Seated One-arm Cable Pulley Rows
Also works: Biceps · Lats · Traps
The same low-pulley row done with a single handle, starting palm-down and rotating to neutral as the hand arrives at the waist. Working one side at a time buys you roughly 20 degrees of extra shoulder-blade travel at both ends, and it exposes a strong-side/weak-side gap that a two-handed bar quietly hides.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Sit with both feet braced and knees softly bent; the non-working hand rests on that thigh, not gripping the seat for leverage.
- Take the handle palm-down. The rotation to neutral happens during the pull, so do not pre-set a neutral grip.
- Square your hips and shoulders to the pulley before the first rep — a rotated setup lets the torso do the work.
- Sit upright with the working arm fully extended and the cable already under tension.
- Decide the rep target from the weaker side and set the pin for that side.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale through the pull, inhale on the return. One second in, one second held at the waist, two seconds out, with a deliberate reach at the end of the return.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Expect to use a little more than half what you use on the two-handed version per side, and less on the first arm you train. Start where you can pause at the waist without the free shoulder drifting. Progress by adding a rep to the weak side until both sides hit the top of the range, then move the pin one plate.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Put your free hand flat on the opposite thigh and keep the pressure constant. If the pressure changes mid-rep you are twisting; drop the pin two plates and rebuild the rep with square shoulders.
Train the weak side first at a weight it can complete strictly, then match reps and load on the strong side. Retest the gap every four weeks rather than every session.
Start pronated and let the forearm turn as the elbow passes the ribs. The rotation is what lets the shoulder blade finish its retraction rather than jamming at half range.
Aim the handle at the top of your hip bone and keep the elbow brushing your side. High elbows turn this into rear-delt work and shorten the range the mid-back sees.
Why bother
With one handle, nothing ties your two shoulder blades together. The working scapula can wrap further forward at the stretch and retract further at the finish than a fixed bar allows, so the mid-back moves through a longer arc under constant cable tension. Range, not load, is what this variation buys you.
It also audits you. On a V-bar the stronger side takes an unnoticed extra share of every rep; here the weak side has to complete its own set at its own weight. Set the reps by what the weaker arm can do strictly, match the stronger side to it, and the gap closes over a couple of months.
Where it fits
Late in a back day as the higher-rep, longer-range finisher: 3 sets of 10-15 per side after your heavy bilateral pulling. Doubling the set count makes it slow, so treat it as your one unilateral pull rather than adding it alongside single-arm dumbbell rows in the same session.
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
Asked and answered
Is the one-arm version actually better than the V-bar row?
Better at range of motion and at exposing imbalances; worse at total load and at time efficiency, since every set is done twice. Most people are best served running the two-handed row as the main pull and this as a second, higher-rep movement rather than choosing one forever.
How much side-to-side difference is normal?
A rep or two at the same weight, or one plate on the stack, is unremarkable — nearly everyone is asymmetric. A gap of three or more reps, or pain on only one side, is worth addressing by leading with the weak side and holding the strong side to its numbers for a block.
Should I brace the free hand on the seat or against my knee?
On your thigh, lightly. Gripping the seat gives you a lever to twist against, which is exactly the cheat this exercise is meant to remove. If you need the brace to stay square, the load is too high.
Should I do this standing or half-kneeling instead of seated?
Stay seated if the goal is the mid-back. Standing lets you counterbalance with your hips and legs, and that extra leverage is precisely the cheat the seat removes — you will move more weight and see less of it reach the shoulder blade. Standing and half-kneeling cable rows are worth doing as anti-rotation trunk work, but log them as that, not as your back volume.