Are barbell rows a compound exercise?

No, as they only use one joint in the body of executed correctly. Based on the version and execution of the lift it is likely that this point will be argued.

What is your why

Before we go into the details of whether barbell rows are a compound exercise let me ask you a couple of questions:

Why do you want to barbell row?
Why do you want to get stronger?
Why do you want to build muscle?
What happens when you do?
What happens if you don’t?

Sometimes it is good to pause and think about why you are doing things. This will make all the difference to stick with a goal long term. Life will get in the way of your ambitions and goals. It is up to you to define a good supporting network of emotional drivers to stay stable and not lose course.

Most people go through their lives like this:

What do I want
How do I get it
Why do I want it

With this approach, you are headed for trouble. What you want changes hundreds of times a day based on what you see, who talk to and where you are. Using what you want as a guide song principle of your life will leave you divided and undecided. If you put why you do things at the core of your daily routines you have better chances of success and happiness:

Why do you want something
How do you get it
What do you need to do

By doing this all your actions and thoughts will be more connected. This, in turn, will help to get to your goals faster and hopefully be fulfilled. If you want to know how this works on a psychological basis read Daniel Kahneman's thinking fast and slow. Simon Sinek has a great TED talk on the golden circle. He makes a very compelling case telling the story of the Wright brothers.

Compound exercises

Compound exercises are defined as Multi-joint movements. Some of the most popular compound exercises are:

The squat
The deadlift
The Snatch
The jerk
Burpees
Bear Crawls

And the list goes on. Compound exercises get a lot of attention in fitness as they a gods value for time. For each second invested you train more muscles. This is good, especially when you want to save time and train as little as possible for maximum impact.

What most fitness programs do not tell you is that compound exercises are not always ideal. Especially the smaller muscle groups will be not worked enough to grow. No problem when you are after general health. Can get problematic if your goal is to look like Hercules.

Another disadvantage of compound exercises is that they can amplify existing imbalances in your body. If you have one leg that is a lot stronger than the other it is very likely that this gets worse when you squat a lot. Unless you balance this with some targeted training.

The opposite idea of compound exercises are isolated exercises. These are workouts where you focus on one specific area or even muscle in your body. This type of training has gotten a bad reputation. As it takes time and is associated with the dysfunctional bodies of bodybuilders. That way of thinking is a bit too dogmatic. You can get great results be focusing on a weakness, isolating it and train out of it.

Barbell row

The barbell row is usually considered as an accessory movement to a back building program. Other movements for the back are:

The deadlift
Lat pull down
Cable row
Dumbbell row
Kettlebell row

Variations of the barbell row are

Inverted row
Pendlay row
Yates row

These variations alter the grip and starting point. By this, you can target specific areas of your back depending on your goals.

A big debate around the row amongst lifters and I get et haters is how much body English you should use. Body English refers to how much your body should move when you row. One school claims the best way to row is to keep your back straight and only let the arms move to row. Another way of thinking is that you should do anything necessary to row the weight. Bodybuilders are more likely to agree with the former while powerlifters are more likely to agree with the latter.