Demonstration
Watch the Form Demo
Technique
How to Do the Pendlay Row
- Set up over the bar as if deadlifting, feet at hip width and the bar over your midfoot.
- Hinge until your torso is parallel with the floor and grip the bar just outside your legs.
- Flatten your back and brace hard.
- Pull the bar explosively to your lower chest, keeping the torso parallel.
- Lower the bar all the way back to the floor.
- Reset your position completely, then pull the next rep from a dead stop.
Anatomy
Muscles Worked
Do This
Form Cues
- Set the torso parallel with the floor and keep it there.
- Return the bar to the floor and pause before each rep.
- Pull explosively from a dead stop.
- Every rep is rep one. The reset on the floor is part of the exercise, not wasted time.
Avoid This
Common Mistakes
- Letting the torso rise during the pull.
- Bouncing the bar off the floor rather than resetting.
- Treating it as a heavier bent over row. The dead stop is the point.
- Letting the torso rise a few degrees per rep until the last pulls are half row, half shrug.
More to Explore
Variations & Related Exercises
Variations of this lift
Bent Over Barbell Row
Single Arm Dumbbell Row
Seated Cable Row
Trains the same muscles
Assisted Chin-Up
Assisted Machine Pull-Up
Barbell Deadlift
Barbell Rack Pull
Barbell Shrug
Barbell Upright Row
Put It Into Practice
Workouts Featuring This Lift
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