Linear Row Machine

Sit with your feet firmly planted on the footplate and grip the handles, then hinge slightly at the hips while opening your chest. Start by understanding that your lower body stays fixed while only the handles travel in a straight line along the rails.

Hold the hinged torso angle with your hips as you pull your elbows back and bring the handles toward your body along the rails. Do not straighten up or use momentum; keep the hip hinge and let the handles follow only as far as your elbows move back.

Briefly squeeze your back at the most contracted point, then slowly straighten your arms and return the handles along the rails. Keep bracing through your hips on the way back so your hinged torso angle does not collapse.

Move as if your lats and mid-back are pulling the handles toward your body. If it feels like only your arms are working, lower the weight and focus more on the path of your elbows.

If your torso rises a little more on every pull or rocks with momentum, you lose the benefit of the rails' consistent path and only increase the load on your lower back. If your feet lift or slide on the footplate, you lose your pulling force, so press firmly through the footplate to anchor yourself.

Exhale as you pull and inhale as you return. Steady breathing helps you hold the torso angle with your hips and create the same path on every rep.

Because the linear row follows a fixed path, how steadily you hold the hip-hinge angle determines how well you feel the target muscles. Learn to maintain your torso angle with a light weight first, then increase the load.