Over at his blog Rob Macklem posted this sequence of Lu Xiaojun getting his Back Pump on in the worlds training hall.
Usually I am not a fan of naming exercises after athletes, but “Round Back Deficit Snatch Grip Deadlift Row” is just too long. So I’m just going to call them Lu Rows for now (since “Chinese Rows” is already taken) .
From the Comments: Notice how the shoulder blades are fully extended at the start and then contracted at the top. This hits the lats and rhomboids a lot, try bending over like that with a 20kg on each side and let it pull your back muscles.
Naming Contest: Your suggestions in the comments 😀
Rob writes that: “I have seen the Chinese do this exercise in the training hall at a number of world championships”.
Disclaimer: As Rob notes in his post a lot of you will probably try this variation and I can’t blame you. Nothing wrong with exploring new exercises in my opinion, as long as you use common sense. Lu is only using 90kg, So around 50% of his best Snatch. That means you should probably use way less. Start with the bar and see how your body reacts.
More:
Is it really a row, or is it more like the shrug under we often see Chinese athletes do in their heavy clean pulls?
I think there is a little rowing / shrugging action going on there. Don’t get caught up on the name 🙂
Alright :p
It would be nice to have a few more frames on the sequence to tell. It looks like he pauses at the top contracting the lower traps pushing the bar into the hips. Bet it feels amazing to do, gonna try it tomorrow.
Stiff-legged style pull with a shrug on top. Looks like another exercise to strengthen the back without using any leg power.
“Shaolin rows”
Shaolu rows
Mid-grip deficit high hipped bent-leg stiffed legged deadlift upright row, with toes over ends of plates O:)
I think it’s one of the bodybuilding exercises of the chinese. Works lower back without the need of much weight on the bar. Maybe the top part of the pull is for trap development (combo exercise). Doesn’t look like dynamic work.
Funny thing that came to my mind after watching: I love it how we are seriously discussing the exercise just because Lu is doing them. Every other guy would get bashed for it 😀
The fact that he is a walking talking anatomy chart helps! Can see each individual muscle used in each movement!
That’s the bonus you get from being a world record Snatcher 🙂
something like Snatch grip deficit rdl to high pull without arched back
That rolls of the tongue!
It’s Lu’s fault!
Sometimes I wonder if they are just trolling by doing these exercises. Maybe doing them to psych others out?
notice how the shoulder blades are fully extended at the start and then contracted at the top. this hits the lats and rhomboids a lot, try bending over like that with a 45 on each side and let it pull your back muscles.
Sorry, I just read “Loo Rolls” ha!
SnapBacks
Dear diary… I did these today for sets of 8 with only 30kg pausing at the top, was after a big deadlift and front squat session so upper back was pretty pumped already but it felt good. Can see how they would use it for snatch applicable hypertrophy. A coach might be a good idea for these if you are snatching for competition but I’m going to replace regular shrugs with these for 12 weeks and see what happens.
Sounds like a plan!
There’s a priceless comment on ATG’s FB page which deserves repetition:
“Unexplained incident of disc herniations arise in the west”
Rob did a disclaimer, and so did Gregor, but people just can’t help themselves.
I personally saw a guy at one of the gyms I go to try a WTF-to-Sots, fall behind with the bar and (I don’t even know how he managed that) break a tooth in the process. Only thing I regret is not having a camera on me at the time! I almost s**t myself laughing. I’m looking forward to more jack**s lifting with this new exercise, haha.
Having said that, IT IS a potentially useful exercise WHEN you are VERY experient and know what you’re doing.
Good luck to those trying it.
As long as you stick to 30-40kg it looks like a pretty nice exercise that both works the back muscles and reinforces keeping the bar close throughout the pull
upright partial shrug-row already exists, generall called a kirk shrug in honor of kirk karwoski who did a crapton of them: http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/2/a/2a58c_ORIG-KirkKarwoski.jpg. so this is basically a roundback snatch-grip kirk power shrug/power kirk shrug :p
It looks like the Chinese version of Klokov’s Trapi exercise. I suggest Chinese Trapi.
http://youtu.be/wmzxfJotwUo?t=7m21s
Cool exercise thanks for posting… True story I tried these last night with 95# and blew my low back out. Now I’m sitting with an ice pack on and it’ll probably be two weeks before I can touch any weights… thanks again.