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How To: Barbell Upright Row

A great compound exerise that targets your upper traps and deltoids!

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted

The Barbell Upright Row is a great compound exercise that targets your upper trapezius, and all three heads of your deltoids with emphasis on the anterior and medial heads. Hand placement is key when performing this exercise so make sure you alwyas have your hands about shoulder width apart.

 

CLICK HERE for a more indepth description, starting and ending position photos and to add this exercise to your SHF profile!

 

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Daniel_Meyer
Daniel_Meyer g Daniel Meyer
518 Post(s)
518 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted

This is actually one of the best upper trap building exercises in my opinion. This is due to the elevated stimulation of the upper traps due to the shoulder joint being in an abducted state. There are however, quite a few issues that can arise from this exercise.

  1. Medial wrist joint problems and associated medial tendon problems. This can simply be overcome by increasing hand width on the bar so that as you pull the bar up your wrists stay in a neutral position.
  2. Shoulder impingement. Yes this exercise can cause shoulder impingement due to the shoulder being in an internally rotated state and then being forced into abduction. From an injury perspective I hate this exercise! It bascially goes against everything I preach.

I will sometimes add this exercise into my routine, HOWEVER, in my opinion there is a better much safer exercise: The Single Arm Snatch. I hugely encourage people to try this instead of the BB upright row.

Sport Rehabilitation BSc GSR Sport Rehabilitator and S&C coach at Boston United FC Super Hermanite Twitter: Daniel_Meyer99
GT_turbo
GT_turbo g Gregor Trost
183 Post(s)
183 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Train for a sport Date Joined: February 2, 2014
Posted

I love this exercise. I don't do it with barbell anymore, but with dumbbells; more freedom for joints through ROM.

 

BR, Gregor

Super Hermanite NCSF personal trainer NLP coach IronMan finisher
Impulse
Impulse g
209 Post(s)
209 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: March 3, 2014
Posted

To clarify. MANY people have shoulder issues with ANY shoulder movement, see also, any overhead pressing movement as well. A lot of it relates to immobility of the joint but also overall shoulder impingment due to the articulation of our individual shoulder / clavicular joints.

To avoid issues: do the exercise as prescribed with a -LIGHT- weight to test your shoulders. Steadily progress and if anything causes you grief then fiddle around with a slightly wider grip (within reason) and / or adjusting your ROM to approximately nipple height. Should this not aleviate the issue (again, testing with light weight to avoid damaging the muscle / joint), switch from a bar to dumbbells and start this test process again with the new implement.

KISS principle applies (keep it simple, stupid), if anything ever hurts, don't do it :)

Eric // Impulse Bachelor's Degree of Kinesiology Current Study in Human Nutritional Sciences ACSM Certified Personal Trainer NSCA-CSCS and CPT
Impulse
Impulse g
209 Post(s)
209 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: March 3, 2014
Posted
Posted By: Impulse

To clarify. MANY people have shoulder issues with ANY shoulder movement, see also, any overhead pressing movement as well. A lot of it relates to immobility of the joint but also overall shoulder impingment due to the articulation of our individual shoulder / clavicular joints.

To avoid issues: do the exercise as prescribed with a -LIGHT- weight to test your shoulders. Steadily progress and if anything causes you grief then fiddle around with a slightly wider grip (within reason) and / or adjusting your ROM to approximately nipple height. Should this not aleviate the issue (again, testing with light weight to avoid damaging the muscle / joint), switch from a bar to dumbbells and start this test process again with the new implement.

KISS principle applies (keep it simple, stupid), if anything ever hurts, don't do it :)

This general framework should be applied to any new movement you've never tried before, to clarify, not just the upright row.

Additionally, #HTH #GETSOME #GAINS.

Eric // Impulse Bachelor's Degree of Kinesiology Current Study in Human Nutritional Sciences ACSM Certified Personal Trainer NSCA-CSCS and CPT
Daniel_Meyer
Daniel_Meyer g Daniel Meyer
518 Post(s)
518 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted
Posted By: Impulse

To clarify. MANY people have shoulder issues with ANY shoulder movement, see also, any overhead pressing movement as well. A lot of it relates to immobility of the joint but also overall shoulder impingment due to the articulation of our individual shoulder / clavicular joints.

