Row your back and brace your core at once.
Don't let your hips twist, keep them level as you row each side.
Rowing a dumbbell from a plank means the back muscles pull while the core fights the massive rotational force of balancing on one arm, which is the entire trick of the exercise. Every rep is a horizontal pull stapled to an anti-rotation hold, so your lats and mid back build strength you can actually stabilise. It earns its place in circuits and upper body days where you want rowing volume and trunk work without a bench or a cable in sight.
Widen your feet, squeeze your glutes, and row a lighter dumbbell. If your hips still swing, the weight is writing cheques your core cannot cash.
Flat-sided hex dumbbells, they give you a stable base to plank on. Round dumbbells roll and turn the exercise into a wrist gamble.
Because half the exercise is holding a one-arm plank. The limiting factor is anti-rotation, not pulling strength, so check your ego and treat it as a core lift with a row attached.
