3 Things to Know Before Doing Smith Machine Rows

The Smith machine tends to bring out strong opinions. Some lifters treat it like the safest, smartest piece of equipment in the gym. Others (like functional training zealots and CrossFitters) act as if touching it will immediately erase every gain they’ve ever made.

Both takes miss the point.

The guided bar path is neither automatically good nor automatically bad. It’s a feature. Whether that feature helps or hurts depends on the exercise, your individual biomechanics, and what you’re trying to accomplish.

Case in point: Smith machine rows. The fixed path can make it harder to perform the natural arcing motion I prefer for lat growth. But it can also help you focus on specific upper-back muscles or perform an explosive row without worrying about the weight drifting away from you.

Before you load up the bar on back day, here are three things you need to know about the Smith machine row...

1. The Two-Arm Version Is Better for Your Upper Back Than Your Lower Lats

A standard bent-over barbell row allows you to adjust the bar path as you pull. You can bring the bar up and back toward your lower abdomen, keeping your elbows close to your sides and placing more emphasis on the lats.

The Smith machine doesn’t give you that freedom. Even on a model with slightly angled rails, the bar still travels along one fixed line. Depending on the machine and where you position your feet, that path may bring the bar closer to your chest than your waist.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It simply changes the exercise.

When you pull the bar higher with your elbows moving out to the sides, you bring more of the upper-back muscles into play, including the rear delts, middle traps, rhomboids, and teres major. The teres major sits above the lats and helps create the width near the top of your V-taper, which is why people sometimes refer to it as part of the “upper lats.” It’s actually a separate muscle.

Instead of fighting the machine and trying to turn the two-arm version into a lower-lat exercise, take advantage of the path it gives you.

How to Do the Two-Arm Smith Machine Row

Here's a step-by-step on how to perform the exercise: 

1. Stand with your feet roughly hip- to shoulder-width apart.
2. Hinge forward until your torso is close to parallel with the floor while maintaining a strong, neutral back position.
3. Take a wider-than-shoulder-width overhand grip.
4. Start with your arms extended and the bar clear of the bottom stops.
5. Pull the bar toward your lower chest while allowing your elbows to flare out.
6. Squeeze the muscles across your upper back, then lower the bar under control.

If you try to use a narrow grip, tuck your elbows, and pull the Smith bar toward your waist, you may find yourself fighting the rails throughout the set. Go wider, pull higher, and use the fixed path to hammer your upper back.

The fixed bar path doesn’t make the Smith machine row a bad exercise. It makes it a different exercise.

2. The One-Arm Version Is Better for Targeting the Lats—and Building Pulling Power

The one-arm Smith machine row gives you more freedom to position your body around the bar. Instead of facing the machine as you would for the two-arm version, turn approximately 90 degrees so the movement resembles a one-arm dumbbell row.

Place the leg on your working side slightly behind you in a staggered stance. Grab the bar around the center with your working hand. Because the bar is supported by the rails, your hand doesn’t need to be positioned at the exact midpoint to keep it balanced. Move slightly forward or backward until the position

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