Seated Cable Row
The seated cable row is a horizontal pull where you sit on a bench and row a cable handle to your torso. It works the mid back, including the rhomboids and mid traps, with the lats and biceps assisting. Pick it for back thickness with constant cable tension.
Muscles worked
The seated cable row trains the back, with biceps, lats helping.
Weekly sets for back
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for back, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the seated cable row
- 01Sit on the bench with your feet on the platform and a soft bend in your knees.
- 02Grab the handle, then sit tall with your torso upright and arms extended forward.
- 03Row the handle to your lower ribs by pulling your elbows back past your torso.
- 04Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the end of the pull.
- 05Extend your arms and let your shoulder blades spread forward under control before the next rep.
Coaching cues
- Chest up, sit tall
- Elbows back, squeeze the blades
- Reach forward with the shoulders, not the spine
Common mistakes
- Rocking your torso back and forth turns the row into a hip hinge, so keep your torso nearly still and pull with the back.
- Rounding your lower back to reach forward loads the spine instead of the back muscles, so keep a neutral spine at full reach.
- Shrugging the handle up toward your neck shifts work to the upper traps, so keep your shoulders down and pull to the ribs.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers compound lifts toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Seated Cable Row alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your seated cable row free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.