To avoid issues: do the exercise as prescribed with a -LIGHT- weight to test your shoulders. Steadily progress and if anything causes you grief then fiddle around with a slightly wider grip (within reason) and / or adjusting your ROM to approximately nipple height. Should this not aleviate the issue (again, testing with light weight to avoid damaging the muscle / joint), switch from a bar to dumbbells and start this test process again with the new implement.

KISS principle applies (keep it simple, stupid), if anything ever hurts, don't do it :)

Yeah I completely agree with you that people do often suffer from injuries due to poor overall shoulder mobility and a break down in form. However, I feel that people do need to understand how detrimental this exercise can actually be in relation to shoulder injury, specifically impingment syndrome. The upright row is far worse than other shoulder exercises in terms of injury prevelance.

Sport Rehabilitation BSc GSR Sport Rehabilitator and S&C coach at Boston United FC Super Hermanite Twitter: Daniel_Meyer99
Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: Daniel_Meyer

This is actually one of the best upper trap building exercises in my opinion. This is due to the elevated stimulation of the upper traps due to the shoulder joint being in an abducted state. There are however, quite a few issues that can arise from this exercise.

  1. Medial wrist joint problems and associated medial tendon problems. This can simply be overcome by increasing hand width on the bar so that as you pull the bar up your wrists stay in a neutral position.
  2. Shoulder impingement. Yes this exercise can cause shoulder impingement due to the shoulder being in an internally rotated state and then being forced into abduction. From an injury perspective I hate this exercise! It bascially goes against everything I preach.

I will sometimes add this exercise into my routine, HOWEVER, in my opinion there is a better much safer exercise: The Single Arm Snatch. I hugely encourage people to try this instead of the BB upright row.

I will have to give the single-arm snatch a try Daniel. But I can see you are definitely "torn" with the exercise! lol

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jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted

I agree with Eric and Daniel. In my experience and opinion, injuries from weightlifting are caused by 3 things: improper form, too much weight, and exercise overuse i.e. doing the same exercise all the time and never changing routines.

 

Personally, upright rows don't fit my biomechanics regardless of weight or form so I avoid them and do things like dumbell/barbell shrugs and face pulls - but that's me. The bottom line as Eric pointed out is don't do an exercise if it causes you pain or you will have injuries like impingement as Daniel pointed out. I think sometimes people get stuck in the mindset that there are certain exercises you HAVE to do or a muscle group won't develop and/or grow. Outside of powerlifting and olympic lifting where there are exercises you HAVE to do to compete, one should peruse the myriad of exercise shown on SHF and pick the ones that work best for them as well as change up the routine periodically.

 

John

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
Whisper
Whisper p+ Kostas Kroustaloudis
687 Post(s)
687 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Train for a sport Date Joined: September 9, 2011
Posted
Posted By: Scott_Herman

The Barbell Upright Row is a great compound exercise that targets your upper trapezius, and all three heads of your deltoids with emphasis on the anterior and medial heads. Hand placement is key when performing this exercise so make sure you alwyas have your hands about shoulder width apart.

 

CLICK HERE for a more indepth description, starting and ending position photos and to add this exercise to your SHF profile!

 

I actually like the exercise. Lack of proper thoracic extension will definitely lead to injury but you are doing it 100% correctly. I dont believe in exercises messing up people. I believe in messed up people doing exercises wrong. #HTH!

Muscular Strength Athlete and Content Manager 6 Years Lifting Experience Bachelors in Molecular Chemistry/Biochemistry, Working towards Masters Lifting Style & Philosophy : Aikido, Energy, Balance, Flexibility, Posture
Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: Whisper

I actually like the exercise. Lack of proper thoracic extension will definitely lead to injury but you are doing it 100% correctly. I dont believe in exercises messing up people. I believe in messed up people doing exercises wrong. #HTH!

haha I like the way you think Kostas!

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