The Yates row is a barbell bent-over row with the torso much more upright than usual and the bar pulled into the waist; in its original form it is done with an underhand grip. It is named after Dorian Yates, the British bodybuilder who won the Mr. Olympia six times from 1992 to 1997.
In an Instagram post quoted by Fitness Volt, Yates wrote that he used a reverse grip with his hands about 16 to 18 inches apart, always pulled the bar into his waist, and stood “with my upper body above parallel at approximately 70 degrees to the floor”, because that “puts the lats in a much stronger mechanical position and also protects the lower back”. He rowed underhand for most of his career, until a set of underhand rows in the weeks before the 1994 Mr. Olympia tore his left biceps; he rowed overhand after that. Brolic lists it as Yates Row (Barbell), with “Underhand Bent-Over Row (Barbell)”, “Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row (Barbell)” and “Dorian Yates Row” among its aliases, so the entry is the underhand version. It is logged in reps.
Muscles worked
Brolic tags the latissimus dorsi as the primary muscle group, with the upper back and biceps as secondary. Yates’s reason for standing taller was the lats, and he added that “it is essential to keep the spine in an arched position so the lat muscles can fully contract”. Geoffrey Verity Schofield calls it primarily a lat movement that also works the traps, rhomboids, biceps, forearms and rear delts, and says where you pull sets the emphasis: low toward the belly with the shoulders down is “all lats”, elbows flared out a little is more rear delts, and shrugging as you pull is more upper and mid traps.
No study isolates the lift: a PubMed search for “Yates row” on October 7, 2026 found nothing with that phrase, nor did searches for an underhand or supinated barbell row, so nothing measures what the grip changes or establishes that the upright row builds more lat than a horizontal one.
Set the torso
Stand with the feet roughly under the hips and take the bar. That is Allan Bacon’s stance. Yates’s grip was underhand, 16 to 18 inches apart; Bacon’s is overhand at shoulder width.
Lean over much less than for a conventional row. The sources differ on how much. Yates put his upper body at about 70° to the floor. Bacon sets the back at 45° to the floor “or slightly more upright”. Schofield says you are bent over “not even 45 degrees”, about 30°, “just enough to get a squeeze in the lats”. His test is the useful one: lean just far enough to feel the lats, then keep that angle for the whole set and from session to session.
Arch and brace. Yates kept the spine arched so the lats could contract fully. Schofield has you brace before every set, as you lower into position from standing, because the lift is “easier on the lower back than a traditional fully bent over row, but still you are in a slightly bent over position”.
Pull into the waist
Pull through the elbows into the lower stomach. Bacon’s cue is to focus the pull through the elbows and bring the bar into the lower abdomen; Yates pulled it into his waist; Schofield pulls low toward the belly with the shoulders kept down.
Squeeze at the top; that is the hard part. Schofield says the bottom of the range is easy, the middle harder and the top hardest, so the top is where you will be tempted to cheat. Squeeze the lats there.
A little momentum, not a lot. Bacon allows “a small amount of controlled momentum” so you can use more weight, but not significant body English, so the lats do the work. Schofield’s version is “a little bit of oomph”: hip, leg and lower-back drive through the sticking point is not effective for building muscle.
Against the Pendlay row and the bent-over row
| Yates row | Conventional bent-over row | Pendlay row | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Torso | Well above parallel: 45° (Bacon) to 70° (Yates) to the floor | Lower; Bacon says it tends to run nearer parallel | Parallel to the floor or just above |
| Grip | Underhand in the original | Overhand | Overhand |
| Bar meets the body | Waist or lower stomach | Lower stomach | Lower chest or upper stomach |
| Between reps | Bar hangs | Bar hangs | Dead stop on the floor |
Schofield’s case for the Yates row is load: fully bent over, the limiting factor is the spinal erectors rather than the lats; more upright, you can use much more weight. That is a coach’s judgement; no trial compares the three, so the table separates set-ups, it does not rank them. The Pendlay row guide covers the horizontal, dead-stop end.
Logging
Brolic logs Yates Row (Barbell) in reps. Enter the total on the bar, bar included (the barbell calculator adds it up), and keep this entry for underhand sets at the upright angle. Log overhand sets under your ordinary barbell bent-over row so the two grips keep separate histories; Yates and Schofield both say the grip changes what the lift does. Note the torso angle you chose; the free workout log has room for it, and the weekly set tally shows how these sets add to your lat and upper-back work.
Common questions
Underhand or overhand? Underhand is the original and Brolic’s entry; Schofield finds it “a little bit more lats” and overhand “a little bit more traps”. Yates switched to overhand after the 1994 tear; Bacon teaches overhand for that reason, and Schofield notes the overhand grip in the Yates footage he shows. Both videos above demonstrate overhand; the torso angle and the pull into the waist are the same either way.
Is the underhand grip hard on the biceps? Bacon reports that Yates felt it strained his biceps. Schofield’s reading is that Yates was depleted and lifting very heavy for low reps. The two differ on effort: Bacon programmes three to four sets of eight to fifteen reps, every set to form failure; Schofield keeps the reps a little higher and stops short of complete failure. Neither is medical advice: if a grip hurts, change it or stop.
Sources and method
- Geoffrey Verity Schofield: How to Yates Row — the 30° lean, the muscles and where to pull, the grips, the sticking point, bracing, load against a horizontal row and reps; automatic captions.
- Dr. Allan Bacon: Yates Row Tutorial — stance, the overhand grip and its history, the 45° torso, the pull into the lower abdomen, momentum, sets and reps; automatic captions.
- Fitness Volt (2023): Dorian Yates’s favourite back exercise — Nikhil Sharma quoting Yates’s Instagram post: grip, spacing, the waist, the 70° torso, the lats and the arched spine.
- Fitness Volt (2023): Dorian Yates on the 1994 biceps tear — Doug Murray quoting Yates’s own account of the tear during underhand barbell rows before the 1994 Olympia; the six titles.
- The Barbell (2026): Yates row — the underhand years and the switch to overhand.
- Brolic catalog — name, aliases, logging mode and muscle groups.
Angles and rep ranges are starting points from the sources cited, not optima from a trial; which grip builds more back is a coach’s judgement in every source here.
