10 Best Smith Bent Over Row Alternatives for Upper-Back Strength

Skip a heavy row for long enough and your upper back stops keeping pace with your pressing, leaving your shoulders rounded. The Smith Bent Over Row trains that pull by hinging at the hips and drawing a fixed bar into your lower chest while you squeeze your shoulder blades together. The Smith Narrow Row comes closest to it: you sit at the machine, take the handles overhand a little narrower than shoulder width, and pull them to your body, squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top.

Original Exercise: Smith Bent Over Row

Smith Bent Over Row
Primary Muscle
Upper-back
Equipment
Smith-machine
Difficulty
Intermediate
Type
Compound
Secondary Muscles: Biceps, Forearms
How to Perform Smith Bent Over Row
  1. Set up the smith machine with the bar at hip height.
  2. Stand facing the bar with your feet shoulder-width apart.
  3. Bend your knees slightly and hinge forward at the hips, keeping your back straight.
  4. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  5. Pull the bar towards your lower chest, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
  6. Pause for a moment at the top, then slowly lower the bar back down to the starting position.
  7. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Ranked Smith Bent Over Row Alternatives

Best Match
Smith Narrow Row

1. Smith Narrow Row

96% Match
Upper-back Smith-machine Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Adjust the seat height and position yourself on the machine with your feet flat on the floor.
  2. Grasp the handles with an overhand grip, slightly narrower than shoulder-width apart.
  3. Keep your back straight and your chest up as you pull the handles towards your body, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
  4. Pause for a moment at the peak of the movement, then slowly release the handles back to the starting position.
  5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Smith Reverse Grip Bent Over Row

2. Smith Reverse Grip Bent Over Row

96% Match
Upper-back Smith-machine Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Set up the smith machine with the bar at hip height.
  2. Stand facing the bar with your feet shoulder-width apart.
  3. Bend your knees slightly and hinge forward at the hips, keeping your back straight.
  4. Grasp the bar with an underhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart.
  5. Pull the bar towards your lower chest, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
Lever Reverse T-bar Row

3. Lever Reverse T-bar Row

93.9% Match
Upper-back Lever Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Adjust the seat height and footplate position on the leverage machine.
  2. Sit on the machine with your chest against the pad and your feet flat on the footplate.
  3. Grasp the handles with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  4. Keep your back straight and engage your core.
  5. Pull the handles towards your chest, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
Lever T Bar Row

4. Lever T Bar Row

93.9% Match
Upper-back Lever Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Adjust the seat height and footplate position to ensure proper alignment.
  2. Sit on the machine with your chest against the pad and your feet flat on the footplate.
  3. Grasp the handles with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  4. Keep your back straight and engage your core.
  5. Pull the handles towards your torso, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
Lever T-bar Reverse Grip Row

5. Lever T-bar Reverse Grip Row

93.9% Match
Upper-back Lever Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Adjust the seat height and position yourself on the machine with your chest against the pad and your feet flat on the floor.
  2. Grasp the handles with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  3. Keep your back straight and engage your core.
  4. Pull the handles towards your chest, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
  5. Pause for a moment at the top of the movement, then slowly release and extend your arms back to the starting position.
Smith One Arm Row

6. Smith One Arm Row

87.7% Match
Upper-back Smith-machine Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Adjust the height of the smith machine bar to waist level.
  2. Stand facing the smith machine with your feet shoulder-width apart.
  3. Bend your knees slightly and hinge forward at the hips, keeping your back straight.
  4. Grasp the bar with one hand using an overhand grip, with your palm facing down.
  5. Keep your elbow close to your body and pull the bar towards your waist, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
Elevator

7. Elevator

86.3% Match
Upper-back Body-weight Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent.
  2. Place your hands on your hips or cross them in front of your chest.
  3. Keeping your back straight, slowly bend forward at the waist, lowering your upper body towards the ground.
  4. Pause for a moment at the bottom, then slowly raise your upper body back up to the starting position.
  5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Barbell Bent Over Row

