Archer Row

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The archer row is a fairly advanced progression exercise for the inverted row. It gets its name from how the top of the rep looks similar to drawing a bow. Instead of pulling equally with both arms, one arm does a majority of the work and the other has to be kept straight, which limits how much assistance it can provide. As with the other archer movements, assisting with the straight arm takes a bit of practice. However, once you've got the form down, the archer row is a great way to effectively add resistance and continue to improve your pulling strength.

The Basics

The archer row is primarily used as a strength exercise. It is classified as a horizontal upper pull movement. It is more generally classified as a upper pull movement. Since it involves significant activation of multiple muscle groups, it is considered a compound exercise.

Form

Set Up

• Set the bar height so that your back doesn't touch the ground when your arms are fully extended
• Lie or sit underneath the bar
• Grasp it with an overhand grip with your hands wide enough apart so that one arm can remain straight at the top of the rep
• Extend your legs so that your shoulders are just about directly beneath the bar
• Keep your body straight
• Keep your shoulder blades held slightly back

Execution

• Pull your chest up and over towards your primary pulling arm
• Keep the assisting arm straight
• As you pull yourself up, pull your shoulder blades together
• At the top of the rep, your upper arm of your primary pulling should be parallel to your torso and your assisting arm should still be straight
• Lower yourself under control, allowing your shoulder blades to come apart

Common Mistakes

Bending the Assisting Arm

To perform a true archer row, the assisting arm must be kept straight throughout the entire movement. Bending the arm allows it to assist significantly more and making it better classified as an uneven row.

Letting the Hips Drop

Part of the challenge of doing archer rows comes from keeping your body held in a straight line. This requires some core and leg strength and is important because keeping your body straight plays into how much work your back and arms have to do to pull you up. The less straight your body is, the easier it will be. Compared to the inverted row, the archer row is even more challenging in this regard as it adds a rotational stability component.

Keeping the Shoulder Blades Locked

With the inverted row, the shoulder blades should not be locked into place. Rather they should be held slightly back at the bottom of the rep and brought together at the top of the rep. This allows you to engage and work more muscles in your back.

Additional Info

How much of my bodyweight am I moving?

As with the inverted row, you're pulling about 70% of your bodyweight when doing an archer row. You can decrease this to about 54% by doing bent knee archer rows, or increase this all the way up to 75% by then elevating your feet about 30cm. This would be with your body parallel to the ground at the top position of the archer row.

However, you're using mostly just one of your arms to pull yourself up with an archer row. While the assistance provided by the assisting arm can vary, in general, you'll be pulling between 50% to 60% of your bodyweight with your primary pulling arm.

Making it Easier

The jump in difficulty from inverted rows to archer rows is pretty large, but archer rows can be made easier using the same techniques as inverted rows.

There are two primary ways to adjust the difficulty of the archer row. The first is the height of bar that you're holding onto in relation to your feet. The closer in height that the bar and your feet are, the harder the move will be since more of your bodyweight has to be moved by your back and arms.

The second and often quicker way of adjusting the difficulty is moving your feet closer to you by bending your knees. This allows you to support more of your body weight on your feet, making it easier to pull yourself up.

Making it Harder

The archer row can be progressed by adding weight. Weight vests or simply putting the weight on your chest work up to a certain point. However, a solid longer term solution is getting a sturdy backpack that can be worn backwards.

The inverted row can also be progressed without weight using the more difficult variations. In most cases, this involves working towards a one arm inverted row or front lever rows.

Minimal Equipment

For many people with home gym set ups, it's pretty easy to get in some upper body pushing exercises. All push ups need is some floor space. However, getting some upper body pulling can be a bit harder. The archer row, however, doesn't require much. All you need is something the right height to hang off of. Using gymnastics rings or a rack with a barbell is ideal, but there are some creative options if you don't have access to either of those. A sturdy table with enough room for you underneath it is a good example.

Related Exercises

Reviews

Performance Standard Ranks

The ranks assume that you are generally healthy, with no underlying health conditions or injuries and have the mobility to perform the exercise correctly. You can determine your rank by comparing your numbers to the tables below. Your rank is also tracked automatically when using our Workout Log feature.

Strength Standards

The tables show the one rep max* in pounds needed to reach each rank at different body weights (also in lbs). The 1RMs on the table are based on world records, balanced ratios, and the average time needed to attain each rank. To see personalized strength standards for every exercise, check out the Strength Standards page. You can also find your Strength Score to see how you rank as part of our Fitness Score System.

*Added weight if positive, assistance if negative. The planche and levers are also notable exceptions as they show the moment at the shoulder, not weight. For more info, check out the Moment Calculator page.