Next in the Things I Think I Know guest post series Emevas talks about rows.
I know many people like Bent-Over Barbell Rows. Emevas doesn’t and here are his reasons and alternatives.
PS: What’s your favorite rowing variation?
Bent-Over Barbell Rows Just Plain Suck
“Arnold did barbell rows in Pumping Iron, and they were big in the golden age of bodybuilding. They build big, powerful lats and a thick back.”
The first half of the above quote is absolutely true. The second part is only true if you can do them right.
I surmise that many people will be unable to do these right, and it’s due to the sheer terrible mechanical position you are required to take when you perform a barbell row.
When you learn about the most effective way to do a deadlift, one of the key points is to drag the bar up your body.
The closer the bar is to your body, the stronger you are.
In fact, one can lift so much more with a trap bar lift because the weight isn’t even in front of the lifter, but instead to the side.
Now, lets completely violate this principle in order to try to develop some strength in the lats. Have a bar well out in front of you to the point that you have to bend over at the waist, causing your torso to be parallel to the floor.
Now, pick the weight up until it runs into your chest or gut. Are you starting to notice the issue here?
In an ideal world, where God gave us all titanium spines and calibrated cyborg legs, the barbell row would be an amazing lift.
You can move far more with a barbell than you can with a dumbbell, the range of motion is very full, and the angle is perfect to hit the lats in a way that parallel the angle you will assume when pulling the bar apart for a bench.
But in reality, what tends to happen is either
- the torso becomes almost totally upright as soon as the pull starts (because your body is much smarter than you are, and will naturally assuming a posture that is better suited for the task at hand versus the alien position you are attempting to make it conform to)
- the torso remains in place and the lower back compresses and strains to the point of injury
- the legs and lower back take over the pull at the start, meaning that, if you are lucky, the lats maybe get engaged in the last 1/16 of the movement
- or you bypass all of this by using a weight so light that you could DB row more.
This is one of those lifts that is great in theory but blows up in execution, much like the Challenger.
Don’t get me wrong, there are numerous people out there that can build amazing backs with the barbell row, and I applaud those people, but for the average, some sort of supported row will go much further in the goal of size and strength.
Dumbbell rows, chest supported rows, machine t-bar rows (or even the old school ones), etc, all can do just as well as the barbell row.
If you have been banging your head against the wall for years with BB rows, don’t be afraid to try something else and see what it does for you.
The only rows I do these days are dumbbell rows, and as of this writing I recently hit 200lbs for 10 sets of 10 reps per arm. You can get plenty big and strong with these.
Do you like Barbell Rows? Want to guest post on All Things Gym? Contact me.
I agree. I can barely barbell row over 175 for more than 5-8 reps with only the first few being perfect. When I use dumbbells I can row 100lb for 8-10 without it affecting my lower back at all.
But why hit the chest as opposed to abdomen in BB row?
Must say, I’m not sure I can strict DB row more than double og my strict BB row. Of course it’s way easier to go really heavy on DBs, but at the same time it is way easier to cheat…
For people that have a landmine and not very heavy DBs, this might be a solution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMqi0Y3v_v4&feature=my_watch_later_videos&list=WLF149CDD2A53E0A06
Perfect I stopped doing Dbs because I only have up to 80lbs and while this might be heavy for some its not for me anymore at all. This looks like the perfect solution for me. I still like barbell rows though I use a belt and doesn’t hurt my lower back.
Gregor – I’m not sure if the more common American term is “bent-over row” as opposed to “standing row”, but it took me almost halfway through the article to realize that a “standing row” was not an upright row 😛
Oh, thanks for the info Johnny.
Take what I say with a grain of salt – that is just what I have always known them by (again, as an American), and have never heard the term “standing row” except for, like I said, the similarly-named “upright row”. Anyone else please feel free to say I’m wrong.
The website ExRx has this shown for “bent-over row”: http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/BBBentOverRow.html, which can hopefully add a little credibility to what I’m saying.
I love barbell rows, but for a different reason. For bodybuilding I can name a dozen better ways to target the lats. However for performance they are awesome. I’m a sprinter and I do barbell rows at a heavy weight with a wide grip in sets of 3. I go heavy enough that I need to use leg drive to get the weight up. This makes it a perfect power exercise for the posterior chain. Doing these always improves my 100m times.