Seated Single Arm Cable Row

The seated single arm cable row trains the back one side at a time against constant cable tension. Working unilaterally has a specific advantage over a two-handed row: the shoulder blade on the working side can travel through its full range of protraction and retraction without the other side limiting it, so the lats and rhomboids move through more of the movement they are built for. It also reveals the strength gap between sides that a bar quietly averages. Sitting removes the lower back from the equation and lets you concentrate on the pull itself. The temptation, once the weight gets heavy, is to rotate the torso to finish the repetition. Resist it: the moment the trunk turns, the shoulder has done the work the back was supposed to do. Let the shoulder blade travel forward at the start of each repetition rather than holding it locked back, because that protraction is half the range the unilateral setup exists to give you.