Inverted row progression
Rows are the quiet half of pulling. This chain takes them from a near-upright row to the one arm row, then onto the rings for the iron cross.
- Realm
- The Lever
- Steps
- 22
- Grades
- White to Red
- Gear
- bar, rings
An inverted row is a pull-up turned on its side. You hang under a bar or rings with your heels on the floor and pull your chest up to your hands, body straight. Your body angle sets the load. Near upright is easy, flat is hard, and that one change carries you through the White grade, from the Vertical Row and the Incline Row to the Row and the Wide Row.
Rows belong in every week. They train the mid-back and the muscles that pull the shoulder blades together. Pull-ups only partly cover that work, and a shoulder that does a lot of pushing needs it. They also scale a long way. Past the Wide Row the same pattern becomes the One Arm Row, then rows from a front lever, and the chain ends with the iron cross progression on rings.
Once you own 3 × 8 on the Wide Row, the chain forks. The one-arm road runs through Green, with the Archer Row, the Archer-In Row and the Straddle OA Row, and reaches the One Arm Row at Blue. The front lever rows climb from the Tuck FL Row at Blue to the Front Lever Row at Yellow. Red leaves the bar for the rings: Cross Pulls, the Iron Cross, and the ring skills built on it, up to the Butterfly to Inverted Cross.
The ladder
Every step has a standard. Own it, then climb. Grades run White, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red.
- 01Vertical RowWhite3 × 8 reps
- 02Incline RowWhite3 × 8 reps
- 03RowWhite3 × 8 reps
- 04Wide RowWhiteFork point: after 3×8, choose weighted rows, the Front Lever path, or Archer → One-Arm rows.3 × 8 reps
- 05L-HangWhite3 × 20–30s hold
- 06Archer RowGreen3 × 8 reps
- 07Archer-In RowGreenSame movement as Archer Row, same video. The difference: walk the straight arm's hand in toward you each session until it barely helps. When it's near your hip, you're ready for one-arm work.3 × 5–8 reps
- 08Straddle OA RowGreen3 × 5–8 reps
- 09One Arm RowBlue3 × 5–8 reps
- 10Tuck ICMBlue3 × 5–8 reps
- 11Tuck FL RowBlueRepeat hold-then-pulls at every tuck level: adv tuck → straddle → full.3 × 5–8
- 12Adv Tuck FL RowYellow3 × 5–8 reps
- 13Straddle FL RowYellow4 × 3–5 reps
- 14Front Lever RowYellow4 × 3–5 reps
- 15Cross PullsRed4 × 3–5 reps
- 16Iron CrossRed4 × 8–15s hold
- 17Iron Cross to BLRed4 × 3–5 reps
- 18Iron Cross PressRed3 × 1 press
- 19ButterflyRed3 × 1 clean rep
- 20AzarianRed1 clean roll to cross
- 21Inverted Iron CrossRed3 × 4s hold
- 22Butterfly to Inverted CrossRed1 clean sequence
How to climb it
Move up when every rep of the current row is clean at the standard, with a pause at the top and no sag at the hips. Rows recover fast, so they fit two or three times a week, paired with a push in a superset. In Train, each step from the Vertical Row to the One Arm Row starts at 3 × 5 and adds a rep per logged session until 3 × 8, then hands you the next row.
On the one-arm steps, train both sides and let the weaker arm set the count. Then there is Red. The iron cross puts heavy straight-arm load on the elbows and the front of the shoulder, so it usually comes after years of ring work, ideally with a coach watching your sets. Until then, the front lever rows give you plenty to chase.
After 3×8 Wide Rows the wiki offers three roads: weighted rows (easiest to load), the Tuck Front Lever path, or Archer → One-Arm rows.
Form cues
- Straight body, elbows in
- Arms straight at the bottom
- Bar/rings to chest, shoulder blades fully retracted at top
- Don't shrug the shoulders up
Accessory work and gear
No low bar? Table rows, a bedsheet over a closed door, or a chair under your pull-up bar all work.
Common mistakes
- Dropping rows once pull-ups arrive: they train different muscles, and the shoulders pay for the gap over time.
- Sagging at the hips: once the hips drop, the rep gets shorter and the back stops working, so squeeze the glutes and keep one line from heels to head.
- Twisting on the one arm row: rotating the chest toward the bar steals range, so keep the hips and shoulders square and stay on the Straddle OA Row until you can.
- Leaving the archer rows too early: if the helping arm still does real work, more one-arm attempts will not fix it.
- Pulling before holding: front lever rows assume you already own the hold at that tuck level, so earn the hold first.
- Treating Cross Pulls as just another row: they load the elbow and shoulder far harder than anything below them, so keep the sets few and the rest long when you start them.
Questions
Are inverted rows better than pull-ups?
Neither replaces the other. Rows pull horizontally and hit the mid-back harder, while pull-ups lean more on the lats. Train both every week and your shoulders stay balanced.
How do you make inverted rows harder without weights?
Change the angle first: walk your feet forward until your body is flat under the bar. Then widen the grip and start shifting the load toward one arm with archer rows. After that, the One Arm Row and the front lever rows give you a long road without a single plate.
How long does it take to get a one arm row?
Most people need many months of steady rowing after the Wide Row. The Archer-In Row is the bridge: the helping arm does a little less every session. Train both sides and expect one of them to lag.
How do you start the iron cross progression?
Build a long base on rings before you touch it, with solid ring support and front lever rows. Cross Pulls come next, before any static hold. The cross loads the elbows and the front of the shoulder hard, so if pain persists at any point, see a professional.
Rows are not replaceable by pull-ups, they hit the mid-back, which matters for shoulder health.
Further reading
The chain follows the r/bodyweightfitness progressions chart. Standards, grades and words: BARCROSS.