I’m not an advocate of rowing with the elbow, as it forces humeral extension past neutral, which can create some anterior shoulder issues. 1-arm rows can be tricky for scapular movement because they tend to be so lat dominant because the elbow has to stay close to the side.
Ah ok. Thanks for your response! Don’t want to make too much out of this but do you not advocate them full stop or just for scap work? I’m just really trying to build up stability there but also some total upper back strength and mass due to too much pressing. Currently using resistance bands (instead of cable) to get the groundwork down with an overall aim of flexibility/stability to do barbell work (rows and deadlift). Decent substitute?
Sorry, poorly worded. Or maybe a British thing. Just to clarify I meant do you not like 1 arm rows as an exercise or do you not advocate them as an exercise to help with proper scap functioning as they’re so lat dominant?
Just found myself getting overwhelmed by – ‘packing the shoulder’ ‘active shoulder’ etc. Finding it tricky to feel any work in my lower traps/middle back with the resistance bands, that’s all
Great video. I wish you could talk about the seated cable row once and discuss all the grip variations. Some people do the seated cable rows the way Arnold did it in Pumping Iron to get that extra stretch (very curved back at the beginning of the movement). I never understood whether that was a bad form (for the general population) or not.
My gym doesn’t have a cable. Do you think barbell/dummbell rows would do just as good a job in helping correct muscle imbalances provided i use your tips from this article?
November 26th, 2012 at 8:41 pm
Kieran,
I’m not an advocate of rowing with the elbow, as it forces humeral extension past neutral, which can create some anterior shoulder issues. 1-arm rows can be tricky for scapular movement because they tend to be so lat dominant because the elbow has to stay close to the side.
November 27th, 2012 at 5:49 pm
Ah ok. Thanks for your response! Don’t want to make too much out of this but do you not advocate them full stop or just for scap work? I’m just really trying to build up stability there but also some total upper back strength and mass due to too much pressing. Currently using resistance bands (instead of cable) to get the groundwork down with an overall aim of flexibility/stability to do barbell work (rows and deadlift). Decent substitute?
December 5th, 2012 at 6:45 am
Kieran,
Full stop? Not sure what you’re asking.
Yes, that’s totally fine as a substitute.
December 6th, 2012 at 7:23 am
Sorry, poorly worded. Or maybe a British thing. Just to clarify I meant do you not like 1 arm rows as an exercise or do you not advocate them as an exercise to help with proper scap functioning as they’re so lat dominant?
Just found myself getting overwhelmed by – ‘packing the shoulder’ ‘active shoulder’ etc. Finding it tricky to feel any work in my lower traps/middle back with the resistance bands, that’s all
December 6th, 2012 at 7:42 am
Kieran,
They can still be used effectively as a scapular stabilization exercise as long as they’re performed correctly.
April 23rd, 2013 at 9:33 am
Great video. I wish you could talk about the seated cable row once and discuss all the grip variations. Some people do the seated cable rows the way Arnold did it in Pumping Iron to get that extra stretch (very curved back at the beginning of the movement). I never understood whether that was a bad form (for the general population) or not.
May 3rd, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Eric,
My gym doesn’t have a cable. Do you think barbell/dummbell rows would do just as good a job in helping correct muscle imbalances provided i use your tips from this article?
Regards,
Steve
May 4th, 2013 at 6:50 am
Steve,
Won’t be quite as good, but you’ll still be able to make solid progress. You can also sub in bands for cables, in many cases.
November 30th, 2017 at 6:45 am
Here you go, Debra! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCfcGei-NqM