One arm pulls, the other braces, and the trunk has to stop the torso from turning. That rotation to resist is what separates the one-arm row from the two-arm row.
The one-arm row is done with a dumbbell, a kettlebell, a barbell wedged in a corner (landmine) or a cable. Five studies and a meta-analysis measured what working one arm at a time changes in the trunk, in the upper back and in progress, and the usage data in the Overload exercise library shows which versions members do.
What rowing with one arm changes in the trunk
Saeterbakken et al. (2015) compared three pulls, the free-weight row, the seated cable row and the machine row, done with one arm and then with two arms by fifteen trained men, at matched effort. They measured the activity of the trunk muscles.
With one arm, the external obliques work harder, whatever the exercise: with two arms, their activity reaches only 37 to 41% of what was measured with one arm. The back extensors do the opposite. On the cable and the machine, one-arm activity of the erector spinae and multifidus is only 60 to 78% of the two-arm value, and on the free-weight row the erectors work 12% harder with two arms than with one.
Going to one arm moves the trunk work from the lower back to the obliques. The lower back works less, the muscles that resist rotation work more (Saeterbakken et al., 2015).
Fenwick et al. (2009) point the same way, with spinal load added. In seven men fitted with electrodes and a spine position sensor, the standing one-arm cable row mainly challenged the trunk's ability to resist torsion. The authors suggest it when the goal is torsional endurance or strength, while the two-arm bent-over row put the largest lumbar load of the three pulls tested.
The upper back and shoulders
Andersen et al. (2012) measured scapular muscle activity in seventeen women, on seven exercises, at low and high intensity. On the one-arm row, the middle trapezius worked harder than the upper trapezius, by 21 to 30%. The lower trapezius also came out ahead of the upper trapezius, at low and at high intensity.
To build the middle of the back without loading the upper traps, the one-arm row spreads the work in the right direction.
How to do a one-arm kettlebell or dumbbell row
- Put the knee and hand of the same side on a bench, or both hands on a support in a split stance. Back flat, torso close to parallel with the floor.
- Let the kettlebell or dumbbell hang at arm's length, under the shoulder.
- Pull toward the hip, leading with the elbow close to the torso, then lower under control to a straight arm.
- Keep the shoulders and hips square to the floor. If the torso twists to finish the rep, the load is too heavy.
The kettlebell and the dumbbell do the same movement. With a kettlebell, the hand holds a handle that sits above the weight, with a dumbbell it sits in the middle. None of the studies read compares the two on the row, and the Overload library gives them the same primary muscle, the middle back.
Supported (bench, knee)
The bench holds the torso up and limits rotation. This is the version for loading the back and logging sets that compare from one week to the next.
Standing, unsupported
Standing, the trunk has to resist rotation on its own. This is the setup Fenwick et al. tested for torsional trunk work, with a lighter load.
One arm or two for progress
Kassiano et al. (2025) pooled nine studies comparing unilateral and bilateral training. They found no difference in muscle growth between the two. Strength follows specificity: two-arm training improves two-arm strength more, one-arm training improves one-arm strength more.
The one-arm row also works the biceps, without replacing a curl. Mannarino et al. (2021) trained ten untrained men for eight weeks, one arm on the one-arm dumbbell row, the other on the one-arm curl. Elbow flexor thickness grew by 5.16% on the row side, against 11.06% on the curl side.
Working one side at a time also shows the gap between the two. Rodríguez-Perea et al. (2025) tested twenty-nine young athletes on the seated one-arm cable row. On average the side-to-side gap stayed under 10%, but 32% of participants exceeded a 15% gap in the concentric phase.
