underhand grip inverted row

The Underhand Grip Inverted Row is a unique compound back exercise that places significant emphasis on your back and bicep muscles. It's a valuable addition to your training routine, especially if you're looking to enhance the strength and definition of your back and develop your grip strength.

By strategically adjusting the positioning of the bar and your feet, you can control the intensity of this exercise, making it adaptable to various fitness levels and easy to progress.

Here we will delve into the muscles worked, how to perform the Underhand Grip Inverted Row, benefits, common mistakes to avoid, reps and sets, how to progress this exercise, how and where to fit it into your workout plan and finally other exercises targeting the same muscle groups.

Muscles Worked when Performing an Underhand Grip Inverted Row

Latissimus Dorsi (Lats): This exercise predominantly targets your lats, helping you achieve a well-defined and strong V-shaped back.

Trapezius (Traps): The traps are activated, especially at the top of the exercise, as you pull yourself up into the bar and squeeze your back muscles for full engagement. Your traps assist by supporting the shoulder and upper back muscles.

Biceps & Triceps: The underhand grip used in this rowing motion also activates the biceps, triceps, contributing to better overall upper body strength and development.

Rear Deltoids: The back shoulder muscles are recruited as you pull yourself up towards the bar.

Teres Major & Minor: These small back muscles are often overlooked in exercise, but don’t underestimate their importance. All of the muscles in your body, no matter how small, play a significant part in your overall strength and power, as well as your everyday mobility.

Infraspinatus: The infraspinatus forms part of the rotator cuff, which supports the shoulder joint.

You can use the muscle highlighted image at the top of this page for a visual guide of the muscles worked.

Become an exclusive member and get complete workout plans with video demonstrations of all exercises, plus dedicated online support to help you reach your goals faster. Tell me more >>>

How to Perform Underhand Grip Inverted Rows

1. Choose Your Bar: You can perform the Underhand Grip Inverted Row on any fixed bar, with the smith machine being a common choice, but you can also use a barbell in a power rack in a lower position.

Simply adjust the bar's height to a position somewhere between your hips and chest. Keep in mind that a higher bar will make the exercise easier, while a lower bar increases the difficulty.

2. Gripping the Bar: Stand in front of the bar and grasp it with an underhand grip (wrists facing up), with your hands spaced approximately shoulder-width apart. You can play around with your hand position as you progress with this exercise.

3. Foot Positioning: Move your feet under the bar and shift your body's weight onto your heels. The closer your feet are to the bar, the easier the exercise becomes, while positioning your feet farther from the bar intensifies the workout. Aim to eventually have your body nearly parallel to the floor to maximize the effectiveness of the exercise.

4. Pull Yourself Up: Once you’re positioned under the bar, with an underhand grip, pull yourself up so that your chest almost touches the bar. Hold for a second at the top, then lowerself back down to start position.

5. Go for reps.

Benefits of Underhand Grip Inverted Rows

Back Strength and Definition: Underhand Grip Inverted Rows are excellent for building strength and defining your back.

Bicep Development: The underhand grip recruits your biceps, which in turn can help enhance your strength and power with almost any upper body exercise.

Pull Power: Mastering this type of bodyweight pull exercise can help you further develop your pulling power with other pull exercises.

Grip Strength: You’ll need to hold on tight to ensure you don’t lose grip of the bar, this forced grip requirement will help you develop your grip strength by default.

Underhand Grip Inverted Row: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Improper Bar Height: Ensure that the bar height is appropriately challenging for your fitness level. A bar that is too high or too low can compromise the effectiveness of the exercise and your development with it. Take your time to adjust and re-adjust until you are confident you are getting a good back workout.

Inadequate Foot Position: Don't keep your feet in a position that fails to challenge you. Position your feet according to your strength and goals. The further away you position your feet, the more challenging the exercise will be.

Failing to Engage Your Core: Keep your core tight throughout this exercise, this means maintaining a straight line with your body, so no hanging hips or over exaggerated curve in your lower back. Remember to focus on the muscles you intend to work during each repetition, that way you can be confident you are performing the exercise in the most effective way possible.

Reps and Sets

The number of reps and sets you perform depends on your current strength with this exercise.

Beginners: Start with simply mastering the move. Keep in mind that if you’re just starting out, 3 reps is a valid set.

To determine how many reps/sets of Underhand Grip Inverted Rows you should start with, you first need to figure out how many reps you can comfortably perform. Then add 2, and perform that number of reps for 3 sets.

For example; let’s say you can perform 4 reps comfortably. Add 2 to make 6 reps. Perform those 6 reps 3 times over, allowing yourself sufficient rest inbetween.

Experienced lifters: You know your body and its abilities better than anyone, use your own judgment.

