Traps · Barbell
Upright Row: Wide Hands, Elbows to Shoulder Height, Nothing Higher
A barbell dragged up the front of your body by the elbows. Take a wide grip, stop when the elbows reach shoulder height, and the upper traps do the lifting.
Illustration adapted from Everkinetic via workout-guide, CC BY-SA 4.0. Full credits.
| Equipment | Barbell |
|---|---|
| Back zone | Traps · Rear Delts |
| Muscles | Upper Traps · Rear Delts |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Typical work | 3 × 10–12 |
| Where | Gym |
What is the Upright Row?
The upright row is a barbell pull that travels straight up the front of the body, lifted by the elbows rather than the hands. A grip at shoulder width or a little wider keeps the elbows tracking out to the sides, and the rep ends when the elbows reach shoulder height, which is the point where the upper traps stop elevating.
The one cue that matters: Take a wider grip and stop pulling when your elbows reach shoulder height to spare your shoulders.
Why the Upright Row is worth doing
- The elbows travel close to a foot on every rep, which is far more working range than the upper traps get from any shrug you could load
- Wide hands put the rear delts on the same rep as the traps, so one movement covers the top of the shoulder and the back of it
- A barbell fixes your hand spacing, so grip width stops drifting between sessions and the weight on the bar becomes a number worth chasing
- You load it standing with nothing across your back and no hinge to hold, so it stacks onto a day that already spent the erectors on deadlifts
How to do the Upright Row
- Set the grip Take an overhand grip at shoulder width or two inches outside it, thumbs wrapped. Narrow hands force the elbows to climb straight up in front of your face; wide hands let them travel out to the sides, which is where the traps pull.
- Stand and hang Feet hip width, knees soft, bar resting lightly against the front of your thighs with the arms locked. Shoulders down, chest tall, eyes level on something in front of you.
- Lead with the elbows Drive both elbows up and out to the sides, letting the bar slide up your body an inch off the shirt. The hands are hooks and go wherever the elbows send them.
- Stop at shoulder height The rep is over when your elbows are level with your shoulders and the bar sits somewhere around your lower chest. Hold that for a count with the knuckles still below the elbows.
- Lower on a two-count Take two seconds back down, keeping the bar against your body, and let the shoulders sink all the way to a full hang before the next rep starts.
Muscles worked
The Upper Traps (trapezius, upper) take over once the elbows pass your ribs. Their job is elevating the shoulder blade, and here they do it against a bar getting steadily further from the floor, so unlike a shrug the load stays on across a range you can actually watch.
The Rear Delts (posterior deltoid) get paid for the width of your grip. Wide hands push the elbows out to the sides and slightly behind the bar line, which is the direction the posterior deltoid drags the upper arm, and it is why a wide upright row reads across the back of the shoulder instead of only along the neck.
The side deltoid and the elbow flexors take a genuine share, since the arm abducts and the elbow bends on every rep. What never happens is retraction: the shoulder blades do not draw together at any point, so the Rhomboids and Lower Traps sit the movement out and still need rows of their own.
| <a href=”/back-muscles/upper-traps/”>Upper Traps</a> | Trapezius (upper) — The slope from neck to shoulder — the first thing that reads as strong. |
|---|---|
| <a href=”/back-muscles/rear-delts/”>Rear Delts</a> | Posterior deltoid — Rounded shoulders from behind — the detail that finishes a back. |
Form tips
- Wide is the default. Hands outside your shoulders let the elbows travel out rather than straight up, and that single setting decides how the whole movement feels. The check is where the elbows finish: out to the sides, not stacked in front of your chest.
- Elbows above hands, always. The knuckles stay below the elbows for the entire rep. Once the hands lead, you are curling a bar toward your chin and the traps have stopped elevating anything.
- Keep the bar close. The bar should brush up the front of your body. Let it drift forward and the movement turns into a front raise, with the load hanging out where the front of the shoulder has to hold it.
- Load light and be honest about it. This is not a bar that rewards plates. Pick the weight that still reaches shoulder height on rep 12 with the knees quiet, and accept that the number looks small next to your shrug.
