Your setbacks are your fault. Don’t blame the injuries. Don’t blame the program. Don’t blame the equipment.

Blame yourself.

In all likelihood, your program isn’t failing because it’s bad. It’s failing because you think it’s bad. And then that means you’re not giving the same effort you otherwise would if you had faith in it. You aren’t going “all in.”

But in your defense, it’s confusing out here in the battlefield. The weapons are numerous. There are barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells, sandbells, and practically any other bell you have enough money to patent. And the machines? Treadmills, elliptical, rowers, and bikes. And that’s if you narrow it down to contraptions that liken us to gerbils — creatures that actually enjoy running inside of a wheel that never moves.

Let’s not forget about the techniques. Isometrics, plyometrics, concentrics, force spectrum ramping, and good old dynamic contractions. You start to wonder if there is method to the madness or just madness in the methods.

It’s no wonder you always feel inadequate. One day you’re toying around with time proven dumbbells and someone starts swinging a kettlebell in your face.

Your dumbbells don’t look quite the same after that.

I mean, they’ve been around forever. They have to be outdated, right?

And as soon as that thought creeps into your mind, your program — carrying your motivation — flutters out of the window.

You would rather be playing with the fancy toys.

But there is a similar process in nearly every field. Take writing for example. Novices try to razzle and dazzle with old clichés like, well, razzle and dazzle. They use impressive words, overlooking the ones that are common to everyday language, the ones that actually resonate with our brain.

But let’s get back to your training. The more complicated it is, the more setbacks you will have. You’ll fall to the fads only to realize that your original plan was more effective. You’ll hop from your new program back to your old, yet more effective, one. But because you abandoned it, it takes you three months to work your way back to your baseline. And during those three months, you don’t notice any progress. And for good reason.

You never really progressed. You just worked your way back to your previous level.

Since no change took place, your confidence teeters. This begins the impatience. So when you see that person in the corner of the gym doing iso-quasi-mio-plio-nano contractions, you falter again. And the cycle continues. But just imagine where you would be if you stayed on your original program for the six months that it took for all of this to transpire.

A lot of people choose gyms based on equipment. Its gotta’ have treadmills, bikes, free weights, machines – the works. I mean, you’re paying for it, right? The owner should put your money to good use.

Likewise, people create home gyms with racks, bars, plates, dumbbells, chains, bands, and the latest gadget you can think of.

But remember what I said about writing? About keeping it simple? Well, I’m going to propose to you a radical – and simple – way to achieve every goal you’ve ever had. It may sound crazy, but that’s because it is. You will, however, save yourself years of anguish.

There are two ways to execute this “crazy” plan. The first involves cleaning out a spare bedroom, basement, or garage (any extra space with head room), and buying one of those barbell sets with 315lbs of total weight. If that doesn’t sound enjoyable, then continue going to your gym, but pretend like the only equipment there is a barbell and 315lbs of total weight.

As you can guess, your training will only involve the barbell and 315lbs in weight. No power rack. No dumbbells. Just you, the bar, the plates, and the ground. Your program will be built around the overhead press, front squat, barbell row, and clean. Now, of course, you can do things like push presses and deadlifts but you’re going to narrow your sights for now because I can already see your mouth opening up for questions.

“But what if I can deadlift more than 315? Shouldn’t I use more weight?”

And if you’re legitimately asking that question right now, I suggest you go back a re-read the previous three paragraphs. Before anything else spits out of your mouth, let me explain just why this workout is everything you’ll ever need.

You’re not going to have small shoulders if you can press 225 over your head, you’re not going to have small legs if you can front squat 315, and you’re not going to have a small backside if you can clean 315.

Now there are other hidden gems in a program, like having to clean the bar anytime you overhead press or front squat. This is what I like to call hidden volume. And hidden volume adds up over time to produce fantastic results.

But let’s get serious: is it possible to hit those strength numbers without fancy assistance exercises or special techniques?

