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By The Angles90 Editorial Team · Published 10.27.2026 · Last updated 10.27.2026
An inverted row is a bodyweight row: you hang under a bar or a pair of straps with your body held rigid, then pull your chest up to your hands. Your body is the weight, so you change the difficulty by changing your angle instead of adding plates. The authors of a 2013 study of 15 adults in the Journal of Exercise Physiology online (Snarr and Esco, published December 2013) describe it as a beginning progression toward the bodyweight pull-up.
Angles90® has been building pulling equipment since 2018, starting with a handle co-developed with the strength training ergonomics faculty at TU Munich. This guide takes the row in the order you do it: the setup, the steps, the three settings that make it easier or harder, and how to rig it at home on the A90 Sling Trainer. It sits beside our comparison of seven horizontal pull exercises, which covers the inverted row as one item among several. This one is the full walkthrough.
You need something that holds your hands above your chest while you lie under it. In the studies cited below that was either a barbell on a rack or Smith machine, or a suspension trainer anchored overhead. The bar or handles sat at about hip height for each lifter, so that is the height to start with.
These steps follow the protocol in two lab studies from the same research group: the 2013 bar-versus-straps study above, and a 2014 study of 20 adults that added an underhand grip (Snarr et al., European Journal of Sports and Exercise Science, 2014). It is the version with the most muscle-activity data behind it.
Both Snarr studies recorded muscle activity in four places: the latissimus dorsi (the lats), the middle trapezius, the posterior deltoid at the back of the shoulder, and the biceps. A 2009 study of seven healthy men in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Fenwick et al.) compared three rows and found the inverted row produced the highest activation of the lats, upper back and hip extensor muscles, with the lowest lumbar spine load of the three. Keep the limits in view: these studies measured muscle activity during one session, not changes in strength or muscle size over months, and the samples were small.
Three settings change the row: your body angle, where your feet are, and how your hands hold on. Change one at a time, so you can tell which one did the work.
| Setting | What you change | What the cited research reported |
|---|---|---|
| Body angle | Bar height or strap length | Longer straps meant a flatter body and less force through the feet (Giancotti et al., 2021) |
| Feet | Knees bent and feet flat, straight legs, or feet raised on a bench | The 2013 authors name straight legs and raised feet as ways to raise the load, but did not test them. Lifting one foot did not change muscle activity in another study (Youdas et al., 2016) |
| Grip | Overhand or underhand | Underhand lowered lat, rear-delt and middle trapezius activity in some versions and raised biceps activity in the strap row (Snarr et al., 2014) |
| Handles | Fixed bar or freely moving handles | Lats, middle trapezius and rear delts were similar, biceps activity was lower on straps (Snarr and Esco, 2013) |
The flatter your body, the more of your weight your arms move. A 2021 study of 30 adults in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Giancotti et al.) had people hold static suspension rows at seven strap lengths. As the straps got longer, body inclination and the force through the feet both fell, which leaves more of your weight in your hands. The sample averaged about 23 years old and the rows were held still, not repeated. On a bar, lowering the bar does the same job. If your chest will not reach your hands, raise the bar or shorten the straps before you shorten the rep.
The 2013 and 2014 studies used the gentlest common setup, knees bent to 90° with feet flat, which the 2013 authors note needed only a small share of bodyweight. They name straight legs and feet on a bench as ways to raise the demand and call for future research on them. A 2016 study of 26 adults doing inverted rows on a portable pull-up device (Youdas et al., Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, July 2016) found no significant difference in activity across the nine muscles tested between two-foot and one-foot versions. So treat a raised or lifted foot as a way to make the row harder to hold, and do not expect it to change which muscles work.
Overhand versus underhand changes who leads. In the 2014 study, an underhand bar row produced less lat activity than either overhand version, both underhand versions produced less rear-delt activity than the overhand ones, and the underhand strap row gave the lowest middle trapezius activity and the highest biceps activity. Overhand keeps more of the work on the upper back, and underhand moves more of it to the arm.
Handles matter too. In the 2013 study, lat, middle trapezius and rear-delt activity did not differ between a bar and a commercial suspension trainer, and biceps activity was lower on the straps. The authors suggest freely moving handles may let the elbow travel through less range. The 2014 authors add that moving handles may allow minor rotations during the pull, where a fixed bar allows none. A90 Grips are freely rotating handles, so you can try that on straps and see how it feels for you.
You need an anchor above your hands and something to hold. The A90 Sling Trainer product page describes throwing the straps over thick beams, trees or balcony railings, and its FAQ says a door works if the door is stable enough. Each strap is TÜV-certified at 550 lbs (250 kg). The kit has two straps and two carabiners but no handles, so you clip a pair of A90 Grips onto the straps. Each handle is certified for 400 lbs (180 kg).
The page also lists eight white markings on the straps for adjusting length. Pick one, write down which marking you used and where your feet sat, and you can repeat the same angle next session or change it on purpose. That turns the body-angle setting above into a number you can log. Our suspension training exercises guide covers what else the straps can do.
One variation comes straight from the product page: rowing with two A90 Grips on a single sling, where your arms travel outward as you pull. It is a different row from the one above, and the same anchor check applies before the first rep.
It works the lats, the upper back and the rear shoulders, with the biceps helping. In the 2009 study the inverted row produced the highest lat, upper-back and hip-extensor activation of three rows, with the lowest lumbar spine load. That is muscle activity in a session, not a measured training result. Our seated cable row guide covers the machine version of the same pull.
Neither is better across the board, because they are different movements. A row pulls toward your torso and a pull-up pulls you up toward your hands. The 2013 authors describe the inverted row as a beginning progression toward the bodyweight pull-up. When you are ready for the vertical pull, see our guides to neutral grip pull-ups, chin-ups and different pull-up grips.
A lower bar is harder. In the 2021 study, longer straps flattened the body and reduced the force through the feet, so the hands carried more. The same logic applies to a bar: the closer your body is to horizontal, the more of your weight you pull.
Anchor a pair of straps above your hands and hold a handle in each, or lie under a bar set at about hip height. The A90 Sling Trainer page describes anchoring over a thick beam, a tree or a balcony railing, or to a stable door. Check that the anchor is fixed and can carry your weight before the first rep.
Stop the set. Pain is a reason to get assessed by a qualified healthcare professional before you keep training the movement.
Angles90 products are training equipment, not medical devices. This article is general information about training, not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you are training around pain, an injury or a medical condition, speak to a qualified healthcare professional before changing how you train.
An inverted row is a bodyweight row you scale with three settings: body angle, feet and grip. Start at hip height with your knees bent, pull your chest to your hands, lower for two seconds, and change one setting at a time. If you want to train it at home, see how the A90 Sling Trainer and A90 Grips set up on the anchor you already have.
