Hammer Grip Incline Dumbbell Row

The incline dumbbell row is a back exercise performed face down on an inclined bench, with a dumbbell in each hand held in a neutral hammer grip. Supporting your chest on the bench is the whole point of the setup: it takes the lower back and the hips out of the equation, so you cannot swing the weight up with your body. What is left is the work of the mid-back, the rhomboids, the rear delts and the lats pulling the arms back and the shoulder blades together. The hammer grip keeps the elbows travelling close to the ribs, which shifts a little more of the load toward the lats and spares the shoulder joint compared with a pronated grip. Because momentum is off the table, most lifters need less weight here than on a bent-over row, and the muscle feels far more of what is left.