Well, I dare you to find out. I dare you to spend the next year doing one of the programs below. I dare you.

There is no superior program, just some guidelines. Guidelines like attacking the barbell a minimum of three days a week, or a maximum of five days a week. Guidelines like making sure you work the movements in question with some intensity and passion. (That’s not to say work to failure, but just make sure you challenge yourself.) Guidelines like add weight when it feels comfortable. (You don’t need percentages to tell you when you’re strong enough to add another five or ten pounds.)

If you’re a four day per week kind of guy (or gal) that likes to have one focus per session, then whipping up a program is simple.

Day One: Push presses, barbell rows, arm work

Day Two: Deadlifts, front squats (light), anything else for the glutes or lower back

Day Three: Military, rows (different grip or back angle), arm work

Day Four: Cleans, front squats (heavy), anything else for the glutes or lower back

If you’re a three day per week kind of guy (or gal), then I’m going to “steal” a little program from Dan John. He says this program works, and if I were you I’d listen to him. He calls it The Southwood Program, but we’re going to alter it a bit. I guess you can call it The Northwood Program.

It’s to be done three days per week. All exercises follow the same 8-6-4 scheme as outlined in The Southwood Program. The exercises, in order, are the power clean, military press, front squat, and barbell row.

I know you’re not going to be satisfied with this, so I have a curveball for you. Since I know you’re going to do extra work, I might as well give you permission.

“Walk in the park” one day every week, and do some calisthenics. Do chin-ups on the swing set. Climb across the monkey bars a few times. Flip yourself on top of them and do some dips. Climb down and work on your handstands.

Be an idiot and have some fun with it. You’ll likely fall in love with being outside and doing this sort of thing. I’m tempted to tell you that you can do these workouts “as often as weather permits” but I don’t want you to lose focus of the benefits a barbell brings.

Now, you don’t have to use the programs above. They are just examples. But remember, the novice writer always out-works himself. He finds ways to add to his sentences, ways to make them more lavish. The experienced writer, however, looks for ways to subtract — ways to make things simpler.

You can experience this for yourself, or you can just take my word for it.

What’s it going to be?

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I’d appreciate it if you shared this post and dropped your questions below. I’d love to hear from you.

The barbell row is a saint confused for a sinner.

Strength imbalances don’t exist.

Muscle reprogramming is like driving to your house.

…what does it all mean?

When I was asked to contribute to Muscular Imbalances Revealed, I had mixed emotions. First, because I didn’t absolutely believe in muscular imbalances. Second, because I didn’t see myself as a “muscular imbalance” kind of guy.

Luckily, Rick (the head of the project) was cool enough to let me fly my own way.

So I took flight.

I was on the hook for a forty-five minute presentation.

Not only is my presentation twice as long as required, but I also supplemented with a bunch of videos that were shot after a tricking session of mine. For the life of me, I didn’t want to look like another guy in a collared shirt and khaki’s working on clients from one of those medical benches.

Want to know what the presentation is like? Great, thought so. Here’s a preview:

And here’s what’s further inside the interwebz box:

• My girlfriend demonstrating some exercises. Fantasize away.
• Assessment and Exercise for Athleticism – Introduction – Length – 2:21
• Me doing an aerial after an awkward introduction.
• Assessment and Exercise for Athleticism – Presentation – 1:35:01
• Slight wind interference on a few videos because the weather god decided it would be funny to be “that guy” one the day that I shot. (But you can still hear everything.)
• Assessment and Exercise for Athleticism – Tripod Position – Length – 2:40
• Me wearing a backwards hat. (What else is new?)
• Assessment and Exercise for Athleticism – Hip Flexion – Length – 2:07
• Me probably saying “…you know…” one hundred times more than I should.
• Assessment and Exercise for Athleticism – Remedial Hip Flexion – Length – 1:42
• Assessment and Exercise for Athleticism – Hip Hinging – Length – 2:35

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE?

