Upright row: grip width, how high to pull, and the barbell, dumbbell and cable versions

An upright row pulls a weight straight up the front of your body, from your thighs to about the bottom of your chest, with your elbows leading and finishing out to the sides. It works the side of the shoulder and the upper trapezius, the muscle between your neck and your shoulders, with the biceps helping. It isn't the bent-over row on barbell row form, which pulls toward your torso and trains the back.

This page covers the setup, what grip width changes, how high to pull, the barbell, dumbbell and cable versions, how it compares with the lateral raise, the faults, and the sets. The full shoulder day is on the shoulder workout.

How to do an upright row

1. Stand tall, feet about hip-width apart, holding a barbell or an EZ bar with an overhand grip, arms straight, the bar against your thighs.
2. Set your grip about shoulder width or a little wider. The next section is why.
3. Brace, ribs down, and keep your torso still for the whole set.
4. Pull the bar straight up your body, leading with your elbows, which travel up and out to the sides. Keep the bar close to you.
5. Stop when your elbows reach about shoulder height, with the bar around the bottom of your chest.
6. Lower it under control to straight arms. That's one rep.

Grip width: wider works the shoulders more

One study has tested it. In 16 weight-trained men doing two reps with each of three grips, at half, one and two times the distance across their shoulders, with 85% of their max at the middle grip, shoulder and trapezius activity rose as the grip got wider, and the biceps worked less.¹ The clearest differences were at the widest grip: more side- and rear-shoulder activity on the way up than with either narrower grip, and more upper-trapezius activity on the way down. The authors' advice, for anyone who wants the shoulders and the trapezius to do more of the lift, is a wide grip.

A narrow grip, about half your shoulder width, had more biceps activity on the way down than the widest grip in that study. In that study the clear differences came at twice shoulder width; the steps start at shoulder width and go wider only as far as the bar stays smooth and close.

How high to pull

Stop when your elbows reach about shoulder height, with the bar around the bottom of your chest. That's the usual cue, a position to aim for rather than a research finding; no study found for this page tested pull height in the upright row. If you want the side of the shoulder trained another way, the lateral raise is the other exercise, and it's the one with a growth trial (below).

Barbell, dumbbell, cable or band

Whichever you use, the setup is the same: torso still, elbows leading, a stop at about shoulder height.

Upright row vs lateral raise

Both lift your upper arms out to the sides, which is the side of the shoulder's job. The lateral raise keeps your elbows nearly straight and isolates it; the upright row bends the elbows, brings the trapezius and the biceps in, and usually moves more weight. In 13 men experienced in strength training, the lateral raise produced 30.3% of a maximal contraction in the side of the shoulder and the shoulder press 27.9%, both well above the bench press and the dumbbell fly.² A 2024 review of 33 studies found raises out to the side among the exercises with the most side-shoulder activity, led by a lateral raise with the arm turned inward.³

Only one of the two has a growth trial. In 24 resistance-trained men and women over eight weeks, lateral raises grew the side of the shoulder by 3.3 to 4.6%, with dumbbells or with cables.⁴ No trial that trained the upright row and measured the shoulder muscles turned up in a PubMed search for this page. So if you do one side-shoulder exercise, the lateral raise is the one with the evidence; the upright row works as a second one, or as a heavier swap on a day you want the trapezius working too.

The common faults, and a fix for each

• Pulling the bar to your chin. Stop when your elbows reach about shoulder height, the cue in the steps.
• Hands too close together. Move them out to shoulder width or wider; the grip study above is why.
• Swinging the weight up. If your hips or your back move, the weight is too heavy. Lighten it and keep your torso still.
• Wrists leading the pull. Let your elbows lead and stay above your wrists at the top, the bar close to your body.
• Dropping the weight. Lower it under control to straight arms; the way down is half the rep.
• Pulling through something that hurts. Sore muscles the next day are normal; a sharp or lasting hurt in the shoulder isn't. Stop, and see a doctor or a physical therapist.

Sets, reps and where it goes

• Two or three sets of 10 to 15 after your press on a shoulder day, stopping one or two reps short. (How to judge reps left.) The American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 position stand, which covers healthy adults, advises at least two sets per exercise.⁵
• Count it with your lateral raises as side-shoulder work. The same stand found muscle growth was enhanced by ten or more sets per muscle group a week.
• Pair it with a push on an upper-body day: a set of upright rows, then a set of push-ups or a press such as the Arnold press, so one group of muscles rests while the other works.
• Add weight in small steps. When 15 reps come easy at the same grip and height, go up by the smallest jump you have. (Progressive overload covers the options.)

If you'd rather not plan it alone

The upright row is one exercise; deciding whether it earns a place next to your lateral raises, and how much shoulder work your week can hold, is the part a page can't do. Coaching is the version where your workouts are built around the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one. Coaching to build muscle explains how that works, and here's how to apply. Otherwise: at your next shoulder session, try two sets of 12 upright rows with a shoulder-width grip, stopping at shoulder height, and write down the weight.