ExRx.net

at the moment i'm not touching the floor, when i do bb rows and the improvements are worse than at other exercises. thats why i want to try the technique to bring the barbell completely back to the ground.

now, there are also two different techniques around:

1) pendlay row: you hit your upper abdomen with the bar (also recommended by rippetoe)
2) you hit your chest with the bar

the second one sounds better to me, cause then i can pull the bar straight up and i don't have to curve around my knees.

_________________
"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

I do the Pendlay row where the bar touches the top of your abdomen. By doing it this way I can better squeeze my shoulder blades together. But I must admit that sometimes when my form is off I can feel it in my lower back. I then have to reset so that my form is correct and it won't impact my lower back.

Pendlay rows should start on the ground from a dead stop. You should be bent over with your butt out and your shins vertical, your back horizontal. There is no way that the bar should come close to your knees. You also shouldn't feel it in your lower back although it's sometimes hard to hold that position.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
_________________
Thanks TimD

the problem is that my hamstrings are very inflexible, so i have to bent my knees hard. in this position it would be easier for me to perform a bb row to my chest, like described there:

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-master-ba ... technique/

what do you think about it?

_________________
"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gQBSRBgRLVI

_________________
"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

I think that your body mechanics would come into play here. I'm not sure that that fellow could get his shins vertical. It looks alright, just different.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
_________________
Thanks TimD

i find it easier to keep the back horizontal when pulling to my chest and the movement is more straight up without a curve. if it works all back muscles good enough, then i would go for this technique.

_________________
"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

I just found this one. It's Glen Pendlay talking about the Pendlay Row.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRrIsoDpKg

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
_________________
Thanks TimD

thx for the link.

he says lower chest is okay, this could work for me. upper abdomen is difficult.

_________________
"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

I find it a little strange what the stronglifts people have to say about Yates Rows. I've been using a similar rowing style for many years, the only difference being that I use a medium overhand grip (instead of a medium underhand grip) and find they work great.

mehdi from stronglifts just has an extreme view on all things. he is hating on everything that is not the hardest way to train something and also in general on bodybuilding. i think that the criticism is right that pendlay rows are better than yates rows, cause the range of motion is longer. but that doesn't mean yates rows are bad.

_________________
"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

It is a great exercise, just different that the one he's suggesting. As he said, it's more a trap exercise than a rhomboid exercise. It depends on what you're looking for.

_________________
Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
_________________
Thanks TimD

If I use a barbell, I nearly always do dead-stop rows to upper abdomen. If I might need more time under tension (accessorial work), then I would not go dead-stop, and keep the grip through the whole set.

I've also found that atleast for me, wider grip feels more in the lats than a narrower grip.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

It might be simply that your back is weak relative to the rest of you. This is valuable information. It means you know what you need to work on: your back.

How are your deadlifts coming along?

Also, what do you mean that improvements are worse? You're doing a modified SL right, so you're doing 5x5, and you can't increase the weight? Or you increase the weight and it feels heavy?

"mehdi from stronglifts just has an extreme view on all things. he is hating on everything that is not the hardest way to train something and also in general on bodybuilding. i think that the criticism is right that pendlay rows are better than yates rows, cause the range of motion is longer. but that doesn't mean yates rows are bad." - ephs

I think Pendlay Rows are a better as an assistance exercise for Olympic lifters. However, that doesn't mean they're better for everything.