I’ve had a long-term goal of being able to perform seated cable rows 225lbs for 10 reps; 1RM 300lbs. Within a few months ago, I was doing chest-supported plate-loaded machine rows to improve my rowing strength. Single-arm worked for me due to the fact that it enabled me to do 1-2 eccentric reps right after my full effort concentric rep amount to further stress the muscle, which has worked for me so far. I had been doing this exercise for 2 months from July to September of this year. Progress was smooth until I reached 4 plates in which my bottlenecks really started to be exposed which is mostly my support strength. On September 2, 2026, my last chest-supported rows before switching to seated cable rows were 190lbs for 6 reps (220.9 1rm). Before moving on, the image below is what I used and each side is 10lbs. So 180lbs of plates (4 x 45lbs) + 10lbs = 190lbs.
From Plate Rows to Seated Cable Rows
Moving on to the seated cable rows with the V grip, my first day on September 12, 2026 was 230lbs for 7 reps (277.1). Progressing on this lift was slower than I anticipated. My progression ended up looking like this:
230 x 7, 225 x 8, 230 x 8, 225 x 9, 230 x 9, and finally 225 x 10.
I would have a light day in the 11-20 rep range to compliment each step most of the time and a few days I would skip rows entirely, but still do cable straight arm pulldowns. It was this tedious except for the last few sessions. I went from 230 x 9, then 3 days later to 190 x 17 reps which was this pace, then 5 days later I went to 225 x 11 instead of 10 reps, which was not what I was expecting, but I’ll take it.
Aftermath of Reaching 300lb 1RM Seated Cable Rows
As I knew this reality was around the corner, it occurred to me in time to test my chest supported row strength, which I had written down 7 reps of 190lbs to be conservative, but I ended up doing 10 reps today. My support grip is still a weak point in this exercise like before. In the strength standards, the Elite mark was 300lbs for the 170lb person. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that progressing on this exercise will be painfully slow, but it still is. Both at the end of doing these variations, I would have my index finger start to slip a little at the remaining reps. Today, when attempting the 11th rep, I failed in the first 1/4 of the reps if that. I suspect that I have weak support grip and lats. At this point, I’m changing my 2 exercises from straight arm lat pulldowns (lat isolation) and heavy rows to single arm lat pulldowns, in place of rows, and seated cable single arm holds to directly target my support grip strength. At this point, I just have to wait till my grip and lats improve before I can expect to take my rowing to the next level.
Raw Data for Conversion Time
Date
9/2/26
9/12/26
10/26/26
11/1/26
Exercise
One-Arm Chest Supported Rows
Seated V-Grip Cable Rows
Seated V-Grip Cable Rows
One-Arm Chest Supported Rows
Parameters including 1 Rep Max
190lbs for 6 reps (220.9)
230lbs for 7 reps (277.1)
225lbs for 11 reps (308.2)
190lbs for 10 reps (253.3)
Analyzing the Data
The 1RM ratio between the first of both variations would be 1.2544. The 1RM ratio between the second of both variations would be 1.2167. I would like to not that the first ratio would technically be worse because performing the one-arm chest supported rows will improve the strength of the seated cable rows, and the opposite is true. In other words, this data would be more accurate if I did one-arm chest-supported rows and then back to seated v-grip cable rows to confirm for the second time. One theoretical example would be that in the first set of conversions, if the performance on 9/12/26 were 6 instead of 7 reps, the 1rm would be 271.1 instead of 277.1. then if I were to divide 271.1 by 220.9, from the one-arm chest supported rows listed on the chart, it would be 1.227 which is close enough to the second ratio of 1.2167. It’s never going to be exact because the handles of both machine have different thickness which can be influenced by current grip strength levels at a micro level. For now, the working ratio between these 2 variations of rows is 1.23. I simply averaged the 2 ratios, 1.2544 and 1.2167.
[Unilateral] Chest-supported Plate Loaded Machine * 1.23 = [Bilateral] V-grip Seated Cable Rows
Conclusion
It’s cool to know an alternative way to build the strength to do a seated cable row 225lbs for 10 reps, which is to be able to single-arm row 4 – 45lbs plates on each side. This variation can save your lower back since it’s chest-supported.