My “job” through this project was the showcase some baseline athletic assessments to sure up sloppy movement. Most of this would be pre-teaching of basic lower body human movement patterns—squat and hinging and whatnot—essentially some progressions if you’re barbell row inept.

There’s some hip. Some foot. Some reprogramming. Some of my philosophy. Some of just about everything.

It’s basically eleven years of success and failure that comes from both my experience as an athlete and a (former) coach. That in itself is pretty priceless, not to mention the emotional implications this all had for me.

And let’s not forget that I’m just one of the contributors—the product contains much much more than what I have outlined here. This is just my part.

WHERE CAN I GET IT?

I’m not a fan of pre-sales and whatnot, but I was given access to one since I contributed to the project. Like a champion, I let you know about it in a post earlier this week. But I’ll just remind you that until tomorrow, August 10th, you can get access to an exclusive call that all of us contributors are doing, in addition to some other free swag.

Since you’re an awesome reader of my blog, you’re getting access to this pre-sale which gives you automatic and free access to a coaching call. If you’re interested, click the link below.

–> Click here to check out Muscle Imbalances Revealed

Remember, those nice looking bullet points above are just what I contributed, and is only one piece of the entire product. There’s mega more than that.

So show some love, check it out, and pull the trigger if any of my recent posts have peaked your interest.

Bottom line is that:

• If you can’t barbell row correctly, this product will help you.
• If you have those wiring issues we talked about, this product will help you.
• If you want to know more about how I reprogram, this product will help you.
• If you want to hear my sexy voice, this product will help you.
• If you want ideas of how to incoprorate reprogramming into faster movements, this product will help you.
• It you want to know the stuff that was instrumental in my personal adventure and turning my life, health, and athleticism around, this product will help you.

As usual, I appreciate you being here. If you have any questions for me or about the product, feel free to e-mail directly. Wondering whether or not it’s a good fit for you? Just shoot me an e-mail. I’m a pretty honest dude. You won’t be misled. Wondering more about the product in general? I’m right here, dawg.

anthony.mychal at gmail dot com

And don’t forget, you have until tomorrow to snag Muscle Imbalances Revealed with the freebies. You know me — I love free stuff. That’s why both The 242 Method and The Myth of HIIT are currently available with no strings attached. So if you’re a fan of free, grab it now.

But that’s all for now. I’m off to train and then make an oatmeal volcano. Last week, I gained 20.4 pounds on my ”foregoing all nutritional habits” experiment. I can tell you this: so far, my taste buds loved me. Everything else would disagree though. Especially my love handles. That’s what happens when you eat  pizza and wash it down with a few beers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

The question of how to use the glutes more during a sprint or vertical jump is paralyzing. It insinuates that some conscious thought or training strategy directly and immediately alters how the body functions during explosive movement.

But we know thought kills speed. And we know that, for starters, it’s simply about driving to your house over and over and over and over. (This is an analogy for doing something for so long that your body instinctively remembers how to do it. In other words, you don’t think about how to squat after a few months of squatting. You just get under the bar and make it happen.) The trick, however, is finding the right house. Every movement is unique. Every movement has it’s own “house.”

Repatterning the glutes to increase their use in explosive movements starts basic, with traditional low intensity activation exercises such as prone leg lifts and hip bridges. Most people “know” this, so they start their workout with these exercises during the warm-up. But because these exercises are relatively “easy” and kind of boring, it’s easy to just “go through the motions.”

Don’t.

Instead, do this:

1. START BASIC…

…with close to no moving parts. For instance, I use a modified bird dog because it’s easier to concentrate on the glute without worrying about balance.

Yes, the bird dog is “too complex” for me.

Crazy, right?

But the goal is to get the glute in gear, not better some random yoga pose.

Use an isometric contraction at the finished, or “top,” position because no matter how slow of a  tempo I prescribe, you probably won’t abide by it.

Don’t worry. No many people (including myself) adhere to tempos. It’s too much thinking. It’s much easier to lift, hold for five seconds, and then lower.