We recommend that you avoid performing more than 12 reps per set. If you’re comfortably performing 12 reps for up to 6 sets, it’s time to make the exercise more challenging.

How to Make Underhand Grip Inverted Rows More Challenging

You can make this exercise more challenging by switching up your foot position as described above. You can also play around with your hand position, a wider grip will hit differently to a closed grip. This is a really good way to identify any weaknesses you have too. The wider grip depends more on the lats, whereas the closer grip depends more on the biceps.

Alternatively, to make Underhand Grip Inverted Rows more challenging, you can slow the exercise down to increase your time under tension. You can also slow down half the exercise, so pull yourself into the bar at normal speed and then slowly lower yourself back to start position in a clean and controlled movement, feeling the engaged muscles throughout.

For a more advanced variation, you can position your feet on a bench and pull yourself up from that position.

How to Incorporate Underhand Grip Inverted Rows into Your Workouts

This exercise belongs in your back or upper body workout. While technically a bodyweight exercise, it’s a pretty powerful one, so we suggest performing this exercise somewhere in the middle of your workout, after your bigger barbell exercises, but before your dumbbell exercises.

You can learn more about exercise order here.

Exercises that Work Similar Muscles to Underhand Grip Inverted Rows

Similar exercises include any rowing exercise, like the Bent Over Barbell Row, T-Bar Row, Cable Row, or, you can pair this with other powerful back exercises such as Pull Ups or Lat Pulldowns. These exercises target similar muscle groups with different weight distribution, offering variety and effective muscle development for your back and arms.

You can also find more Back Exercises at the bottom of this page. Or you can check out our entire exercise database, broken down by muscle group here.

Get Complete Workouts

Our exercise database is here to teach you the fundamentals of some key exercises in weightlifting. It is by no means an exhaustive list of exercises and each category is certainly not a workout plan in itself. In order to turn these exercises into a workout plan, you need to know how to combine the right exercises to achieve the best possible results.

Knowing how to put together an efficient and effective workout plan is the cornerstone of achieving your fitness goals. It's the difference between merely working out and truly transforming your body.

That’s why Lipstick Lifters' Members Zone exists. Our goal is to teach you how to build your own workout plans so that you can be gym independent. All of this is possible with our Members Zone portal.

Members Zone annual subscribers have a unique advantage. They don’t need to puzzle over piecing together a workout plan, because we've done the hard work for them. Inside our Members Zone Portal, you'll find full workout plans tailored for women, complete with video demonstrations of each exercise.

Why Choose Members Zone

Members Zone is your one stop shop for weightlifting workout plans, delivered conveniently through our mobile friendly web app.

Here's what you're about to unlock...

Variety: Over 130 individual workout plans to suit a wide range of goals, available for your grab and go convenience.

Targeted muscle building: All plans come with a muscle highlighted image so you know exactly which muscles you’re building. - Simply choose the plan that suits your needs.

Video demonstrations: Form matters, that’s why each exercise in our portal is accompanied by a video demonstration of 3-5 full clean reps. You can watch this through as many times as you need to master the move.

Get started and progress: Plans offer beginner & advanced execution options so you can start with the basics and progress using the same plan.

Learn on the go: Our mobile friendly web portal means you can access plans, and video demonstrations of each exercise, to help you master the correct form, right from the gym floor.

Puts you in control: Our goal is to teach you gym independence, that's why the bulk of our portal is broken down into warm ups, workouts, and finisher plans.

Mix and match these to build a complete workout that fits your own personal preferences and goals.

Pre-built plans: These pre-built plans were put together by our team to demonstrate how the portal works. They are made up of warm ups, workouts, and finishers directly from the portal. Use them to get results, but also notice how the plan comes together. So that next time you can build your own plan from the wide range of options in the main portal!

Workout packs: Do you just want something that tells you exactly what to do and when to do it? These workout packs are ready to go when you are.

Evergreen: For the most part in weightlifting the exercises are the same, it is the execution of the exercises that turns amateurs into pros.

That means that all of our workout plans, featuring 200 different exercises, can be revamped, no end, simply by switching up the exercises and changing the rep/set execution.

All you need to do is get started, everything else comes with experience.

Dedicated online support: We want you to succeed in the world of weightlifting on your own merit. Without the need for an expensive trainer or coach, because few people these days can afford this luxury.

Lipstick Lifters Members Zone is your DIY solution and we are here to support you, for as long as you need, as part of your annual subscription.

Sample our plans for free: Sign up to access a selection of free workout plans to get you started.

Your journey to strength and confidence begins here.

Get in touch: If you have any questions or need guidance, our team at Members@lipsticklifters.com is here to guide you. So don’t hesitate to get in touch.