Single Arm Cable Row: How to Do It, Muscles Worked and Tips

The single arm cable row is a horizontal pull where you row one D-handle towards your hip with one arm while the other side stays still. You can do it seated at a low row station, standing at a cable tower or half-kneeling, and it trains your lats, mid-back, rear delts and biceps with a longer range of motion than a two-handed row. Working one side at a time also lets you even out a weaker arm and forces your core to resist being pulled round by the cable. Below is how to set it up in each position, what to feel, and how to programme it.

How to do a single arm cable row

Clip a single D-handle to the cable. For the seated version use a low row station or set the pulley at its lowest point. For standing and half-kneeling, put the pulley roughly at chest or lower-chest height.

Seated single arm cable row

1. Sit tall. Sit on the bench with your feet on the platform and knees slightly bent. Grab the handle with one hand, palm facing in, and sit back so the stack lifts off and your arm is straight.
2. Set the shoulder. Let the cable draw your shoulder forward a little so you feel a stretch along the side of your back, but keep your chest up and lower back neutral.
3. Pull. Start by drawing your shoulder blade back, then drive your elbow back past your torso, keeping it close to your side. Aim the handle at your lower ribs or the top of your hip.
4. Squeeze. Hold for a second with your shoulder blade pulled back and down. Your free hand can rest on your thigh.
5. Return slowly. Let the arm straighten over two or three seconds and let the shoulder blade glide forward before the next rep.

Standing or half-kneeling single arm cable row

Standing is the version most people do at a cable tower. Stagger your stance with the foot opposite the working arm forward, hinge very slightly at the hips and brace before each rep. The same pull applies: shoulder blade first, then elbow back towards the hip.

Half-kneeling takes your legs out of the lift. Kneel on the knee on the same side as the working arm with the other foot flat in front, squeeze the glute of the down leg and keep your ribs stacked over your hips. Because your base is narrow, any rotation shows up straight away, which makes it the best position for learning to pull without twisting.

Muscles worked

The single arm cable row is a back exercise first, with arm and core muscles helping out.

• Latissimus dorsi. Your lats pull the upper arm down and back, which is the main action when the elbow travels towards your hip. The longer reach at the start of a one-arm row puts them under more stretch than a two-handed version.
• Middle trapezius and rhomboids. These pull your shoulder blade towards your spine. A recent high-density EMG study of the seated row found that holding the shoulder blades fixed raised middle trapezius and lat activity in the lowering phase, while letting them move freely produced similar overall activation (Padovan et al., 2025). In practice, either style works; pick based on what you're trying to train.
• Rear deltoids. The back of your shoulder helps extend the arm, and it works harder if you let your elbow flare out slightly away from your body.
• Biceps and forearms. Your biceps and brachialis bend the elbow, and your grip holds the handle.
• Obliques and deep core. Loading only one side creates a twisting force on your trunk. When Fenwick, Brown and McGill compared three rowing exercises, the standing one-arm cable row was the one that most challenged the torsional capacity of the trunk muscles (Fenwick et al., 2009).

Why train one arm at a time

The main reason to choose the single arm cable row over a two-handed seated cable row isn't that it builds more muscle. A 2025 meta-analysis of nine studies found no clear difference in muscle growth between unilateral and bilateral training, and strength gains followed specificity: one-limb training improved one-limb strength more, and two-limb training improved two-limb strength more (Kassiano et al., 2025). So the benefits are practical.

You can fix side-to-side differences. With a straight bar or V-handle, a stronger side can quietly take over. Rowing one arm at a time means each side has to move the full load on its own, and you'll see straight away if one arm stalls two reps before the other.

You get a longer range of motion. Without a second hand fixing the handle in place, your shoulder can reach further forward at the start and your elbow can travel further back at the end. That's more stretch on the lat and more shoulder blade movement per rep.

Rotation becomes a choice. You can resist rotation entirely and make the row a core exercise, or allow a controlled turn of the upper back for extra reach. Both are valid; just decide before the set which one you're doing.

It's easy on the lower back. Supported by a bench or a staggered stance, there's far less load on the lumbar spine than in a heavy bent-over barbell row.

Common mistakes

• Twisting to move the weight. A little thoracic rotation for range is fine. Swinging your whole torso round to get the handle moving is not, and it usually means the weight is too heavy.
• Shrugging. If your shoulder rises towards your ear as you pull, your upper traps are taking over. Set the shoulder blade down before you bend the elbow.
• Pulling with the arm only. Starting the rep by bending the elbow turns it into a biceps exercise. Move the shoulder blade first, then the elbow.
• Rushing the return. Letting the stack drop yanks your shoulder forward and wastes the lowering phase. Take two to three seconds on the way back.
• Pulling too high. Rowing the handle to your chest with a flared elbow shifts the work towards the rear delts and upper traps. Fine if that's the goal, but for the lats, aim lower towards your hip.
• Leaning back on the seated version. A few degrees is natural. Rocking back each rep to finish the pull means you're using momentum.

Variations

• Half-kneeling single arm cable row. The strictest version for anti-rotation work, and a good place to start if you tend to twist.
• High-to-low single arm row. Set the pulley above head height and row down and back towards your hip. The angle lines up closely with the lats' fibres and feels like a cross between a row and a pulldown.
• Rotational cable row. Start with your shoulders turned towards the stack and rotate open as you pull. Use a light weight and treat it as a trunk exercise as much as a back one.
• Single arm row with a pause. Hold the end position for two to three seconds on every rep. It's humbling and great for building the mind-muscle connection with the mid-back.
• Dumbbell row. If there's no cable available, the dumbbell row is the closest free-weight match. You lose the constant cable tension but can load it heavily.

Short on gym time or equipment? Our guide to seated cable row alternatives covers band, dumbbell and bodyweight options.

Sets and reps

The single arm cable row responds well to moderate weights and higher reps, because the movement depends on control more than raw load.

• For muscle growth: 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps per arm, resting 60 to 90 seconds between sides.
• For strength: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps per arm with a heavier stack. Use the seated version here, since standing becomes a core test before the back is tired.
• For core and posture work: 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps half-kneeling, focusing on keeping your hips and shoulders square.

Always start with your weaker arm and match that rep count on the stronger side. Doing so stops the gap from growing. Twice a week is plenty for most people, and it slots in well as the second row of a back day after a heavier two-handed pull, or alongside a lat pulldown for a balanced upper-body session.

Equipment for a home setup

You need an adjustable pulley and one D-handle, nothing more. A cable tower with a sliding carriage lets you run the low, mid and high versions from one machine. The Bells of Steel cable tower fits a 210lb weight stack into a small footprint; its 2:1 pulley ratio halves the load at the handle, which matters less for a one-arm row than for heavy two-handed pulls. Our home gym hub covers racks, cables and benches if you're building out a space.

Recommended reads

• Seated cable row: how to do it and muscles worked
• Dumbbell row: form tips and variations
• Seated cable row alternatives
• Bells of Steel cable tower review
• Home gym equipment and guides