There’s controversy surrounding any type of rowing exercise…
Drug-Free Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole used to say the row is not a good mid-back exercise because the traps don’t connect to the arms—they originate near the shoulder capsule and insert along the spine…
That means the mid-trapezius muscles’ function is to retract, or pull together, the shoulder blades…
Doug recommended a short-range-of-motion cable move called scapulae retractions. It’s like a half row while you’re seated, pulling your shoulder blades together.
It’s a difficult exercise because the motion is short. Plus, most people aren’t used to only pulling their shoulder blades together without more arm action…
That’s one reason I usually add on a rowing exercise, despite their inferior standing. My favorite is chest-supported dumbbell rows…
If you look at the Old Man, Young Muscle workout, you’ll see that move is included after the ideal retraction exercise. Unfortunately, the row has a backward resistance curve—easy at stretch and hard at top contracted…
Even so, if you start with your palms facing and dumbbells together, you get a pretty good stretch in the mid-back. And because your hands aren’t locked on a bar, you can pull the dumbbells out at the top and drive your elbows in toward your spine for a good contraction…
I like the exercise a lot, despite its shortcomings. It even hits the lats…
I promised a tip in the headline; this is it: Allow your shoulder blades to move freely and spread out at the bottom of a row to get that hypertrophic stretch…
That’s important on the scapular retractions as well—your shoulders should pull forward at the bottom arms-extended position of each rep for stretch (see the first photo in the scapulae retraction photos of Doug above).
Many trainees want to keep their shoulder blades locked together in retraction as they row. That doesn’t allow stretch—and as you know, studies are showing how important stretch loading is for optimizing faster hypertrophy.
Whether you’re doing retractions or rows, you gotta stretch the midback to grow.
Note: For a chart of stretch-position exercises for each muscle, as well as the ideal and contracted-position moves, see pages 42 and 43 of Old Man, Young Muscle.
Sculpt your perfect physique: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best stretch and contracted add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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