Upright Rows

[EliKoehn]

Does anybody intermediate and onward do these?

I've heard the risk of injury is high, and that it's a less than ideal exercise, besides. However, I'd like to include a compound lift that primarily hits the medial delts, and want to go beyond just doing lateral raises to train them.

Thoughts/concerns on the upright row:

- High injury risk

- Not sufficiently isolating (i.e. necessarily involves too much trap work)

- No advantage over simply doing lateral raises with cables or dumbbells

I have also heard though that a lot of people have made progress with their shoulder strength with these. Any thoughts from those of you have have done them consistently?

[SuffolkPunch]

Yep. I think they are OK.

I don't really see why they would be any better or worse than lateral raises because the issue is all around the shoulder joint (which is the same movement as for laterals). There is no issue around the elbow articulation IME. It can feel a bit janky around the wrist but I use an EZ bar to do them which slightly alters the grip angle.

I think it's hard to keep traps out completely - but the same applies to laterals...

Recently I've become more of a fan of band laterals however, with various anchor points at between waist and floor height.

[air2fakie]

Upright rows bother some people over time, but others are fine with them. If you do them, just stay in tune with how your shoulder joint feels.

Hitting the side delts with a motion other than lateral raises and diff resistance direction is helpful IMO, but the slight forward shoulder rotation in upright rows potentially could bother you.

Db armpit/monkey rows are similar but the shoulder positioning is more neutral, and you may be able to keep traps down easier than with upright rows if you want to focus more on the delts (don't raise the dbs too high or the top ROM does become a shrug, which may or may not be a bad thing depending on goals).

[GeneralSerpant]

Seems like an exercise that should have a practical path for the body to follow somehow.

[MyEgoProblem]

Fear mongering Nocebo...I ****ing hate athleneX et sl for spreading this ****.

They are fine for most people.. If they feel like they hurt, don't do em, or try wide grip, or rope or dB ect

If they feel good. Go n for it. If they don't. Don't.

It's that simple... xD

[Heisman2]

Consider reading through this: https://www.researchgate.net/publica...al_Impingement

[MyEgoProblem]

Consider reading through this: https://www.researchgate.net/publica...al_Impingement

Seems acceptable.

Given anthropometric differences is certainly not class that as gospel tho ofc.

Mike isreatel has the best (paraphrased) quote for this kind of situation.
"do what feels best for you.."

[Garage Rat]

I would try doing them with dumbbells or do not bring the bar higher than low chest.
DB's allow your arms to travel in a more natural path than being locked in with a bar.

[jk202]

I have nothing against them, but I see absolutely no reason to do them when a cuff lateral raise exists

[weiss1967]

I don't understand how these could be too much trap work. Traps engaged alright, but this is necessary. Shoulders still have to do actual lifting, traps won't lift your elbows. Upright rows used to be one of my primary exercises, but then I had nagging wrist injury and had to substitute. Keep in mind - lateral raises engage triceps while upright rows engage biceps. This could be important depending on how you design your program.

[SicilianPower]

In my experience they produced good shoulder gains for me. I would just recommend using DBs and stopping at the nipple line. If you have any sort of shoulder irritation from them, just stop doing them.

[smokinal]

I throw them in about once every 6-8 delt days. I have had shoulder surgery so I'm cautious about shoulder movement, but I like the isolation and strictness of the movement.

I usually use a Smith machine, standing on the side so the bar is angled toward me; not away. I use a pretty wide grip and make sure I lead with the elbows; really focusing on delt contraction.

I've heard/read that a narrow grip is harder on the shoulders than a wide grip.

[WulfgarVonNord]

EVERY discussion of "which shoulder exercise should i use" should be given the following disclaimer:

"The effectiveness or reverse of a shoulder exercise will be PRIMARILY dependant on the health of your own shoulders at the commencement of your shoulder training!"

I don't know how many uninformed, preaching idiots (like aTHLEANx!) who use their own personality rather than knowledge & understanding to convince people to do it their way get it wrong when it comes to shoulders, principally with regard to exercises like Upright Rows and Behind-Neck Pressing (and Behind-Neck Pull-ups, for that matter).

The fact is, most people today, due to relatively sedentary physical habits, bad posture brought on by too much sitting, too much cellphone usage, and too little physical movement during youth, have bad posture - in particular rounded shoulders.

Now, to do any Behind-Neck work, whether it's a barbell press or a pull-up, the lifter is required to keep his chest relatively high/out and his shoulders comfortably back. In other words, his shoulder mobility should be very good.

Any typical guy in his 20s these days just doesn't have the shoulder health/mobility to do these kinds of exercises without aggravating his problems. But THAT shouldn't be the standard from which opinions on these EXCELLENT lifts are derived!

Upright Rows, Bradford Presses, Behind-Neck pressing, they are all great exercises if you don't have shoulder rounding. I've been doing the Behind-Neck BB Press for a couple of years now without ANY issue. It's an EXTREMELY satisfying lift, and it's hits the medial delts very well. I haven't been using the Upright Row of late, but i don't doubt that it too is a excellent movement.

PS You'll likely be able to lift more total weight with the Upright Row in comparison with the lateral raises, so for that reason alone the may be worth considering. BUT, remember, the position of the weight more in front than out at the sides (a la lateral raises) will trigger slightly different muscle responses. For this reasons, the Upright Row is NOT "the same" as lateral raises.

[AlexSays]

Definitely get nasty elbow/forearm twangs from them so have subbed out for DB and they are fine, no reason not to do them

I do say that I primarily use them to target my traps with delts as a secondary focus so not sure if I'd recommend as a substitute for lat raises

[anonymous]

Not a fan, but I had a subacromial decompression and bursectomy to fix the wicked impingement on my left side and had 2 x labrum repairs so the only thing I fuk with are laterals in the scapular plane for partial slow, high reps with baby weights.

Chest and incline pressing and laterals hit my shoulders enough

[paulinkansas]

I do them with dumb bells. Your wrists won't be tied into the horizontal plane with a barbell. I just bring them up to chest level, no higher.