The seven one-arm rows in the Overload library
The Overload exercise library holds 897 movements, seven of them rows where a single arm pulls a load horizontally, or one arm after the other. All have the middle back as primary muscle. Members mostly do two of them.
| Variant | Secondary muscles | Member uses |
|---|---|---|
| Seated One-arm Cable Pulley Rows | Biceps, lats, traps | 398 |
| One-Arm Dumbbell Row | Biceps, lats, shoulders | 233 |
| Bent Over One-Arm Long Bar Row | Biceps, lats, lower back, traps | 5 |
| One-Arm Long Bar Row | Biceps, lats | 1 |
| Alternating Kettlebell Row | Biceps, lats | 1 |
| One-Arm Kettlebell Row | Biceps, lats | 0 |
| Alternating Renegade Row | Abdominals, biceps, chest, lats, triceps | 0 |
The counter adds up the logged sessions in which the movement appears. It counts neither sets nor people, and an exercise that comes up first in the app's search has an edge. One-arm pulls that start from above, such as the one-arm cable lat pulldown, are left out of the table: they work in another plane.
The cable and the dumbbell take 631 of the 638 uses, or 98.9% of the family. The two kettlebell versions have 1 between them. Members who row with a kettlebell do it with both hands: the Two-Arm Kettlebell Row has 34 uses.
The cable also wins among two-arm rows: the Seated Cable Rows have 1,056 uses, against 398 for the one-arm version. The guide on cable training covers what the cable changes compared with free weights.
Practical recommendations
- Pick the one-arm row if your lower back tires before your back: the erector spinae work less than with two arms (Saeterbakken et al., 2015).
- Keep a standing, unsupported version if you want to train the trunk against rotation. Fenwick et al. (2009) suggest the one-arm row for that goal.
- Brace on a bench to load heavy and track clean progress from one session to the next.
- Do the same number of reps on both sides and note the load for each side. Rodríguez-Perea et al. (2025) found a gap above 15% in the concentric phase in a third of the athletes tested.
- Keep a curl if your biceps are a goal: the one-arm row grew them about half as much over eight weeks (Mannarino et al., 2021).
- For the two-arm version, barbell or two dumbbells, see the bent-over row guide.
Kettlebell and dumbbell, two historiesOverload is a structured strength-training app. The Exercises section of the Analytics tab keeps your personal records and estimated 1RMs side by side, exercise by exercise, and each exercise opens its full chart and history. During a session, each exercise has its own comment field: write down the support you used, bench or standing, so you compare like with like. Get Overload and log your next one-arm row.
Conclusion
The one-arm row loads the lower back less than the two-arm row and works the obliques harder, the muscles that stop the torso from turning. For muscle growth, one arm or two gives the same result, and strength improves in the version you train. Overload members do it on the cable or with a dumbbell in 98.9% of cases, and almost never with a kettlebell.
- Saeterbakken A, Andersen V, Brudeseth A, Lund H, Fimland MS (2015) — The Effect of Performing Bi- and Unilateral Row Exercises on Core Muscle Activation. Int J Sports Med, 36(11), 900-905.
- Fenwick CM, Brown SH, McGill SM (2009) — Comparison of different rowing exercises: trunk muscle activation and lumbar spine motion, load, and stiffness. J Strength Cond Res, 23(5), 1408-1417.
- Andersen CH, Zebis MK, Saervoll C, et al. (2012) — Scapular muscle activity from selected strengthening exercises performed at low and high intensities. J Strength Cond Res, 26(9), 2408-2416.
- Kassiano W, Nunes JP, Costa B, Ribeiro AS, Loenneke JP, Cyrino ES (2025) — Comparison of Muscle Growth and Dynamic Strength Adaptations Induced by Unilateral and Bilateral Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Sports Med, 55(4), 923-936.
- Mannarino P, Matta T, Lima J, Simão R, Freitas de Salles B (2021) — Single-Joint Exercise Results in Higher Hypertrophy of Elbow Flexors Than Multijoint Exercise. J Strength Cond Res, 35(10), 2677-2681.
- Rodríguez-Perea Á, Vila H, Ferragut C, et al. (2025) — Reliability of the Seated Unilateral Cable Row and Strength Differences Between Dominant and Non-Dominant Sides in Young Athletes. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol, 10(4), 390.
This article presents the current scientific evidence. For a personalised program, consult a health professional.