Do this exercise everyday for fifty to one hundred repetitions (spread through out the day) for starters. If this seems like a lot of work, that’s because it is.

Changing processes and functions in the body is never easy. Really, you don’t want it to be easy. If humans adapted on a whim,  we wouldn’t survive that long.

2. ADD MORE…

…moving parts. Since most movement is upright, I like transitioning into standing exercises from here on out. The go-to for standing hip extension, in my opinion, is the romanian deadlift movement pattern (also known as the “hinge” movement pattern).

For simplicity, work isometric contractions at both the start and finished positions. I use something called the fundamental tip toe position, which is essentially doing a calf raise and contracting your glutes. Hold this for time — one minute is a good starting point.

The opposite end is finding a way to squeeze your glutes in the bottom position. If you have a friend, it’s probably best if they punch you in the buttcheek every five seconds while you’re down there. Again, one minute is good for a set.

Spread four of five sets of both of these through out the day.

3. BRIDGE THE GAP…

…between the fundamental tip toe position and glute beating position, making it smooth motion. This, my friends, is what it feels like to “hinge.”

If your glutes aren’t warm after ten repetitions, be worried. If they aren’t on fire after twenty-five, you’ve done something wrong. That “something” is probably an inability to keep tension on the glutes through out the range of motion. It’s going to sound weird, but you want to “grind” your glutes as you push your hips back during the romanian deadlift motion.

Think about the feel you get when you lower a weight slowly during barbell curls, maintaining a contraction in the muscle as it lengthens. This is “grind.” Finding the “grind” is tough with the hips and the hinge, so you have to work on it.

4. ADD SOME KIND OF LOADING…

…to the movement once you get the grind sorted out. Be sure to keep it slow for now. Regular old romanian deadlifts with a barbell or dumbbells are viable options. The barbell makes it a bit more difficult. Your movement is restricted by the barbell hitting your legs, but you’re going to have to get used to it anyways, so it might as well be now.

5. ADD A LITTLE SPEED…

…with something like kettlebell swings or perhaps hang cleans. Use a manageable weight.

6. ADD MORE MOVING PARTS WITH A LITTLE SPEED…

…by doing something like a lower load power clean. The power clean in itself isn’t a necessary transition, but it’s slow enough (even though it’s pretty fast) to have some control over, meaning you can “feel” things going on during the movement. This is in contrast to a vertical or broad jump, where things happen too fast to have conscious control over.

7. HOPE FOR THE BEST.

Heavier power cleans, vertical jumps, sprints, and other similar exercises will depend on the work done above. You won’t have time to “feel” or “think” during them. Instincts take over.

But if you follow the progression above — or at least extrapolate the principles — you’ll probably end up driving to the right house on a consistent basis. Just know that it takes a lot of time to get there, and you shouldn’t rush the process.

HOW THIS SEQUENCING CHANGED MY LIFE

The above process was fine tuned after my “dark years,” which was when I was stricken with debilitating knee pain. Over time, I failed on enough programs and false claims that I finally clawed my way out with my own developmental framework. During the year of experimentation, I learned a lot about movement, but specifically how movement relates to athleticism.

In short, I found out how to create a foundation for athletic movement. This sequence above is the shell of that foundation. It single handedly changed my future. I was entering into a depressive state after being debilitated with chronic knee pain.

A little while ago, I was asked to share my view on fundamental athletic movement as apart of a larger project, Muscle Imbalances Revealed. So for the past month, I worked hard to create a worthwhile presentation and awesome supplementary videos for this product. I’m proud to say that it’s finally available for purchase.

If you have any interest in athletic framework and glute programming example above, you will love my contribution to the Muscle Imbalanced Revealed project. It’s an informal walk-through of my perception of athletic movment and what it takes to form an awesome foundation for future high level skills.

Since you’re an awesome reader of mine, you have access to the early release. And the best part is that if you pull the trigger before Friday, August 10th, you will also get access to a free coaching call that myself and the other contributors will be apart of.

