Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Bent Over Row: Good or Bad? Thoughts from Grand Rapids

There is an old saying, "There are no bad exercises, just bad form."  I believe this is true statement to an extent.  But, I like to ask the question, is there a better exercise in terms of cost/benefit to the individual performing the exercise.  One exercise I don't really ever prescribe in training programs is the Bent Over Row.

To many people I see doing the Bent Over Row use way to much weight in terms of holding a safe lower back arch.  They end up doing a somewhat body lean to get the weight to move and end up thrusting there chest at the weight as well.  At best your low back has to maintain an isometric arch, what you don't see is the psoas muscle (hip flexor) in a constant shortened but contracted position.  Add in bad technique, and you're looking at some back pain/dysfunction in the future.  Remember, it's not one incident that damages your bodies structures usually, it's repeated loads, over and over, until they give out.  So that's why picking better exercises is so important.  

Chest supported rows would be a solid alternative.  Heavy single arm dumbell rows (Krok rows) would be my go to exercise to replace the Bent Over Row.

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