Execution and it just depends on how you're specifically doing them. There's a dangerous way of doing upright rows, and there's also a much safer way if you go the traditional route as I just mentioned. So using a straight bar and then pulling your elbows up to your ears, that's how most people do them. I definitely would not recommend that because it will put your shoulders at high risk for injury and it can very easily lead to rotator cuff impingement over the long term, especially if you're using heavy weights and sloppy form.
Now, that's not something you want to mess around with, because shoulder injuries can have pretty serious negative consequences for your program. It can throw your entire upper body training off course, sometimes irreversibly if you do something really severe. So you definitely want to be really careful there and always take the risk-reward factor into account whenever you're trying to decide which lifts to include in your plan. The other issue with using a straight bar specifically is that it locks your hands into a fixed position, and that can put a lot of stress on you.
Fists. So even if your shoulders don't get hurt, you could still end up hurting your wrists regardless. Now, all that said, that doesn't mean that upright rows are out of the question, and there are two modifications you can make that will make them a lot safer, and people with otherwise healthy shoulders who are specifically trying to add in more work for their side delts. They can optionally experiment with upright rows if they're being done properly. I don't consider upright rows and assess the city by any means, but it's just another movement that you can test out.
If you have the basics covered already now, if you have a history of shoulder issues or you do make these two modifications and you're still getting discomfort regardless, then I would highly recommend that you just ditch the upright row altogether because it's really not going to be worth the risk for you. So if it hurts, don't do it. It's really as simple as that, but these are the two main things you'll want to adjust. So First off rather than pulling the weight all the way up to your neck, instead only pull it up.
Until your elbows are at shoulder height and no higher, that means that the weight is usually going to land somewhere around your sternum. So that's going to take a lot of stress off of your rotator cuffs. But it's still going to hit your side delts effectively because going much higher than that doesn't really increase the tension on the side delts significantly anyway. So just pull your arms up until your elbows are at shoulder height, stop there, and then lower the weight back down. And the second modification is that instead of using a straight bar, I'd recommend using either.
Dumbbells or rope attachments or two single-hand cable attachments. So that's going to allow your wrists to fall into a more natural position during the upright row, rather than being awkwardly locked into place like they are on a straight bar. This is going to reduce the chances of hurting your wrists, and it also prevents your shoulders from rolling inward excessively as you pull the weight up. Any of these three choices is fine, and you can just experiment to see which ones feel the most comfortable on your shoulders and your wrists, and which ones help you hit your side delts as effectively as possible.
And then of course, aside from those two tips, I'd also suggest sticking to more moderate weight for slightly higher reps, so minimum 8 reps per set, and performing the upright row using strict technique and a more controlled, deliberate Rep cadence. So I wouldn't recommend that you Max out on these or do them explosively using a lot of momentum.
I'm not saying that you're guaranteed to get hurt if you do go heavier, plenty of people do that without any problems. But again, it's the whole
risk-reward thing that I talked about earlier. You have to weigh that out, and I think it's better to err on the side of caution here if you are going to do this particular exercise consistently. So bottom line, our upright rows are safe. If you pull your elbows to shoulder height, you avoid the use of straight bars, and you stick to moderate weight using the stricter form. Then assuming this doesn't give you any discomfort and you don't have issues with shoulder pain in general, then upright rows I think are fine to experiment with if you have all the basics covered and you just want to specifically add in some more work for your side. Else if it's a lagging area for you or if it's just something that you want to specialize in.
