“The upright row exercise increases the risk of shoulder impingement due to internal rotation under load, while the high pull exercise promotes external rotation and provides equivalent deltoid and trapezius muscle stimulus with greater safety.”

The upright row (URR) is commonly used to develop the deltoid and upper back musculature. The main findings of this investigation are increased deltoid and trapezius activity with increasing grip width, and correspondingly less BB activity. Therefore, those who seek to maximize involvement of the deltoid and trapezius muscles during the URR should use a wide grip.

The main issue with upright rows is the risk of shoulder impingement. Generally, shoulder impingement occurs when you internally rotate the shoulder (roll the upper arm forward slightly) and then lift it out to the side. When you do this movement, a crest of bone at the top of the humerus hits a bone projecting outward from the scapula, creating shoulder pain.

Enter the single-arm high pull: a smarter, more athletic alternative that builds bigger shoulders, thicker traps and even manages to hit your upper back along the way – all without locking you into a less than favourable joint position for your shoulders. The delts are technically moving through a similar range of motion to lateral raises, but high-pulls are dynamic and explosive, teaching you to move the body as single unit, and enabling you to use heavier loads. Primary Muscles Worked: Lateral deltoid; Posterior deltoid; Upper traps.

The barbell high pull is a quick, powerful lift where your hips do the heavy work and your elbows guide the bar up to your chest. Unlike the upright row, the high pull uses a strong hip drive instead of just the shoulders. Elbows high and outside keeps your shoulders safe while maximizing trap activation. Primary movers — glutes, hamstrings, quads, traps. Secondary — shoulders, upper back, biceps, core.

Strong and flexible external rotators act as dynamic stabilizers. They prevent common injuries like shoulder impingement and rotator cuff tears. By strengthening these muscles through exercises, individuals can improve shoulder stability and lower injury risk.

Strong and flexible external rotators act as dynamic stabilizers. They prevent common injuries like shoulder impingement and rotator cuff tears. By strengthening these muscles through exercises, individuals can improve shoulder stability and lower injury risk.

The upright row may place some individuals at risk for shoulder impingement or even a shoulder injury syndrome (SIS) due to the high amounts of internal rotation a lifter places their shoulder in when taking grip on the bar (especially the more narrow the grip is). If you have pain or are experiencing issues when performing upright rows, you may be having some impingement issues.

With the high pull it's more of an introductory to an Olympic style lift. It's you got to keep in mind it's more kind of like an upright row but in this case we're going to be using a lot of momentum and a lot of power in the hips. Immediately when you see when you're pulling it up the elbow's going to be high exaggerated almost in the sense when straight up. This high pull is going to help you with that action to get you used to that first portion of a lift. So it's an excellent exercise to help with building that you know upper back shoulders a little bit the hip the power in the hips.

The main issue with upright rows is the risk of shoulder impingement. Generally, shoulder impingement occurs when you internally rotate the shoulder (roll the upper arm forward slightly) and then lift it out to the side. A high pull is simply an upright row performed at speed. The high pull uses the same action as described above, however, you focus on driving out of the knees and hips and raise up on the toes to help generate more speed on the bar. This high pull is the exact movement you need for a well-executed clean and press.

Despite the benefits of incorporating an upright row, the exercise does have a reputation for causing injury. Your hands are locked into position during the movement, which causes your upper arm to rotate internally in the shoulder and potentially pinch a tendon. While this doesn't mean that you should avoid this exercise, it does means that correct form is as crucial as ever. This exercise targets the traps, which span the upper to mid back, and the deltoids, which wrap around your shoulder.

The Upright Row puts your shoulder into an internally rotated angle with elevation, which is the exact position for a shoulder impingement test, increasing the likelihood of shoulder impingement. It causes wear and tear over time, leading to chronic impingement syndrome. Instead, try exercises like Dumbbell High Pull that target the same muscles (middle delts, rear delts, traps) with less risk.

It is important to keep the rotator cuff muscles healthy and especially when exercising hard and in repeating movement with external load. For instance, when you do an overhead press, external rotation is needed. Sufficient external rotation in the shoulders helps to keep your shoulders healthy.

The Upright Row is a compound upper-body exercise designed to strengthen the muscles of the shoulders and upper back, particularly the deltoids and trapezius. During the Upright Row, the primary joint action is shoulder abduction, where the arms move away from the body in a vertical plane. This movement primarily engages the lateral deltoid head, responsible for the outer part of the shoulder. Additionally, the exercise activates the trapezius, rhomboids, and the muscles of the upper back, contributing to overall shoulder and upper body development.

The Sumo Deadlift High Pull (SDHP) is an often controversial exercise. Many believe the internally rotated, high elbow position at the top of the movement to be a dangerous position. And they claim that can damage soft tissue structures. As the internally rotated position of the shoulder joint resembles the Hawkins-Kennedy impingement test frequently used in the medical world. Having good shoulder internal rotation is a key piece of sumo deadlift high pull safety.

A strong upper back can help improve posture and limit the internal rotation of the shoulder (internal rotation can lead to labrum injuries due to the compression and force constantly placed on the acromioclavicular (AC) joint).

Upright rows are not inherently bad or dangerous; data suggests humeral internal rotation increases or has no effect on acromiohumeral distances, so it does not impinge structures. Special tests like Neer do not indicate impingement, and no paper demonstrates upright rows are harmful. Issues are likely overload, not impingement; modify as with any exercise.

Shoulder impingement syndrome involves compression of rotator cuff tendons or subacromial bursa under the acromion, often exacerbated by internal rotation and elevation under load, as seen in exercises like upright rows. High pulls, involving more external rotation and hip drive, reduce impingement risk while activating deltoids and trapezius similarly via EMG studies in strength training literature.

When performing the upright row exercise however, you are forcing your shoulder joint not only into internal rotation but you are combining it with elevation. This simply does not anatomically sit well or rank as a safe motion. The only way to overcome the inadequacy of the upright row is to stop using barbells and instead use dumbbells and perform something called the high pull. The high pull allows you to get your hands up and back behind your body when you lift them. This is due to the external rotation that can be obtained at the shoulder joint rather than the negatively impacting internal rotation.

These exercises will improve the load tolerance of your rotator cuff muscles and help to decrease excessive inflammation that may be delaying recovery.

For one thing, since there is no catching the barbell the joint stress on the wrists, elbows, and shoulders is kept to a minimum. The overhead snatch position with the wide grip on the barbell is notoriously stressful on the wrists, a cumulative issue that can become a real problem over time. Lifters have also been known to blow out an elbow while attempting to secure a heavy weight overhead and poor mobility/positioning can also lead to shoulder pain in time as well.

This exercise, the banded high pull apart with shoulder external rotation, is a synergistic exercise aimed at improving timing of the scapular and rotator cuff muscles with shoulder function. It involves moving from internal rotation (thumbs pointing in) to external rotation (thumbs pointing back) while squeezing shoulder blades down and back, helping to engage scapular retractors, lower trapezius, middle trapezius, and posterior rotator cuff muscles.

Possibly my favorite dumbbell shoulder exercise of all time is the dumbbell high pull. This exercise not only targets the middle and rear deltoids but also the traps and upper back.

In this episode, we take a closer look at dumbbell external rotations—a popular exercise often touted for shoulder health. Whether this exercise deserves a place in your training for muscle growth, shoulder stability, and injury prevention.