Feeling Barbell Rows in Arms

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi BBM Team and Forum Members,

I am having trouble feeling barbell rows in my back at all. Instead, as I progress through my working sets my arms (especially my biceps) start to feel fatigued and burn. From searching on this forum for similar questions I found that when people asked about feeling rows in the upper back vs mid back that the answer was “it doesn’t matter where exactly you feel it.” Does this apply for feeling the movement in your arms?

Here is a video of my last back-off set at RPE 8. I am on Phase 2 week 6 of the beginner program.

2

Your back is doing what it’s supposed to here, so yes.

With that said, if you’re performing them double overhand without straps, sometimes the load you can use might be limited by grip/forearm strength more than back strength. In this situation simply doing your rows with straps will allow you to go heavier (and thus likely “feel it” more).

3

Understood. Thank you, Austin!