What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
Today we're going to talk all about the barbell row.
You know, the barbell row.
Well "which one", you're asking?
See, that's the whole point here.
We're going to talk about the truth about the barbell row because there are a lot of
different ways that people try to tell you, and teach you how to do the barbell row.
But I think it starts with what your goal is, and then determining how ready you are
for it.
So I want to deliver the 'no nonsense' approach to exactly how to determine where you should
be starting and how you can get the most out of it for what you're trying to achieve.
So let me start with what most people are now coaching, in terms of the barbell row.
It's from the ground instead of a rack, and it's done in a Pendlay version, which is the
name of the individual that came up with this version of the row.
What we're being advised to do is to get all the way to the point where your back is horizontal
to the ground.
Now, here's where the first problem comes in.
A lot of people don’t have the ability to ever get in this position and it's difficult
because if you have tight hamstrings what happens is, as you come down to the ground
– even though I can maintain this natural arch here in my low back, which is what I
want – if I run into a position where my hamstrings no longer have any flexibility
left in them, in order to keep getting down my hips have to curl under.
I can't keep going because my hamstrings are blocking me at this point.
So now my hips have to curl under, and now I can get down.
In this position, from a flexed spine, if I load I'm asking for trouble.
But this is where it gets even worse.
With the Pendlay row you're usually rowing higher.
Meaning, when you row higher the bar starts to travel a little further away from your
body.
So in order to lift it, we get in this position here, we're out, away from our body, and then
we explosively pull up from here.
Now, this distance of the bar is terrible when you consider the low back that's not
in the optimal position because the same way that nobody would ever advise you to deadlift
out here; why is it okay to do it during a row?
It's not.
So if I was going to try to row from – or deadlift – here; great.
That's why they have you drag it against your shins to keep that moment arm smaller.
But if I pull it out here, nobody would ever tell you to deadlift form there.
So are you ready to do that?
Is your body ready to get all the way down into a horizontal passion there, to the ground?
I'm going to argue that most of us are not, and if it's not the first place I would want
you to look is your hamstrings.
But the second thing is: What is the main goal that you're trying to accomplish with
the exercise?
If you're trying to be explosive, powerful, athletic; then that's the version that you
want to opt for, versus the more strict version done for lat hypertrophy.
But more people will tell you that they're doing it for lat hypertrophy.
Me?
I train athletes.
We want to make sure that we're covering all bases.
So I'm going to show you a version that's even better than that Pendlay row to be athletic,
and not jeopardize your low back as much.
So when we talk about the row, where I want you to be is not on the ground, at first.
You should start from the top down.
Meaning, get inside of a rack – I'll just go over here now.
Get inside of a rack, set it up low, pull it down, and now in this position here, it
should be about the knee, or so.
A little bit below the knee.
It's a little bit below the knee.
I want to setup a position on my torso where I'm angled forward here.
Not all the way down because again, my hamstrings can't even tolerate it for myself.
I want to be right about here.
Angled just about this much.
Then I want that bar to stay close to me.
Now, as far as the width on the bar, right outside, right on the beginning parts of the
knurling here, on the bar, right outside the smoothness – which is basically just outside
your knees.
If you're a little bit wider you'll – just outside your knees.
Now, where do I want to pull to?
I want to be able to pull with a position that allows me to get my elbows behind my
body maximally.
If I pull to the waist – from here, set, pull, to the waist – you can see how far
my elbows get beyond my body.
So right to about here.
If I get my arms, and I pull this bar a little bit more toward my top row o abs, watch how
much further my arms get behind my body.
Here, and down.
So we get a lot more extension of the arm behind the body, which is the function of
the lats.
We don’t want to let our arms and elbows flare because here, we're losing the adduction
of the lats, which is, again, the target we're trying to get here.
Hypertrophy of the lats.
So you want to make sure the elbows can stay tucked.
That's why you have the narrower grip.
That's why you're pulling in tight, as opposed to pulling higher, and letting the elbows
drift.
Another cue I like to give people is, when you're pulling the bar you pull it, you're
trying to break it.
You're trying to break the bar in half so when I'm pulling, I'm trying to break it and
turn.
Break it, here, and turn.
So I can screw my lats into themselves.
Screw my elbows right here, into my sides.
Screw the lats down.
Obviously, the bar is not going to let me break it, and it's not going to let me turn
it.
But if I do it that way, we can set, and down.
You can see, even as you watch these clips, how much more activation of the lats, and
the contraction – the controlled contraction – of the lats I get by doing it this way,
that I didn't have in that explosive version of the row.
And of course, with the barbell being much closer to my body, and my back not being forced
into a position it cannot get into; I've turned it into a much safer version of the exercise.
Now, as I'm able to develop the flexibility, and the mechanics in the body – in the movement
– that allows me to get lower, and lower; I could take this to the ground.
As you see here, I'm not all that far away from the ground, but you don’t start on
the ground just because somebody tells you "that's what the row is".
The row doesn't start there.
The row starts higher, and works your way down.
I'm going to give you another tip here before I wrap it up here with the explosive version
that I like better than the Pendlay row.
That is: when you're at the bottom here, another tendency people have is to pull too much from
the bicep.
If you want to see how ineffective the bicep is in this position all you have to do is
turn your arm down, and flex.
Now, I'm flexing as hard as I can, but I can feel that there's not that much tension here.
But as soon as I flip it up, now I can feel al to more tension in that bicep.
It's a lot better at contracting when I'm externally rotated here, than when the arm
is internally rotated.
So now what does that mean?
Well, we don’t have a bicep that's ineffective trying to work because we're bending the elbow
out of this row, and it winds up costing you your opportunity to lift more weight on this
exercise because it's a weak link.
So what I'm saying is, try to turn it off before you pull.
So if, instead, at the bottom of every rep you were to contract your triceps, now you
can reciprocally turn off the bicep so when you initiate the pull it's happening from
the lats, as opposed to the bicep trying to initiate the move.
So we're here.
Like this.
And for this you want to be just off the rack because you want to make sure the triceps
have an opportunity to contract, and they're not just resting on the ground.
Another reason you want to do this, as opposed to the Pendlay – you're right here, contract
here, pull, come down, contract, pull, squeeze, down, contract, pull, contract, and pull.
Finally, if we're talking about explosive – I could have used a heavier weight here,
but it's all right.
We have something we call a 'barbell dead row'.
See, I don’t believe that you should try to turn the legs off in that Pendlay row,
like this, all the way perpendicular here.
We don’t want to turn the legs off.
What we should try to do instead is, let them work to help us with the pull as we're doing
the deadlift.
So you take the bar, you bring it closer – here – you try to sit your hips down, and back
– which is already safer, it just took the demands off that low back and hamstrings that
we had as a problem in the beginning – and I row it to the knees.
When I get to the knees I explosively row up, back down, and lower.
That's a dead row.
Much more explosive, letting the body work the way it's supposed to, and still not compromising
the explosiveness, the power, and the strength that alternative provides you.
Again, if you're looking for straight-on lat development guys, the truth of it is, don’t
do what people are showing you just because they show you and say "This is how it's done."
It may not be how YOU are supposed to do it.
All I care about is you getting out of the exercise what you want, without getting anything
out of it that you don’t want.
Like and injury.
I hope you guys found this helpful.
In the meantime, if you want a whole program that puts the science back in strength – as
a physical therapist I care about every, single exercise, and how you do it.
We have them all over at ATHLEANX.com.
Our programs, you can get them over here.
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See you soon.