8. Barbell Bent Over Row

85.8% Match
Upper-back Barbell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent.
  2. Bend forward at the hips while keeping your back straight and chest up.
  3. Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  4. Pull the barbell towards your lower chest by retracting your shoulder blades and squeezing your back muscles.
  5. Pause for a moment at the top, then slowly lower the barbell back to the starting position.
Barbell Pendlay Row

9. Barbell Pendlay Row

85.2% Match
Upper-back Barbell Advanced Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent.
  2. Bend forward at the hips, keeping your back straight and your chest up.
  3. Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  4. Pull the barbell towards your upper abdomen, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
  5. Lower the barbell back down to the starting position.
Kettlebell Two Arm Row

10. Kettlebell Two Arm Row

82.3% Match
Upper-back Kettlebell Intermediate Isolation
How to perform this exercise
  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and hold a kettlebell in each hand with your palms facing your body.
  2. Bend forward at the hips, keeping your back straight and your core engaged.
  3. Pull the kettlebells up towards your chest, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
  4. Pause for a moment at the top, then slowly lower the kettlebells back down to the starting position.
  5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Why You Might Need a Smith Bent Over Row Alternative

The Smith Bent Over Row needs a smith machine, and that single piece of kit is usually the problem: the rig is occupied, your gym has none, or you train from home with a barbell, a kettlebell or a pair of dumbbells instead. The Lever Reverse T-Bar Row, the Lever T Bar Row and the Lever T-Bar Reverse Grip Row swap the fixed smith rail for a lever machine instead. A Barbell Bent Over Row keeps the same overhand grip and the same hip hinge, but a free bar asks your balance to hold the position the smith rail was doing for you. At home, the Kettlebell Two Arm Row needs only weight you can carry in, no rig at all.

How to Choose the Right Substitute

If the smith rig is still yours to use, start with the Smith Narrow Row: you sit at the machine, take the handles a little narrower than shoulder width, and finish with the same squeeze at the top. Want a different grip instead? The Smith Reverse Grip Bent Over Row turns your palms up on the same rig. Training one arm at a time to fix a lopsided back, pick the Smith One Arm Row, which keeps the smith rail but lets each side work alone. Without a smith machine, the Barbell Bent Over Row keeps the same grip and hinge on a free bar, and the Barbell Pendlay Row pulls to your upper abdomen instead of your lower chest. At home, reach for the Kettlebell Two Arm Row.

Frequently Asked Questions

What muscles does the Smith Bent Over Row work?

The Smith Bent Over Row works your upper back: every rep finishes with your shoulder blades squeezed together, and your biceps and forearms do the gripping and pulling that gets the bar there. You get there by hinging forward at the hips, gripping the bar overhand slightly wider than shoulder width, and drawing it into your lower chest while your shoulder blades come together.

Which alternatives don't need a smith machine?

Seven of the ten. The Lever Reverse T-Bar Row, the Lever T Bar Row and the Lever T-Bar Reverse Grip Row put you on a chest-supported lever machine, and the Barbell Bent Over Row, the Barbell Pendlay Row and the Kettlebell Two Arm Row need no machine at all. The Elevator needs no weight either: with your hands on your hips, you bend forward at the waist and slowly raise your upper body back up.

Can I do the Smith Bent Over Row at home?

Not with the smith machine itself, but the Kettlebell Two Arm Row trains the same hinge and the same pull into your chest with a pair of kettlebells, gear a home lifter is more likely to own. Hinge at the hips, keep your back straight and squeeze your shoulder blades together the way you would on the smith rail.

Can I row one arm at a time instead?

Yes. The Smith One Arm Row keeps the same smith rail and the same hip hinge as the Smith Bent Over Row, but you row one arm through the full range while the other stays still. That lets you compare left and right and fix a side that lags behind.

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