 3 reps in reserve; the seated cable row at 3 sets of 8 to 12; the chest-supported dumbbell row at 3 sets of 10 to 12 (our pull day workout); the one-arm cable row at 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 each side (our editorial starting point); the band row at its move page's dose, 3 sets of 10 to 15. Wide-grip and one-arm rows on the machine have no separate 3D demo.
3D demoMachine rowBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoMachine high rowBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoChest-supported T-bar rowIntermediate · Strength machine
3D demoSeated cable rowBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoChest-supported dumbbell rowBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoSeated one-arm cable rowBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoBand rowBeginner · A band + An anchor pointPick a weight you think you could lift 10 to 12 times, do 8, and keep 3 or 4 in the tank for your first two weeks, as our plans advise.
3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short, as our seated cable row guide says, with 2 sets in your first two weeks; NASM gives the same. Our full-body machine workout uses 3 sets of 12 to 15 on its lighter day.
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Stop 2 or 3 reps short: training to failure added at most a trivial amount of muscle across 15 studies, and people misjudge the reps they have left by about one.
About 90 seconds, as our seated cable row guide says; our plans give 90 seconds to 2 minutes.
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Train your back about twice a week: in a 2026 overview of 137 reviews, strength rose more with at least two sessions a week, and about 10 or more hard sets a week built more muscle.
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When every set reaches 12, add the next pin and go back to 8, as our plans' double progression does.
It moves the work into your lower back. Lighten the load until your chest stays on the pad.
Keep your shoulders down and lead with your elbows.
Pull until your elbows pass your sides, and let your arms straighten fully on the way back.
Handles at your neck or your stomach, or a pad so close you can't straighten your arms: set both before you load it.
Return slowly so your shoulders aren't yanked forward.
It didn't add mid-back activity. Let them move.
Keep your wrists straight and your grip firm but not crushing.
Keep shoulder pain to about 5 out of 10 or less during the exercise, back to its usual level by your next session, as our shoulder guides advise. A sharp pinch means lower, lighter or stop.
A hospital shoulder programme lists "Seated row machine or bent over dumbbell rows" among exercises that are usually safe, at 3 sets of 10 to 15, 2 to 3 times a week. Shoulder-blade retraction exercises at different arm angles were judged safe for people with subacromial pain in one study, and drawing the shoulder blades back widens the space at the top of the shoulder, a review says. We found no trial of a row machine for shoulder pain, so this is support, not proof.
Use the neutral handles with a lighter load, and keep elbow pain mild: about 3 to 4 out of 10, settling within an hour, as our elbow guides and seated cable row guide advise.
A pull from above: the lat pulldown at 3 sets of 8 to 12 (our full-body gym workout) or the assisted pull-up machine at 3 sets of 6 to 10 (our pull-up progression); face pulls at 3 sets of 12 to 20 (our pull day workout) and the reverse fly machine at 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 20 (our back and biceps workout) for the back of the shoulders; back extensions at 2 sets of 10 to 15 (our pull day workout B), because the pad takes your lower back out of the row.
The machine back workout builds a whole back session on machines: the lat pulldown, the seated row machine, a high or T-bar row, the reverse fly machine and back extensions. The full-body machine and machine chest workouts use the machine row, and the first gym, seniors' and back workouts use the seated cable row, which the machine can replace at the same dose.
A 40-minute back session on gym machines: the lat pulldown or assisted pull-up, the seated row machine, a high or T-bar row, reverse flys and back extensions.
40 minBeginner8 movesCardio machine, A bandA 45-minute full-body gym workout on machines: leg press, chest press, machine row, leg curl, shoulder press and arms, with sets, reps and rest.
45 minBeginner14 movesCardio machine, A bandA gentle first gym workout: a bike warm-up, five machines for 2 easy sets each, a short core move and 10 minutes on the cross-trainer.
45 minBeginner11 movesCardio machine, Strength machineA 50-minute gym session for older adults and sarcopenia: 7 machines for the legs, chest and back from the UK prescription, then a short balance finish.
50 minBeginner12 movesCardio machine, A bench or boxA gym back workout: lat pulldowns, cable rows, dumbbell rows, face pulls, back extensions and shrugs.
45 minBeginner8 movesPull-up bar, A bandA 35-minute chest session on gym machines: the chest press, a plate-loaded incline press, the pec deck and the dip machine, with a row to balance it.
35 minBeginner9 movesCardio machine, A bandThe machine row comes round in the beginner and full-body plans through the full-body machine workout, and in the seniors' plan through the seniors' gym workout.
A first gym plan for beginners: 3 days a week, starting on the machines, adding free weights and cardio, with what changes by week 12 and what comes next.
3 training days50 minBeginner3 days a weekFor after about 8 weeks of a beginner plan: three full-body sessions a week, one heavy, one moderate and one light, in a gym or at home, for 12 weeks.
3 training days50 minIntermediate3 days a weekA 12-week exercise plan for over-65s: strength and balance three times a week, short balance sessions and daily walks, based on falls-prevention trials.
3 training days40 minBeginnerIf 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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For chest pain that feels tight, heavy or squeezing, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw or back; a sudden, extremely painful headache, especially while straining; someone who faints while exercising; or palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling faint. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for a headache that's triggered or made worse by coughing, sneezing, bending down or exercising.
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Call 999 or go to A&E: 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.
Call 999 or go to A&E: back pain with chest pain, or back pain that started after a serious accident, such as a car crash.
