Dumbbell Upright Row

Start

Finish

How to do it

Stand with dumbbells in front of your thighs about shoulder-width apart, then pull them up the front of the body leading with the elbows and stop as soon as the elbows reach shoulder height.

Muscles worked

Primary: shoulders · Also works: traps, biceps

Equipment

Dumbbells

Common mistakes

• Pulling past shoulder height, which is where the joint gets pinched
• Using a narrow hand position — keeping the hands at least shoulder-width is what makes this tolerable
• Swinging the hips to launch the weight up

Variations

• Wide-grip dumbbell upright row
• Single-arm upright row

Can't do this one? Swap it for

• Resistance Band Upright Row
• Dumbbell Rear Delt Row
• Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Take care: ABROFIT automatically removes this movement for anyone who has flagged a shoulder problem. If that's you, use one of the swaps above and speak to a physio before loading it.

Related exercises

• Standing Overhead Pressshoulders
• Pike Push-Upshoulders
• Dumbbell Lateral Raiseshoulders
• Shoulder Controlled Rotationsshoulders
• Face Pullshoulders
• Cable Lateral Raiseshoulders