Cable Upright Row

Muscles worked

Trapezius

Primary muscle

Trapezius

Equipment

Cable

Movement pattern

Pull

Difficulty

Intermediate

What it is for

StrengthHypertrophy

Watch the full tutorial

• Raising the elbows above the shoulders. Past that point the deltoid adds nothing and the shoulder sits in internal rotation under load. Finish with the bar at the upper chest and the elbows level with the shoulders.
• Gripping the bar with the hands almost touching. The narrower the grip, the more the shoulder rotates inward and the more the wrists bend on the way up. Set the hands shoulder-width apart or swap the bar for a rope.
• Starting the rep with a shrug. If the traps rise before the elbows move, the lateral deltoid is left out. Begin with the shoulders down and drive the elbows out and up; the shrug only arrives at the very end.
• Swinging the torso to get the bar moving. The cable pulls forward and down, so leaning back with the hips steals the first few inches. Take half a step back, brace the abs and lower the load if you need momentum.

Which muscles does the cable upright row work?

The lateral deltoid and the upper trapezius share the work: the deltoid drives the elbows out to the sides and the traps lift the shoulders in the final part. The biceps and brachialis assist by bending the elbow, and the supraspinatus starts the lift of the arm. The forearms hold the grip and, because the cable pulls forward, the abs and spinal erectors keep the torso upright for the whole set.

Cable, barbell or dumbbell upright row: which one should you pick?

The low cable keeps tension from the first inch and pulls slightly forward, which forces you to keep the bar close to the body: it is the easiest version to control and the one that best tolerates longer sets. The barbell allows more load and, with a wide grip, spreads the work between deltoid and traps with less internal rotation. Dumbbells let each hand choose its own path, useful when the bar bothers the wrist or the shoulder.

How many sets and reps for the cable upright row?

A common starting point is 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps, leaving 1 to 3 reps in reserve, with a two-second lowering. It is a shoulder and trap exercise that goes after the press, as the second or third exercise of the day, or at the end of a back session. Choose the load by elbow height: if the elbows cannot reach shoulder level without swinging, there is too much weight on the stack.

How high should the bar go in the cable upright row?

To the upper chest, just below the collarbones, with the elbows level with the shoulders and pointing out. Pulling up to the chin, as the name suggests, takes the elbows above the shoulders and puts the joint in loaded internal rotation, with no gain for the deltoid. If the straight bar forces you to bend the wrists, use a rope: the hands can separate at the end of the range.