Most lifters butcher the form of the barbell row. Do this exercise to fix it.
Tabletop Row
Just before you do any row that involves a bent-over position, have a training partner place a plate or two on your middle upper back.
The Benefits
Helps maintain a steep, near parallel, bent-over position.
Improved form because the back must maintain a natural arch for the plate to sit on. Spinal flexion is impossible.
Eliminates top rock and excessive momentum. Otherwise, the plates will literally fall off the back and injure animals or small children.
Increased proprioceptive feedback from lats, middle, and upper back. The plates against your body provide sensory palpation, giving you better kinesthetic awareness of your back activation and postural alignment.
Greater direct overload to the entire posterior chain, including upper back, low back, glutes, and hams, without further fatigue to the arms and grip. As a result, your back muscles are more likely to fail before your arms.
Keeps you from over-rowing with excessive range of motion because the elbows and shoulder blades will run into the plates, causing them to move around on the back.
Improves low back strength immensely. The movement represents a combination Romanian deadlift and good-morning in terms of weight distribution with direct tension to the erector muscles.