---
title: "Upper back exercises with dumbbells"
description: "Bent-over dumbbell rows, supported one-arm rows and shrugs. Watch the technique on video and take as much support as you need."
locale: en
url: "https://hi.fitness/exercises/muscles/upper-back/dumbbell"
count: 14
type: combo
muscle: UPPER_BACK
equipment: DUMBBELL
---

# Upper back exercises with dumbbells

Dumbbells give a row two things one bar cannot. Each side works on its own, so the weaker one has
nowhere to hide behind the stronger one, and the weight passes the line where a barbell stops
against your torso - the elbow travels further back, and the hand sets itself neutral, overhand or
underhand, whichever is comfortable.

The biggest choice on this list, though, is not about weight but about support. The same pair of
dumbbells covers rows with your chest lying on an incline bench, with your free hand braced on a
rack, and with no support at all, and the plank versions add holding your torso off the floor on
top of that. That is four different demands on the rest of your body around the same arm movement.

## How much support do you need?

The ladder on this list has four rungs. Lowest is the row with your chest lying on an incline bench,
where the torso does nothing but lie there. Above it, the one-arm version with your free hand braced
on a rack or a bench, where you hold the position yourself but you have a third point of contact.
Higher still, the two-handed bent-over row with no help at all. At the top, the plank variants,
where the whole body is yours to hold.

Support buys one specific thing: it takes the hip hinge out of the exercise. With your chest on the
bench the set ends when your back stops pulling, not when you can no longer hold the bent-over
position. That is the version worth picking on a day when your lower back has already had its share
from deadlifts or squats, and for anyone whose last reps get ruined by holding position.

The cost is what the support will not let you train. A bent-over row with no support also loads the
spinal erectors and the torso, and it is no accident that the catalog opens its description with
setting the position rather than with the arm movement. No rung is better than another - you are
simply choosing what gets tested in a given set.

The top rung escapes that logic, though. On renegade rows and the plank row the catalog mostly
describes what you must not do: your hips cannot drop or ride up, your torso cannot twist, and the
weight has to be light enough not to wreck your balance. You pick the dumbbell there for what your
torso demands, not your back, so it is clearly lighter even though the exercise can be harder. As an
addition after heavy rowing it makes sense. As the only pulling movement in your week it is almost
certainly too light.

## What do dumbbells do differently on shrugs?

A barbell hangs in front of your thighs, dumbbells hang at your sides in line with your shoulders,
and standing up that is the whole difference. The grip is neutral, nothing is in the way in front of
your hips, and each arm can travel up independently of the other.

The bench versions change more. The catalog describes shrugs with your chest lying on an incline
bench, head down, where your arms hang straight down clear of your torso and the shoulders start
from a freely dropped position, with a stretch in the upper traps. With a barbell in front of your
thighs that start is simply not available. The version with the dumbbells held behind your back
works the same way: the point the weight hangs from moves behind the line of your hips.

What every variant shares is the requirement from the catalog: arms straight, shoulders straight up,
no rolling. The traps have a short range in this movement, so the pause at the top is not a
decoration but a proper part of the rep.

## Common mistakes

- **Dumbbells hanging in front of your shoulders** - The catalog sets the start position unambiguously: the weight hangs directly under your shoulders. When it hangs in front of them, either you are not bent over far enough or your shoulders have rounded forward, and the rep starts with a jerk upward instead of a pull backward.
- **Hips saving the rep** - On renegade rows and the plank row the catalog requires a straight line from head to heels. When your hips ride up or drop on every pull, the dumbbell is too heavy for that position, even if it would feel light in a bent-over row.
- **Bending your elbows on shrugs** - Shrugs start and finish with straight arms, and the catalog repeats it on every variant. With dumbbells a bent elbow is harder to catch than with a barbell, because there is no bar to show you it came up higher than it should have.

## Progress the movement

1. **Less support first** - The same pair of dumbbells gets noticeably heavier once your chest comes off the bench, and heavier again once your free hand stops resting on the rack. That is progress that costs nothing to buy and nothing to find.
2. **Move the weight into one hand** - A supported one-arm row usually handles a heavier dumbbell than the two-handed bent-over version, because the torso gets help and only one side is loaded at a time. It is a way to use more weight without reaching for the next pair.
3. **Take the ground away** - In renegade rows and the plank row the dumbbell is lighter and the exercise is harder: the limit stops being your back and becomes your torso, which is not supposed to twist. On paper that step looks like going backwards.

## All Upper back exercises with dumbbells

- [Dumbbell Bent-over Row](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-bent-over-row) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell One Arm Row (Rack Support)](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-one-arm-row-rack-support) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Shrugs](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-shrugs) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbells Bent Over Row Pronated Grip](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbells-bent-over-row-pronated-grip) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Bent-over Reverse Row](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-bent-over-reverse-row) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Renegade Row](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-renegade-row) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Incline Row](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-incline-row) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Prone Bench Row Dumbbells](https://hi.fitness/exercises/prone-bench-row-dumbbells) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Hammer Grip Incline Bench Two Arm Row](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-hammer-grip-incline-bench-two-arm-row) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Prone Bench Row Dumbbells Pronated Grip](https://hi.fitness/exercises/prone-bench-row-dumbbells-pronated-grip) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Prone Bench Row Dumbbells Supinated Grip](https://hi.fitness/exercises/prone-bench-row-dumbbells-supinated-grip) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Incline Shrug](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-incline-shrug) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Decline Shrug](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-decline-shrug) - Upper back · Dumbbell
- [Dumbbell Rear Full Shrugs](https://hi.fitness/exercises/dumbbell-rear-full-shrugs) - Upper back · Dumbbell