Good Starting Weight for Upright Dumbbell Row

Dumbbell upright rows can help you build strong muscular shoulders. However, ExRx.net warns that upright rows can cause shoulder injury. This necessitates the need to start with a comfortable weight that doesn't put excessive stress on your shoulder joints and allows you to perfect your technique.

  1. Warming-Up

    • Always do a thorough warm-up before before doing free weight exercises such as dumbbell upright rows. Increase your core temperature with a 10-minute cardiovascular routine. For example, do a brisk walk on an inclined treadmill, or use the elliptical machine or stair climber. Next, loosen up your shoulder joints with dynamic stretches such as shoulder circles, and swinging your arms in a big circle.

    Targeted Muscles

    • The dumbbell upright row is a multi-joint exercise that primarily targets your medial or lateral deltoids. It has a secondary effect on your anterior deltoids, trapezius, biceps, forearms and three of your rotator cuff muscles -- the supraspinatus, infraspinatus and teres minor.

    Starting Off

    • A good starting weight should enable you to perform four sets of 12 to 15 repetitions without straining and compromising your technique. Do your first set with a light warm-up weight to put your joints and muscles through the required range of motion. Grasp the dumbbells at thigh height and row them upward to the front of your shoulders as your elbows flare outward. ExRx.net recommends you keep your elbows pointing directly to your sides instead of angling them forward to avoid injuring your supraspinatus tendon.

    Understanding Upright Rows

    • Increase your weight as you get stronger. However, you should be aware of the limitations of the exercise. Dumbbell upright rows internally rotate your shoulders, moving them toward the central line of your body. Strength coach Chad Waterbury believes that a strength imbalance and rotator cuff injury may occur if you focus on exercises such as dumbbell upright rows that internally rotate your shoulders, to the detriment of exercises that externally rotate your shoulders.

    Avoiding Strength Imbalances

    • Waterbury suggests a variation of dumbbell upright rows to strengthen your external rotators. To do upright rows with external rotation, row the dumbbells upward until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, then rotate your forearms backward until they are perpendicular to your upper arms. This exercise is ideal as you get more advanced. But Waterbury says you should avoid it if you have a shoulder injury.