Are Bodyweight Rows Enough to Build Your Back and Biceps?

Sample Bodyweight Routine:

Warm-up
Arm circles 10 reps forward and backward
Standing scapular retraction and protraction 20 reps

4 rounds of:
Isometric row at the top position for 15s
bodyweight rows 15 reps at fast tempo
Single-arm rows 6/side
rest 45s
(adjust the angle of your body to change resistance for each exercise as needed)

[cheepchoop]

Every single question about does exercise x build muscle is invalid and those asking clearly don't understand the way muscle is built. Muscle is not a result of doing a certain exercise. Muscle is the result of your body adapting to its environments. If there's a lack of strength in a exercise your body will adapt and build muscle. Thats the one thing I learned in my journey. Strength is a result of training and muscle is a result of strength. Focus on getting stronger and muscle will follow. Great video as always Matt

[trevbarlow]

Did pullups, got impingement. When I recovered the idea of doing any overhead work freaked me out, do I swapped pullups for weighted BW rows for 9 months. Decent, steady gains. I went back to doing pullups and they are much easier now. No pain. I still do rows and love them. They saved my gains and built up my upper back. I believe that they also made it possible for me to do pullups again.

[LeeDowningKeat]

A massive fan of the inverted row. Such an underrated and under utilised exercise that isn’t just meant for helping you get to your first pull up. Horizontal pulling is needed for shoulder health and balance in the back and shoulders. Plus there are so many ways to make this exercise progressive or regression so great for beginners and more advanced people. Great video

[phoenixflyz_]

I've been doing a lot more rows lately as I build up my back for pull ups.

[wild_orca]

Furthermore you can hit rear delts to a great degree, using only bodyweight progressions.

[MiguelAngel-wrth]

Rows are KING!!! I’ve recently been focusing on barbell rows since high volume pull ups are starting to hurt my shoulder and I’ve feel my back FAR better rowing than doing pull ups

[glynhannaford]

Thanks bud. I don't have access to a pull up facility so reverted to body weight rows. They certainly feel beneficial but it's nice to hear from an expert that they definitely are.

[thomashuffcutt]

I found myself in the calisthenics rut earlier in the year. You and others helped me escape.

[elreydelmundo]

Bodyweight rows were a gamechanger for me. I'm a bigger guy, at 240lbs with a muscular build, but back had always been my weaker point and pullups were hard for me. Including Bodyweight rows not only grew my back in general, but my bicep strength has increased significantly and I can now do twice the amount of pullups.

[alperenozen]

Actually EMG activity datas from Universities that publish academic papers about exercises show that inverted row much more activate both biceps and lats any other bodybuilding rows. I personally include both horizontal and vertical pulls in my routine .

[checkitoutguys]

short answer: yes.
but with correct form, isometric hold 1-2s and controlled release.

[travis]

I have a shoulder injury aggravated by pull ups especially. I use a combination of pull-ups rows, barbell rows to get good results without injury 👍

[vishifishi]

One tip I've found to improve rows is: sit on the floor, grab onto your suspension trainer of choice, then screw your shoulders down and back, activating your lats, as you lift your hips up into position. The movement is kind of like a front lever sort of thing. I've found it's greatly increased the quality and tension control of my pulling!

[manbeastnone]

I do both the pullup and inverted rows. I had shoulder impingement in both shoulders so I stayed away from the bench press and pullups. One of my shoulders completely healed...the right shoulder is starting too. I go thru a shoulder warmup and stretch routine before I start my workout. In that time I was doing inverted rows. Got me some parallel bars. Totally fell in love with them. I use a weighted vest or chains for progression. I do weighted pullups but I won't do that until the right shoulder is fully healed. I got them from bench pressing with the worst form. I learned...form does matter!

[bekabeka]

Callisthenics is the way to grow. Without getting injury

[Marshall_EL]

At a body weight of 190lbs, I was doing barbell bent rows with 315lbs ...on the 5th rep ...I heard a "poppopopp". Blew open l3/l4 lateral tear and herniated l4/l5. Never been the same. Now 15 years later I have never gone back and will never go back to barbell bent rows. I absolutely love all variations of pull ups and inverted rows. Have a dipping/chinning belt for pull ups ...and two different weighted vests (11lbs-22lbs and 24lbs-44lbs) to add for inverted rows. I experience ZERO low back pain/stress on my vertebrae/nerves and 100% muscle tensions. Just my experience and 2 cents.

[Thejoeordinary]

Would seem to me that the bodyweight row is more complementary to the push-up as it appears to work the opposing muscles in the reverse motion leading to less imbalance of the back and the front. Also, I can do more of them than I can a standard pull-up (in shape I’m 210-220) thus giving more conditioning and muscular endurance work. For pure power and strength I would go with the pull-up and dip, done with good form and slowly. For general conditioning of the pushing/pulling muscles, I would choose higher reps of the push-up and bw rows. You can’t go wrong with any of those combinations, imho.

[kcmacdonald]

Rope climb, uneven + mantle + mixed grip (chin to underhand side) ring pull-ups, 1h and 2h rows on the rope and the rings, tuck lever rows and "upside down dip" pullups

[Lance]

I think rows are important and also not enough. In addition to back strength, rows are important for working on scapular retraction, something under developed on most of us. On the other hand, doing pullups is important also. Most people can do some pushups and squats, but a lot of people can't do even one pullup.. I think there is something psychological about being able to do some pullups. It means you are serious, you have worked at it for some time. Its a marker, if only for yourself. Like the pistol squat, which I can't do yet, but am working on.

[vladislavjakovljevic]

I have noticed even before that you often make more than one video on many topics, or questions, Matt. This is one of those, because you already made at at least one a couple of years ago. But I think it's great that when you get a question like that, you don't just refer the person asking to an old video, but you make a whole new one, with updated info. This really shows your passion and commitment to this mission of yours. Great job and thanks again!