So it’s definately worth checking out. And be sure to get it now under this early screening before access the bonus coaching call ends.

I’ll be back in a few days to give a little bit more information about just what I did for the product.

But I’m happy that I can share this information as it was so instrumental in my personal adventure and turning my life, health, and athleticism around.

Here’s the link one more time. I hope you will check it out.

–> Click here to check out Muscle Imbalances Revealed

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I’ve done enough talking. How would YOU incorporate this information into fixing up a barbell row? Increasing athleticism? Powering a squat from the glutes?

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photo credit: Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games

It only takes one look at a lineup of athletes from different sports to realize they all come in different shapes and sizes. This reassures me of two things.

First, different body types exist. Even though somatotypes were created for psychological purposes, people do have different proportions. Not everyone follows the same rules. (This is a shout out to the Skinny-Fat Brohirrim.)

Second, the theory of muscular imbalances is a crapshoot.(This may sound odd as I just hinted to contributing to this year’s Muscle Imbalances Revealed product in my post about correct “feel” for the barbell row. But allow me to explain.) In the past, I was more vehement about this. Some of the first articles ever written for this here blog were about muscular imbalances.

• Can Correcting Strength Imbalances Cause Injury? Part I
• Can Correcting Strength Imbalances Cause Injury? Part II
• Can Correcting Strength Imbalances Cause Injury? Part III
• Strength Imbalances Put to Rest – Why Great Athletes are Imbalanced

To this day, I still don’t give much credence to the idea that there’s an ideal ratio to be had among muscles. When athletes are as diverse as they are, it just can’t be possible in my opinion.

An opinion which is backed by some notes of interest.

DEBUNKING MUSCULAR IMBALANCES

The crossover effect, for example, is one reason why I think the body is smart enough to prevent itself from growing wildly out of proportion to the point of danger. Train one arm in isolation and the other arm gets stronger. That’s the crossover effect.

Another reason is that of general organism strength—the theory that all training recruits a certain percentage of motor units in relation to the body’s entire pool, and the amount and extent of those recruited affects the organism as a whole.

Consider baseball players, specifically the amount of “unbalanced” rotational work they do in both hitting and throwing. Now, there are injuries in baseball, but not as many as you would think given the volume of “unbalanced training” their body is exposed to. They play 162 games from April until September, not counting spring training or playoffs. Most games involve maximal sprinting, maximal rotational swinging, and maximal throwing.

Fun fact: Chipper Jones—arguably one of the best switch hitters of all time—said hitting from both sides of the plate may have made him more susceptible to injury.

IT’S NOT ABOUT MUSCULAR IMBALANCES

At first glance, my methods can be confused muscular imbalance theories. But saying muscular imbalances exist assumes that there’s a hidden blueprint of the body. (Holy Grail, anyone?)

Every sport and every athlete has a different blueprint. What’s ideal for a center fielder won’t be ideal for a pitcher. What’s ideal for a goalie won’t be ideal for a gymnast.

Consider the differences between athletes that live around the same equipment: Olympic Weightlifters and Powerlifters. Both throw around heavy barbells and yet there’s just something “different” about the two groups of athletes. Upon testing, you would find a lot of strength differences between the two groups because the body adapts to survive, and each sport triggers different survival responses in the body.

I think (notice I’m using the word “think” here as nothing is really “proven”) most muscular imbalance problems are misinterpretations of two things:

• Big muscles being generators
• Small muscles being points of connectedness

BIG MUSCLES ARE GENERATORS

The bigger the muscle, more involved it should be in any given movement.

Crazy idea, right?

The hip houses the biggest muscles. As you get further away, the muscles get smaller and smaller.

The big muscles are generators. The golf swing, the baseball swing, the vertical jump, the sprint, and a host of other movements rely primarily on the big muscles of the hip.

This makes it seem like a muscle’s importance declines if it’s further from the center of the body. But this assumption ignores something I like to call “points of connectedness.”