Common mistakes
- A narrow grip
- Hands close together drag the elbows up in front of your face and the bar to your chin, which shortens the trap’s line of pull and hands the rep to the biceps and front delts. Move the hands out to shoulder width or a little past and expect to drop weight.
- Pulling past shoulder height
- The last few inches pay nothing. The shoulder blade has finished elevating, so the extra height comes from the shoulders rolling forward. Set the top of the rep at elbows level with shoulders and stop there even on the reps that feel easy.
- Bouncing off the thighs
- Dipping the knees and driving the bar up with the legs turns ten reps into ten power shrugs and the elbows never clear the ribs. Feet flat, knees still, and the first thing that moves each rep is your elbows.
- Leaning back at the top
- Tipping the ribs backward shortens the distance the elbows have to travel and parks the bar in front of your hips. Keep the ribs stacked over the hips for the whole set and let the range be what it is.
Sets, reps and where it fits
BackMaxx programs three sets of 10 to 12. It belongs after the heavy pulls and before the small stuff: rows and pulldowns want your grip and your elbow flexors intact, and this movement needs neither of them fresh. Run it first only on a day built around the traps, and put shrugs behind it, because a shrug survives fatigue and a long elbow path does not.
Reps first, then the pause, then the bar. Build to 12 on all three sets with the elbows still arriving level with the shoulders, add a one-second hold at the top, then take the smallest plates in the gym and reset to 10. When the top of the rep starts arriving with the shoulders rolling forward, the weight moved before the position did. Where this sits alongside shrugs and carries is laid out in the traps guide.
No barbell? Do this instead
No barbell? The dumbbell version is the direct swap and it hands you something a bar cannot: the hands are free to drift apart as the elbows rise, so the path follows your own shoulders instead of the grip you happened to take. You lose the shared load and the small plate jumps, so expect a lighter total and slower progress. A kettlebell in each hand behaves the same way. If the movement never feels like it lands on the traps at all, run barbell shrugs for the elevation and face pulls for the elbows-high position, and skip this one.
Variations and similar exercises
- Dumbbell Upright Row
- Two bells instead of one bar, so each hand sets its own line and the elbows can finish wider. Pick it when the fixed grip on a barbell feels awkward at the top of the rep.
- Barbell Shrug
- Drops the elbow bend entirely and loads the same upper traps through two or three inches at a far heavier weight. Choose it when load is the point and range is not.
- Face Pull
- Keeps the elbows high like the top of this rep but pulls them backward rather than upward, which moves the work onto the rear delts and the mid trapezius.
7 Upright Row alternatives, by equipment and level →
Compared: Barbell Shrug vs Upright Row
Frequently asked questions
How wide should your grip be on an upright row?
Shoulder width or a couple of inches outside it, with the hands roughly under the outer edge of each shoulder. That spacing lets the elbows travel out to the sides as they rise, which is the line both the upper traps and the rear delts pull in. A narrow grip forces the elbows straight up in front of your face and turns the rep into a bar-to-chin curl with a shorter path.
Do upright rows work traps or shoulders?
Both, and grip width decides the split. The upper traps do the elevating, the rear delts collect the wide part of the elbow path, and the side deltoid takes the abduction that is left over. Wide hands push more of the set into the traps and rear delts; narrow hands push it into the front of the shoulder and the arms. It is a Traps-primary movement with Rear Delts second.
How high should you pull an upright row?
Until your elbows are level with your shoulders, which usually puts the bar around your lower chest. Above that the shoulder blade has finished elevating, so the extra height comes from the shoulders rolling forward rather than from anything you came to train. The elbows are the score here, not how close the bar gets to your chin.
Are upright rows or shrugs better for traps?
Shrugs load heavier, upright rows load longer. A shrug moves the shoulder blade two or three inches and takes any weight your hands can hold; an upright row moves the elbows close to a foot and takes a fraction of that. Most gym weeks have room for both, and they progress on different timelines: three sets of 10 to 12 here against 10 to 15 on the bar shrug.
Should the Upright Row be in your plan?
BackMaxx scores your traps from one photo and builds the week around whatever is lagging — so the Upright Row only shows up when it is the right call.
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