Barbell rows are one of the most misunderstood exercises in the industry. They get a lot of flak for being “too hard on the back” and giving lifters too much opportunity to cheat through the movement. This trend has led people to leave them out of their assistance exercise repertoire and substitute dumbbell rowing variations instead.

I don't have anything against dumbbell rowing and believe it can be a great exercise selection in most programs, but I believe that in order to get better with the barbell deadlift, you should use a barbell in the work that you do to improve that lift. When done correctly and programmed appropriately, barbell rows can be one of the most valuable exercises for improving your deadlift and building overall strength and muscle mass in your posterior chain.

Too many exercises get tossed out when they weren't even being performed correctly to begin with. It’s time to shed some positive light on the barbell row and provide justification for why it should be a staple in your deadlift assistance exercise toolbox.

#1: Stronger lumbar

The barbell row is known as a great developer of the posterior chain, but it is most often thought of as an upper back and lat exercise. While it definitely works the upper back and lats to a great degree, it also does a fantastic job at developing lower back strength and stability. This lower back demand is a primary reason why barbell rows have been criticized for being too risky, yet it is this very reason why they are so valuable for improving your deadlift numbers. The last time I checked, the deadlift also places a huge demand on the lower back!

The deadlift also puts you through a much greater range of motion than the barbell row, yet you won’t find any coaches or lifters tossing them out of their programs. If all you do are exercises that “spare the spine,” you won’t ever teach/reinforce your low back with the necessary strength and stability it needs when you’re attempting that PR pull. In other words, don’t avoid training the lower back. Make it stronger!

That being said, if you can’t get into the proper position to barbell row without pain, you shouldn’t be deadlifting in the first place. Reestablish your hip hinge and lessen the weight, and if you have an injury, do whatever rehabilitation work you need to do, but don’t blame the rows.

Barbell rows are tough to beat when it comes to developing pure strength throughout the lower back. You could do good mornings and other back extension variations that place more stress through your spinal erectors, but they don’t do as good of a job with my next point.

#2: Specificity

The deadlift has a few key characteristics:

  • The weight is anterior to one’s center of gravity.
  • The trainee is flexed at the hip with a significant forward lean of the torso.
  • The trainee is weight-bearing.
  • It employs the use of a barbell.

The barbell row happens to qualify with the same characteristics.

The position of a correctly performed barbell row looks strikingly similar to the torso position at the start of a deadlift. If you can row a significant weight while maintaining the trunk stability necessary to achieve good technique, there isn’t any way your deadlift won’t improve. And this isn’t thought of as much, but the glutes play a prominent role in the execution of a solid barbell row. The movement can become incredibly fatiguing toward the end of a set (namely because the bent over position doesn’t allow for efficient oxygen intake). While your lower back will be doing its part, you need the glutes to stay braced to keep yourself stable.

The glutes are a strong driver in the deadlift, so their strength is critical to ensure that you’re hitting your best possible numbers. Of course, there are other exercises (such as barbell hip thrusts) that more directly target the glutes, but again, with regards to specificity, the rows will give you a better return on your investment. In order to get better at a lift, you should be performing exercises that will aid in that goal with as much specificity as possible.

#3: The anti-flexion component

Front squats and deadlifts are examples of exercises that train your core to resist flexion. This is because the weight is anterior to your center of gravity. Barbell rows also train the core in this manner, as you have to keep your torso from folding over as you let the weight descend (under control) down toward the floor.

Performing barbell rows on a regular basis as part of your deadlift programming will insure that you are developing this aspect of core stability to the highest degree and will, therefore, garner you a better deadlift.

As an aside, the anti-flexion component of the deadlift is a big reason why it is such a phenomenal exercise for postural improvement. What do you do at your desk (besides play on Facebook)? You slouch. What do deadlifts and barbell rows train you to stop doing? Slouching.

Obviously, there are other factors at play, but when people compliment my posture, I simply respond by saying that I do lots of deadlifts.

#4: Overcome sticking points

A common sticking point in the deadlift occurs when the bar is an inch or two off the ground. It’s here where you get the YouTube clips of backs that appear as if they will be snapping in half. With this particular sticking point, there isn’t enough posterior chain strength, specifically through the lumbar and glutes, to keep the torso in a good position throughout the pull. By training with barbell rows and other qualified assistance exercises, you will develop the strength necessary to get through that sticking point more effectively. After all, what better way to train the sticking point than by putting your torso in the position where you get stuck and pulling a heavy barbell up to your stomach? A heavy-set of strict barbell rows almost makes deadlifts seem easy!

Technique troubleshooting

I want to go over a couple of points on technique that may not otherwise be easily picked up on:

  • The barbell row is a horizontal pull, but I also throw it into the category of a hip dominant movement. This is because the hips and butt should be pushed back with a slight bend at the knee. This stretches the hamstrings and gets the glutes ready to participate as much as they can. A natural tendency is to get fairly knee dominant with these, which will only place undue pressure on the quadriceps and take away from the focus of the exercise.
  • As you pull the bar up, focus on pinching your shoulder blades together at the top to get the most range of motion and muscular activation in the upper back.
  • After you lower the bar under control during each rep, pause at the bottom for a second before going into your next pull. This creates a “dead stop” effect commonly seen in programming with dumbbells. It takes away any potential momentum and prevents the bar humping, typical toward the end of a heavy set. Pendlay rows done off the floor also accomplish this, albeit with less overall stress due to the fact that your muscles get to rest for a split second before each pull.
  • In my opinion, a parallel or very slightly above parallel position of the torso is the most effective route to go. It won’t allow you to use as much weight as a 45 degree angle does, but it will train the muscles that will have the best carryover to your deadlift and represent more of what a deadlift looks like.

While there are several other aspects that could be discussed, these are the main points that I often see misunderstood and applied incorrectly.

A brief note on programming

Hopefully, you're now sold on adding barbell rows to your powerlifting programming or continuing on with the barbell rowing that you're already doing. There are a few debates as to where barbell rows should fall in terms of programming. I personally like to do them as the third movement on my deadlift day, preceded by a vertical pull. For example, I will do my deadlifts or whatever variation I'm using,  go on to a pull-up or chin-up variation, then I'll perform the barbell row. This gives the muscles that were recruited very heavily in the deadlift, namely the lower back, the chance to decompress before I get back into that near parallel torso position.

I stick with no more than three to four sets at ten to twelve repetitions. Eight is the lowest I will go with them. Remember, you're training for a better deadlift, not to get a PR on the row. Be smart.

Wrap up

Deadlift variations will always reign king when it comes to bringing up your conventional deadlift, but the barbell row is right behind them when it comes to developing musculature specific to the deadlift and mimicking the conditions that are present during an actual deadlift.