Barbell Seal Row

A step-by-step form guide from the Ægir Iron exercise library: how to do the lift, what to watch for, and the muscles it trains.

HOW TO PERFORM

Set a flat bench on boxes or the safety pins of a rack, high enough that your arms hang straight under it without the plates touching the floor, and set the bar on the floor or low pins beneath it.
Lie face down along the bench with the chest just behind its end and the legs straight out behind you.
Reach down and take the bar with an overhand grip a little wider than the shoulders, arms hanging straight.
Row the bar up until it touches the underside of the bench, driving the elbows up and back.
Lower it to straight arms under control, letting the shoulder blades spread at the bottom.

The bench takes the legs and the low back out of the lift, so every inch the bar travels is the upper back. Expect to use a good deal less than on a bent-over row.
Keep the chest and hips on the pad. Lifting the chest off it to finish a rep is the cheat the bench is there to remove.

Log it in Ægir Iron to track your PRs and estimated 1RM, and to see the sets each muscle gets every week. Free for individual lifters.