Generators are only useful if they can be connected to something to give power to. So their usefulness depends on this connection.

In something like the vertical jump, the hips are the generator. The foot and ankle complex is the point of connectedness. If this connection isn’t up to par, not all generator power will be realized.

This may be easier to understand with an Olympic Weightlifting analogy. They artificially “enhance” their point of connectedness to the ground with weightlifting shoes, making for more efficient force transfer. They also enhance their point of connectedness to the bar with the hook grip.

When you look at the construction of the body, it goes like this:

• Generator  (Hips, torso, shoulders)
• Link (elbows, knee)
• Point of connectedness (ankle/foot, hand/wrist)

In both the upper and lower body, the links (elbows and knees) function similarly. They don’t do much other than flex and extend. (The knee does rotate some and have a bit more freedom.) But they link the generator and point of connection.

If either the generator or point of connectedness is askew, the link will also be askew. The classic example for this is elbow problems.

CHIN-UPS AND ELBOW TENDONITIS

Elbow tendonitis is common amidst those that do a lot of straight bar work, specifically chin-ups and curls.

The fix is nearly always to opt for a neutral grip because the supinated grip ruins the natural neutral relationship between the wrist and shoulder. The elbow didn’t do anything wrong. It was just along for the ride.

Not that I haven’t used baseball enough for examples, but you will often hear of great hitters having either fast or strong wrists and either fast or strong hips. Rarely does anyone tout about “immaculate elbows” or “kick ass knees.”

The reason I was able to conquer crepitus and years of chronic knee pain was because I abided by one equation:

Hips + Feet = Knees

(In terms of health in relation to movement.)

We used to live in a knee-centric world. It was all about quads and hammies. While some of these muscles cross the hip, they aren’t the dominant muscles of the hip.

Things have changed. I’d say that we’re currently living in a glute-centric world. When ESPN writes a gigantic story about glutes, you know something is up.

But it’s only a matter of time before we begin to focus on the foot. Truly, the only reason I’m respecting and understanding the power of the foot is because I shattered mine to bits. As of now, I’m still rehabilitating it (1.5 years after breaking it), and I’m just beginning to realize the importance of isometric strength in the calves and the importance of dorsiflexion potential.

A lot of tricksters float across the ground, subtly bouncing in between moves. I want to say that the saying having “pep in your step” is code for “diesel isometric strength in the forefoot.”

My right foot is a lot more “locked up” than it used to be. My toes overlap and come to more of a point than compared to my left. It’s a shame that 6-8 weeks in a cast does these sorts of things. My current plan is to destroy myself with a lacrosee ball in hopes of “making space” by separating the joints in my foot.

You would be surprised at the kind of difference a wider base makes—something I realized during handstands. The narrower the fingers, the more my wrists, elbows, and shoulders got hurt. The more I splayed my fingers (to a reasonable extent), the more control I had which led to less injuries.

All things being equal, movement, balance, everything should be easier from a wider base. Most people are walking around on stilts because of the way their foot has contorted over time to fit into shoes. But I want to say the foot should fan. The more separation you have in between your big and second toe the better.

PUTTING INTO ALL TOGETHER INTO ATHLETIC MOVEMENT

As wacky as it seems, this relates to things as seemingly trivial as the barbell row. If your “feeling” the row in the wrong places, you’re wiring is likely out of whack. And if you’re wiring is out of whack, your foundation for athletic movement is likely out of whack too.

So if you want to play electrician, here’s some of my secret sauce. Use it as a launch pad.

1. Stretch the hip flexors, but stretch them correctly. This is a given in our age, but most people don’t stretch the hip flexors right. The trailing leg should be internally rotated with the toes flexed and pressed against the ground. Cross your hands behind your head and lean to the opposite side of whichever leg is being stretched. Or you can just do the super stretch shown above.

2. Find your forefoot. You can do something like front squat (or regular) calf raises, but don’t let the heel touch the ground. Teach your lower leg how to balance the body. Alternatively, you can load up a barbell, throw it on your back, and simply walk around on your tip toes.

