What muscles does the upright row work?

The middle of the deltoid does most of the work, since the arm is traveling out and up. The traps assist by raising the shoulder blade and the biceps assist because the elbow bends. How much each contributes depends on how wide your grip is.

Are upright rows bad for your shoulders?

They come with a published recommendation rather than a ban. Raising the arm while it is turned inward reduces the space the shoulder has, and the risky range is roughly 70 to 120 degrees of elevation. The advice from the strength and conditioning literature is to keep your elbows below shoulder height, which keeps you under that range. If your shoulder hurts on this movement anyway, stop doing it. If something hurts and keeps hurting, that is a question for a physiotherapist.

How high should you pull on an upright row?

Until your elbows are just below shoulder height, and no higher. Going further does not add anything for the shoulder and takes you into the range the research flags.

Should you use a wide or narrow grip for upright rows?

Wide. Measured across three grip widths, wider produced more shoulder and trap activity and less biceps. It also reduces how far the arm has to turn inward, which is the part of the position worth reducing. The common advice that narrow works the traps has it backward.

What can you do instead of upright rows?

The lateral raise reaches the same head of the shoulder without asking the arm to turn inward as it rises. You will use much less weight, since the arm stays long. Rowing work covers the traps and the back of the shoulder.

Are dumbbell upright rows safer than barbell ones?

They let your hands find their own path and rotate as they rise, which a bar cannot. That is a genuine difference in position and it is why some people find dumbbells more comfortable. It does not change the elbow-height point, which is about where your upper arm ends up rather than what is in your hands.

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Dumbbell · beginner · shoulders

Dumbbell upright row

Also called Dumbbell upright row, DB upright row, Upright rows.

The short answer

The upright row pulls two dumbbells up the front of your body by lifting the elbows. The middle of the shoulder does most of the work, with the traps and biceps assisting. It is the one movement here with a specific published recommendation attached to it, made by the authors of a strength and conditioning journal article rather than as a position taken by an organization: keep your elbows below shoulder height.

How to do it

Step oneStand upright holding a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip in front of your thighs.
Step twoPull the dumbbells upward along your body by raising your elbows above the level of your hands.
Step threeContinue pulling until the dumbbells reach chest height and your elbows are at shoulder level.
Step fourPause at the top, then slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

What usually goes wrong

Each starts with what you would notice.

Your elbows finish level with or above your shoulders, and the shoulder joint pinches near the top.

WhyRaising the arm while it is turned inward runs against how the shoulder normally works. As the arm rises it usually rotates outward, which keeps room in the joint. An upright row holds it turned in the whole way, and the range where things get tight is roughly where a shoulder-height elbow puts you.

FixStop the pull with the elbows clearly below shoulder height. That is the specific recommendation from the strength and conditioning literature on this movement, and it costs you nothing that matters.

Your hands are close together and you feel it mostly in your arms.

WhyA narrow grip brings the biceps in and gives the shoulder and traps less. It also demands more inward rotation of the arm, which is the part of the position worth reducing.

FixWiden the hands to shoulder width or beyond. Measured across three grip widths, the wider the grip, the more the shoulder and trap worked and the less the biceps did.

You lean back and drive with your hips to get the dumbbells moving.

WhyMomentum is starting the pull, so the shoulders only have to finish it.

FixStand still and start the rep from a dead stop with the dumbbells resting on your thighs. If they will not move, use less weight rather than more body.

Your wrists bend sharply at the top and your forearms take over.

WhyThe hands are being asked to fold under the dumbbells as the elbows rise past them.

FixLead with the elbow and let the hands trail underneath it, keeping the wrist roughly in line with the forearm. If the wrist has to break to finish the rep, you are pulling too high.

Upright row or lateral raise

Both work the middle of the shoulder and they get there differently.

A lateral raise keeps the arm long, so the shoulder is working at a poor mechanical advantage and the load stays small. An upright row bends the elbow, which brings the biceps in and shortens the lever, so you can move considerably more weight.

The trade is the position. Only one of the two asks the arm to stay turned inward while it rises, and it is the upright row that has a paper attached to it about arm position and joint space. The mitigation there is a specific stopping point rather than an abandonment, and nothing comparable has been published about the lateral raise.

If your shoulder is comfortable and you keep the elbows below shoulder height, the upright row gives you a loadable version of the same job. If your shoulder has ever pinched on this movement, the lateral raise reaches the same head without asking the question.

Dumbbells or a barbell

A bar joins your hands at one fixed width and one fixed rotation for the whole rep. Whatever position that puts your wrists and forearms in, that is the position for every inch of the pull.

Dumbbells leave your hands free. They can start close, drift apart as the elbows rise, and turn a little as they go. If a straight bar makes your wrists ache on this movement, that is usually why.

What that does not mean is that dumbbells make the movement safe. The elbow-height point applies either way, because it is about where your upper arm ends up rather than what you are holding.

The grip lore has it backward

Two opposite claims follow this exercise around and both need correcting.

The first is that upright rows are dangerous and should never be done. That overstates what was actually published. A strength and conditioning journal paper set out the mechanism, noted that the risky range for the shoulder falls roughly between 70 and 120 degrees of arm elevation, and recommended that people without symptoms keep the elbows below shoulder height. It did not recommend dropping the exercise. There is a difference between a movement with a stopping point and a movement to avoid.

The second is that it builds shoulder width. How wide your shoulders are comes from your collarbones and your frame, and no exercise changes that.

And one piece of gym lore worth binning: narrow grip for traps, wide grip for shoulders. When three grip widths were measured, the wide grip raised activity in both the shoulder and the trapezius, and it was the narrow grip that leaned on the biceps. The advice most people repeat has it backward.

What it is for

The dumbbell upright row is a shoulder exercise targeting the deltoids and trapezius. Using dumbbells allows for a more natural wrist path compared to a barbell, reducing shoulder joint stress while effectively building upper shoulder width.

Questions people ask

What muscles does the upright row work?: The middle of the deltoid does most of the work, since the arm is traveling out and up. The traps assist by raising the shoulder blade and the biceps assist because the elbow bends. How much each contributes depends on how wide your grip is.
Are upright rows bad for your shoulders?: They come with a published recommendation rather than a ban. Raising the arm while it is turned inward reduces the space the shoulder has, and the risky range is roughly 70 to 120 degrees of elevation. The advice from the strength and conditioning literature is to keep your elbows below shoulder height, which keeps you under that range. If your shoulder hurts on this movement anyway, stop doing it. If something hurts and keeps hurting, that is a question for a physiotherapist.
How high should you pull on an upright row?: Until your elbows are just below shoulder height, and no higher. Going further does not add anything for the shoulder and takes you into the range the research flags.
Should you use a wide or narrow grip for upright rows?: Wide. Measured across three grip widths, wider produced more shoulder and trap activity and less biceps. It also reduces how far the arm has to turn inward, which is the part of the position worth reducing. The common advice that narrow works the traps has it backward.
What can you do instead of upright rows?: The lateral raise reaches the same head of the shoulder without asking the arm to turn inward as it rises. You will use much less weight, since the arm stays long. Rowing work covers the traps and the back of the shoulder.
Are dumbbell upright rows safer than barbell ones?: They let your hands find their own path and rotate as they rise, which a bar cannot. That is a genuine difference in position and it is why some people find dumbbells more comfortable. It does not change the elbow-height point, which is about where your upper arm ends up rather than what is in your hands.