Inverted Row Bent Knees

The inverted row is a bodyweight pulling exercise performed under a bar set at hip height, and it is the best available step toward a strict pull up. It trains the lats, the rhomboids and the biceps with a fraction of your bodyweight, and you decide what fraction: the more horizontal your body, the harder the exercise becomes. Bending the knees and planting the feet on the floor is the most accessible version, because it shortens the lever and reduces the weight the arms have to pull. It also offers something a pull up does not: being a horizontal pull, it strengthens scapular retraction and directly counters the forward shoulder position most people carry. Keep the body in one line and do not let the hips sag as you lower. Straightening the legs and raising the feet onto a box are the two progressions available once the bent-knee version stops being challenging, and both keep the same pattern intact.