I can’t say this is going to turn you into the next Michael Jordan, but that isometric strength is going to help you develop a better connection between your foot and the ground.

“…if calf muscles are not the most important contributors to a high vertical jump, in any case, they are important because in the execution of vertical jump they are involved as organic part of explosive legs extension movements in the last part of push up phase.

The calf rises are not the main exercise for the vertical jump height increasing but they cannot be eliminated in the training program.

Calf rise is the training mean that assures the increasing of calf muscles strength. The preliminary increasing of maximal strength of calf muscles is needed to assure the subsequent increasing of their explosive strength, starting strength and reactive ability.

Calf muscles are strongly involved in the lending shock absorbing phase of run and bounces. The preliminary enforcement of calf muscles, before the use of jumping exercises, it’s needed also to avoid legs injuries (calf muscles strain).

-  YuriVerkhoshansky

3. Get your hips firing. 

Getting the hips to fire was undoubtedly one of the most significant moments of my training career. And that’s if you want to consider a year’s worth of hard work a “moment.” It’s taken me from knee pain to knee health. Squat woes to squat triumphs. Hell, it even fixed my barbell row. (Remember, rewiring stems deep and infests more than one specific movement pattern. There’s also a general aspect to it.)

Crazily enough, it also broke my foot because I was flying through the roof during a tricking session. My moves were so high that I was seriously missing the ground on my landings, to the point of them just looking ugly because of how surprised I was. My body wasn’t going where I was used to it going because I had extra airtime.

Lo and behold, body parts ended up in wrong places, and I ended up with a cast around my leg. So let’s not forget increased the ability of the hips to increase vertical jumping power.

But before I get into how to fix the hips, I want you to digest everything else first, as the the overall scheme of motor programming and patterning can get rather complex.

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Check back on Tuesday for more goodies. And be sure to ask your questions in the interim. The comment boxes are below. It’s always a jammin’ place down there, so join the party.

Until 2011, I hated barbell rows. No matter the variation, they just didn’t feel “right” to me.

The exercise fabled to fill the upper back was instead stressing my lower back and hamstrings. And it wasn’t one of those “you’re working the muscle, keep going, rah-rah” kind of feelings either. It was a “fwaarrkkkkk, this can’t be good” kind of feeling.

(As crazy as it sounds, barbell rows also used to aggravate my chronic knee pain. When my chronic knee pain was at its peak, a lot of stiff legged movements—despite having a small range of motion about the knee—flared up my knee. Here’s a little social proof, from back when I asked Mark Rippetoe about my issues.)

Sometime in 2009, I remember trying Yates rows. My memory of this is vivid because I was so geeked going into it. Having a higher torso angle was supposed to eliminate lower back stress and all around feelings of awkwardness.

It didn’t.

So I made the decision to stop doing any kind of barbell rows.

For a year it was dumbbell rowing. And then another year there was no rowing, save for batwings.

Around this time, I was also repatterning my lower body. You know, An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain stuff.

POST KNEE REHABILITATION RESULTS

After a host of glute-centric work and all of the goodness that lower body repatterning entails, I went back to barbell rows. Partly out of curiosity. Partly because I just love the dead stop “pendlay” row. (I’m well aware of the naming issues and controversy.)

To my surprise, the movement felt entirely different. But it was short lived. Not long after, I broke my foot. When I got back into training, I opted against them in favor of saving my foot from unnecessary stress.

Earlier this year, I went back for my second tour, post-repatterning, post-chroninc knee pain, and post-brokenness. Maybe the rash of injuries made me forget about my toils with them, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago when a client asked me, “Is there anything I can substitute for barbell rows? I’m not sure I feel them in the right place,” that I remembered how troublesome they once were.

WHAT BARBELL ROW ARE WE TALKIN’ HERE?

