Dumbbell One-Arm Upright Row
Also works: Biceps · Traps
A single dumbbell pulled from the front of the thigh up toward the collarbone with the elbow leading and the weight tracking close to the body. Working one arm at a time frees the shoulder to find its own path instead of being locked into the fixed hand spacing that makes barbell upright rows uncomfortable for so many people.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Stand tall, feet hip-width, dumbbell hanging in front of the thigh with the palm facing your leg.
- Set the free hand on your hip or a rack upright so you can feel if your torso starts helping.
- Brace the abs and set the ribs down before the first rep so the pull cannot become a lean-back.
- Decide your stopping height before you start: elbow to chest height, not to chin height.
- Start light — 6-10 kg. This is a position where extra weight buys shoulder discomfort faster than it buys muscle.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale as the elbow drives up, inhale on the way down. One second up, one second held at chest height, two to three seconds lowering.
Before you load it
- Anyone with a history of shoulder impingement or a rotator cuff injury should skip upright rows entirely. Face pulls and lateral raises train the same muscles without stacking internal rotation on top of abduction.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Start at 6-10 kg. Controlling 14-16 kg for 12 strict reps per arm with the elbow leading and no torso rock is a solid intermediate marker, and there is very little reason to chase heavier — the risk climbs faster than the return. Add reps to the top of the range first, then step up 2 kg.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Cap the pull at chest height with the upper arm parallel to the floor. Everything above that is upper trap plus a compressed shoulder joint. If you want traps, shrug — they take far more weight and cost nothing.
Cue the elbow as the thing you are lifting to the ceiling, and let the hand hang below it. If the elbow will not stay above the wrist, the dumbbell is too heavy for the position.
Put your back lightly against a wall for a set. If you feel your shoulder blades leaving the wall on the pull, drop 4 kg and keep the contact for every rep.
Stop the exercise. Pinching in this position is a genuine mechanical signal, not fatigue. Swap to a face pull or a lateral raise stopped at parallel — both train the same region without stacking internal rotation onto abduction.
Why bother
The upright row is a shoulder abduction with internal rotation, and that combination is exactly the position that narrows the space the rotator cuff tendon passes through. A barbell forces both hands into one fixed width and locks the forearm into pronation, so the shoulder has no way out. A single dumbbell lets your hand drift and the forearm rotate a little as the elbow rises, which is why most people who cannot tolerate the barbell version can do this one.
What it trains depends almost entirely on how high you pull. Stopping at chest height biases the lateral and rear delt and keeps the shoulder in reasonable territory. Yanking the dumbbell to your chin brings in the upper trap and stacks maximum internal rotation onto maximum abduction. The low version is the useful one; the chin-height version is a trap shrug with a shoulder cost.
Where it fits
Accessory work after your pressing, three sets of 10-15 per arm, once or twice a week. It overlaps heavily with lateral raises and shrugs — pick this or those, not all three in the same session. If your shoulders have any history of impingement, skip it and use a face pull instead.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Are upright rows bad for your shoulders?
The barbell version pulled to chin height genuinely is a poor bet for most people — it combines full internal rotation with abduction, which is the narrowest position for the cuff tendon. The single-dumbbell version stopped at chest height is far more forgiving because your hand can find its own path. If you feel a pinch anyway, that is not something to work through.
Does an EZ-bar or a cable fix the shoulder problem?
Partly. An EZ-bar lets the forearms sit in a half-neutral grip, which takes some internal rotation out of the top, and a cable with a single handle behaves much like the dumbbell. Neither changes the fundamental geometry: abduction plus internal rotation narrows the space the cuff tendon runs through, and pulling high is what closes it. Height matters more than the implement — stop at chest level and any of the three is tolerable; pull to the chin and none of them are.
Is this better than a lateral raise?
For most people, no. A lateral raise trains the same lateral delt with the arm in a friendlier rotation and no compromise at the top. The upright row's advantage is that the bent elbow shortens the lever, so you can load it heavier and it brings in the trap and rear delt. Run it as a variation, not as your only side-delt work.
Why one arm instead of both dumbbells?
The free hand steadies you against a rack, so you can feel whether your torso is rocking, and each shoulder finds its own comfortable pull path instead of mirroring the other. It also lets you catch the side that pinches without abandoning the exercise for both arms.