Inverted Row
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds drills like this into your personalized off-ice program, week by week. Your first week is free.
How to Do It
Set up a bar or sturdy table at hip height. Lie underneath, grab the bar with hands shoulder-width or slightly wider, palms facing away. Body straight from heels to head — same plank rigidity as a push-up. Pull the chest to the bar by squeezing the shoulder blades down and back. Pause at the top — chest touches the bar. Lower with control to arms fully extended. That's one rep.
Why It Works
The inverted row is the bodyweight horizontal pull — the row equivalent of a push-up. It builds the upper-back strength (rhomboids, mid-traps, rear delts, lats, biceps) that protects the shoulders from the cumulative damage of a hockey season. Players who can do 10+ strict inverted rows have measurably better posture, fewer shoulder issues, and stronger stick-checks. It's also the single best stepping stone to the pull-up if you can't do one yet.
Hockey Transfer
Bodyweight horizontal pull — builds the upper-back strength that protects shoulders and powers stick-checks. The pull-up's easier cousin. 2:1 pull-push ratio: for every push set, two pull sets. Inverted rows are how you hit that without equipment.
Coaching Cues
- "Lie under a bar or sturdy table. Grab overhead"
- "Body straight from heels to head. Pull chest to bar. Lower with control. Squeeze shoulder blades at the top."
Common Mistakes
Hips sagging — defeats the row by letting the body drop instead of pulling up. Pulling with the arms only — initiate with the shoulder blades, finish with the arms. Half-reps (chest never reaches the bar) — full ROM only counts. Setting the bar too low so it becomes too hard — work up gradually; the lower the bar, the harder the row.
Progression / Regression
Weighted inverted row (plate on chest) once you hit 15 strict reps · or bar 1 set lower (closer to ground = harder).
Set the bar higher (waist or chest height) — same movement, less of your bodyweight is loaded.
Primary Muscles
Energy System
Strength/neural
Put it to work
on the ice.
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds exercises like this into a personalized off-ice program — created by a sport scientist and former national-team coach. Your first week is free.
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