For the sake of clarity, when I say “barbell row,” I’m referring to the standard overhand grip row done with the back parallel to the floor. If you want to get technical it can be done from either a dead stop or with a stretch reflex at the bottom of the movement. Currently, I opt for the stretch reflex version because I want it to be more of an upper body exercise as opposed to a deadlift assistance exercises.

WHERE SHOULD YOU FEEL THE ROW?

Nowadays, when I do barbell rows, I feel them in two places:

• Mid-Upper Back
• Glutes

I’m fairly certain those are both acceptable answers to the question of where the barbell row should be felt.

The glutes take a large load because they are responsible for holding the bent over position. This position is essentially the bottom of a romanian deadlift, and an isometric hold in the midst of a hinging movement pattern.

Failing to feel the glutes likely means you’re defaulting to the lower back and hamstrings, which is usually accompanied by an anterior pelvic tilt. This problem is very common as the coaching cues used to prevent lower back injuries almost always involve some sort of lower back over arching. This an entirely different topic in itself (again, An Athlete’s Guide to Chronic Knee Pain stuff).

 As for feeling it in the mid-upper back, I don’t abide by the uber-elbows-pinned rowing rule. I focus on two things:

• Getting a full stretch at the bottom (this means protracting the scapula, although I don’t go as far as old Arnie — I make sure to maintain solid lower back positioning)
• Squeezing it all together at the top (this means retracting the scapula—I like thinking “thumbs to armpits, which I can thank Dan John and bat wings for)

WHY CAN I SUDDENLY ROW?

When I was fixing my knee pain, I spent a lot of time doing isometric and “slow moving” work to get a mental connection with my hips. Firing my glutes in the bottom romanian deadlift position was, and still is, a given because all of the man hours put in.

Although I didn’t correlate it until recently, I spent an entire summer doing no rowing but bat wings. Bat wings are a Dan John-ism that are nothing more than isometric rows.

There seems to be something to repatterning and doing things slowly — even to the point if no movement — at first.

Something…

WHY YOU SHOULD BE DOING BARBELL ROWS

These days, it seems the barbell row is frowned upon. Other exercises prove more worthwhile through EMG studies, they say.

But I can confidently say the barbell row has been a huge contributor to my back’s growth, and I don’t plan on getting rid of them anytime soon.

Aside from the sexiness, the barbell row is one of those useful connect-the-dot tools.

If you can’t barbell row without your glutes afire and upper back ablazing, you probably have some wiring issues. If this applies to you, here are some things to think about:

• Your glutes aren’t in charge of your lower body. And when that happens, you’re at risk for knee pain and other lower body trouble, not to mention decreased performance as a whole.
• Your upper back has trouble commanding scapular retraction. And when that happens, your shoulder is in trouble.

So if you’re avoiding the barbell row, you might want to think about why to see if you’re not just covering up unresolved problems. Now, it’s not like I have room to talk as I threw them to the curb for two years. But after jigsawing this all together, few exercises provide a hit the entire backside quite like the barbell row.

The good news is that getting started is as simple as getting started. If you ditched them, un-ditching them starts with nothing more than grabbing a hold of the barbell, bending over, and getting the work done.

You will struggle a bit at first. But keep at it.

As for motivation, when was the last time someone needed less glute and upper back work?

The good news is that there’s hope for you yet. Even if you think you’re doing them completely wrong, you’re probably better off than I was at the start. Yet here I sit, now declaring man-love for the barbell row. I do them weekly, my knees are healthy, my lower back feels great, and my upper back ain’t too shabby.

If you can’t even fathom how to use your hips more and “repattern” for the row, be sure to check back over the next two weeks for suggestions. I’ll let all of this sink in before barraging you with more. And if your interest is peaked, you might as well sign-up for the newsletter (form at the top of the page) so you don’t miss any posts.

Oh, and that “project” I talked about in my blurb a few days ago — it will be released very shortly. And it might just fix your row woes in addition to to wiring issues you have.

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Where and how would you start repatterning for the row if you’re completely out of whack?

Do you do barbell rows. If not, why?