See a GP if pain spreading down a leg hasn't improved after a few weeks of home treatment, is getting worse or stops your normal activities. Sciatica on both sides, or weakness or numbness in both legs that's severe or getting worse, is a 999 call or a trip to A&E.
The NHS also advises seeing a GP for back pain that doesn't improve after a few weeks, is worse at night, or comes from the top of your back, between your shoulders.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for sudden or very bad shoulder pain, an arm you can't move, a shoulder that has changed shape or is badly swollen, pins and needles that don't go away, no feeling in your arm or shoulder, an arm or shoulder that's hot or cold to touch, pain after an injury or a fall, severe pain in both shoulders, or feeling feverish or unwell. Go to A&E if, after an injury, you can't move your arm or your shoulder looks out of place or has changed shape. See a GP if shoulder pain is getting worse or hasn't improved after 2 weeks.
A pop or snap with sudden pain at the front of the elbow, especially with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow or a bulge in the upper arm, can be a torn biceps tendon. Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E (in the US, urgent care) the same day, and don't wait for it to settle, as our biceps guides say.
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See a GP if you think you have a hernia, a bulge or lump that may get bigger when you strain and smaller when you lie down. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, you feel or are sick, you're vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, you're constipated, you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, or you've suddenly become confused. Call 999 or go to A&E for a femoral hernia (a small lump at the top of your thigh, in your groin) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
The NHS lists lifting heavy weights among the causes of a femoral hernia. After an inguinal hernia repair, avoid heavy lifting or strenuous activity for at least 4 to 6 weeks.
After heart surgery through the breastbone, or a heart or lung transplant, follow your surgeon's advice before pushing, pulling or lifting with your arms.
After breast cancer surgery or reconstruction, follow your surgical team's advice on when you can lift your arm above shoulder height, or push, pull or lift with it.
The chest pad presses where you've healed after breastbone or breast surgery, or over a pacemaker or defibrillator under the collarbone: ask your team, or use a seated cable row without a pad (our reading).
The NHS says strength training at a gym is fine if you already do it. The row is done sitting upright, so it suits later pregnancy too, as our seated cable row guide suggests; if the pad presses on your bump or breasts, move it away or use the seated cable row (our suggestion).
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Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard or straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled (140/90 or higher at a clinic, or 135/85 at home), 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.
With controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe. Breathe out as you lift, as our breathing guide advises.
With a pacemaker or defibrillator, the American Heart Association asks you to check with your doctor before upper-body strength training, because repeated arm movements can damage or dislodge the leads.
Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new or harder session is common and fades. Sharp pain, or pain that builds during a set or lingers into the next day, isn't: swap to an easier version, and see a clinician if it persists, as our plans advise. The NHS says to stop exercising straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, and to get help from 111 if symptoms worry you or don't go away.
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The seated row worked the muscles between the shoulder blades hardest of four pulls, with the lats about as active, and rows built the biceps only half as much as curls.
Nobody has measured spinal load on the pad. A machine row drew less lower-back muscle activity than a bent-over row, so the pad may take load off your lower back, but that's our inference, and leaning back off the pad undoes it.
Squeezing on purpose didn't change mid-back activity, and holding them or letting them move gave similar overall activity. Let them move.
Grips shift which muscles work in a single session, but no training trial has measured growth by grip.
Head to head across 13 studies, machines and free weights built strength and muscle alike.
NASM claims machine rowing reduces lower back pain, citing nothing. In back pain trials, rows were one part of whole programmes, and no trial has tested rows alone for posture; our rounded shoulders guide has the full picture.
Set the seat so the handles are about level with your shoulders and the chest pad so it touches your chest lightly with your arms straight. Pull your elbows back past your sides, pause, then let the handles go forward slowly. Keep your chest on the pad throughout.
No. The seated row machine is a strength exercise for your back; a rowing machine is a cardio machine where most of the work comes from your legs. Our rowing machine guide covers the cardio one.
So it touches your chest lightly when your arms are straight and your hands just reach the handles. Moving it further away makes your trunk work harder, which is ACE's harder version.
The neutral (vertical) handles with your elbows close to your sides work the lats more and let you lift more; the wide (horizontal) handles with your elbows out work the upper back and rear shoulders more. Those findings come from cable rows, and no study has compared grips for growth, so both are fine.
Your lats, the middle trapezius and rhomboids between your shoulder blades, the rear shoulders and your biceps. Where your elbows go decides which work most.
It trains your upper back hard while the pad holds your trunk. A machine row drew about a third less lower-back muscle activity than a free-weight bent-over row, but nobody has measured spinal load on a chest-pad machine, so its effect on the lower back is our inference.
Usually, yes: keep your chest on the pad and don't lean back, keep pain to about 5 out of 10, settled within an hour and no worse the next morning, and stop for pain that travels down a leg.
Both work the same muscles. The machine's chest pad stops you rocking back; the cable row trains you to hold your trunk still. Use whichever your gym has.
One you think you could lift 10 to 12 times: do 8 and keep 3 or 4 in the tank for your first two weeks. Numbers vary between machines, so compare yourself on the same one.
3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 2 or 3 reps short, with about 90 seconds' rest, training your back about twice a week. Add the next pin when every set reaches 12.
You can on an iso-lateral machine: in one small trial, one-arm rowing built row strength about as well as two arms. It's useful for evening up sides.
Let them move: forward as your arms straighten and back as you pull. Squeezing on purpose didn't add mid-back muscle activity in one study, and holding them or letting them move gave similar overall activity in another.
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.
