StrengthIn review

Chest-Supported Row

A two-arm row with the chest on an incline bench or a row machine pad.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Horizontal pull
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Set the incline bench or the machine chest pad so the arms can hang freely.
Lie or sit face down with the chest on the pad and the feet on the floor or the foot rests.
Hold a dumbbell in each hand, or grip the machine handles, with the arms straight.

Do the rep

Pull both hands toward the lower ribs while the chest stays on the pad.
Lower the weight under control until the arms are straight.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when both hands reach the lower ribs and return to straight arms with the chest on the pad.

Breathing

Exhale as you row; inhale as you lower.

Cues

Keep the chest on the pad.
Move both elbows back.
Lower the weight slowly.

Common mistakes

Torso moves to lift the weight
What you seeThe chest rises or the trunk rotates during the pull.
FixReduce the load and hold the torso still.
A stable torso keeps the load in the rowing movement.
Weight drops on the return
What you seeThe elbows straighten suddenly as the dumbbells or the machine weight fall.
FixLower the weight slowly to straight arms.
A controlled return lets the user stop the rep safely.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if the bench or the machine pad shifts, or the chest lifts off the pad.
End the set when you cannot complete the stated rep under control. On a machine, return the weight to its stops before you release the handles.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Upper back · moderate confidence
Latissimus dorsi · moderate confidence

Assisting

Biceps · moderate confidence
Rear deltoids · moderate confidence

Equipment

Dumbbell or Selectorized machine or Plate loaded machine + Bench

Set the incline bench or the machine chest pad so the arms can hang freely. Lie or sit face down with the chest on the pad and the feet on the floor or the foot rests. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, or grip the machine handles, with the arms straight.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A coach reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 10, written from the blueprint CSV row and the owner rules approved on 2026-10-12 in #340. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the owner rules; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints unless an exception is stated; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Rule 4 skips no aliases in this batch. All 21 rows remain separate draft records; the owner can make overlaps aliases in the switch-on PR.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_one_arm_dumbbell_row, the closest Wave 1 record. Timed use remains disallowed; no Wave 1 review evidence is claimed for this draft.
Rule 2 assigns primary_horizontal_pull, secondary_pull by movement, as ex_one_arm_dumbbell_row.
Skill tier beginner (rule 3): a new user can perform one clean rep in the first session with a suitable load.
Failure cost moderate (rule 3): the user must control the stop, as ex_one_arm_dumbbell_row. The chest-supported row takes the cost of its dumbbell path.
Exception to CSV home False (rule 1): home is yes because the required dumbbells and bench are home items. The dumbbell alternative makes ex_chest_supported_row home friendly despite its machine alternatives.
Exception to the CSV dumbbell-or-machine token (rule 1): retain an any-of group of dumbbell, selectorized-machine, and plate-loaded-machine, using the picker machine ids of ex_chest_press_machine. Require bench. The dumbbell path uses two dumbbells; each machine alternative uses one machine. Authoring group notes and engine alternative quantities express the different counts.
Rule 1 sets dumbbell quantity 2: the movement uses two dumbbells, as ex_dumbbell_biceps_curl.
Prescription uses load-and-reps with load in kg (rule 1), as ex_one_arm_dumbbell_row and ex_dumbbell_biceps_curl. The load_unit constraint states the unit explicitly; load basis and rep range still need review.
The text covers the dumbbell and machine paths. Pad height, grip, and finish height need coach review. The machine path does not use the required bench; the switch-on PR must confirm the bench requirement.
Overlap: ex_chest_supported_dumbbell_row, ex_incline_bench_dumbbell_row, and ex_chest_supported_row each support the chest on a pad and row with both arms. The text sets them apart: ex_incline_bench_dumbbell_row uses a low incline and the elbows out at about 45 degrees, and ex_chest_supported_row also covers the machine path. Keep all three records; the owner can make them aliases in the switch-on PR.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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