Suspension row
A bodyweight row on two straps. The horizontal pull home training usually lacks, with difficulty set by your foot position.
The movement
Arms straight
01 Arms straight
Lean back until the straps take your weight, body one line from heels to head.
02 Chest to the handles
Lead with the elbows going back past your ribs, hips held in line.
How to do it
Setup
- Set the straps to about waist height and take a handle in each hand, palms facing each other.
- Walk your feet forward and lean back until your arms are straight and the straps are tight.
- Squeeze your glutes so your body forms one line from heels to head.
Execution
- Pull your chest toward your hands, leading with your elbows going back past your ribs.
- Finish with the handles at your lower ribs and your shoulder blades pulled together.
- Lower under control until your arms are straight again, without letting your hips drop.
BreathingExhale as you pull to your ribs, inhale on the way down.
Form cues
- Hold a straight line from heels to head while you pull.
- Drive your elbows back past your ribs, rather than your hands to your chest.
Common mistakes
- Hips sagging first, which turns the row into a lower-back hang.
- Shrugging your shoulders toward your ears instead of squeezing your shoulder blades.
- Cutting the bottom short so your arms never fully straighten.
Worth knowing
- Check the anchor takes your full weight before you lean back on it. A door anchor belongs on a door that opens away from you.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
Most home training has no horizontal pull in it at all. A pull-up bar gives you vertical pulling and nothing else. Dumbbells need a bench to row from properly. A band row runs out of tension at the point the movement gets hard. The suspension row fills that gap with two straps and something solid overhead.
Its best feature is how smoothly it adjusts. Your foot position sets the load. Walk forward and your body angles toward horizontal and gets heavier. Step back toward standing and it lightens. You can find a set of eight that is genuinely hard, and you can make the last two reps possible by taking one step back instead of stopping. Almost nothing else in bodyweight training adjusts that finely.
The trunk gives out before the back does. Your body is suspended between your feet and your hands, so the row is also a plank, and the first thing most people lose is the straight line through the hips. The reps keep happening while the shoulder blades stop moving. When your hips start dropping, the set is over regardless of what your arms could still do.
Putting your feet on a box takes the angle past horizontal and makes it properly hard. Once twelve controlled reps from a box feel manageable, the honest next step is a weighted barbell row or a pull-up rather than another inch of strap.