The Bent Over Row is a fairly effective exercise for developing your back muscles. Lovers of crossfit, fitness and bodybuilding often use it instead of a barbell or dumbbell in an incline, and there are reasons for this: the axial load on the spine decreases, and it becomes easier to concentrate on the work of the broadest back muscles.
Depending on the position of the body, you can pull the projectile to the chest or to the belt. The load from this also changes. It can be accentuated on both the upper back and the lower lats. It is also worth noting that, first of all, this exercise, like other horizontal rows, develops the thickness of the back, not its width. To make your back wider, you need to pay more attention to doing vertical rows, such as pull-ups and wide-grip rows of the upper block.
In this article, we'll show you how to do the bent-over T-bar deadlift and what the benefits of this exercise are.
The benefits of exercise
The main benefits of the T-bar or bent-over row is that the back gets stronger. It is the foundation of any strength sport. Without a strong upper back, there will be no heavy squats, bench press and deadlift, and other basic movements. The back becomes not only stronger, but also larger. Note to men: according to statistics, most women first of all note well-developed back muscles, for them this serves as a kind of indicator of attractiveness.
It also helps to work out a huge number of small stabilizing muscles. The bent position is not completely stable, and we have to engage all possible muscle groups in order to maintain balance. It will not be possible to "hook" them with other exercises.
The handle on most T-bars is designed in such a way that you can use any grip: wide, narrow, medium, straight, reverse, parallel ...
This gives you the opportunity to work different muscle fibers and different areas of your back with one exercise. It is enough just to change the position of the hands in each approach.
Contraindications for implementation
This exercise is not devoid of axial load on the spine, therefore, in the presence of hernias, protrusions or degenerative changes in the spine, it is strictly prohibited to perform it. The alternative suggests itself: T-bar row with an emphasis on the bench. In this exercise, axial loading is minimized. In addition, movement along a given amplitude practically does not give you the opportunity to use cheating, therefore, you will not overload the spine extensors.
If your gym does not have such a machine, use a regular bench, set the incline to 30-45 degrees and perform a barbell or dumbbell row on it. The movement will be almost completely isolated, and the latissimus dorsi will work very differently. Another option is to do the horizontal row in a bar or block machine with low weights. Such a load will be quite enough for the back to become larger and stronger.
What muscles work?
The dynamic load falls on the lats, small and larger round and rhomboid muscles of the back.
The trapezius muscles, posterior deltas and triceps work a little less. The extensors of the spine, gluteal muscles, hamstrings and quadriceps act as stabilizers.
T-bar deadlift technique
In horizontal rods, the result depends entirely on the correct technique. Many inexperienced athletes, who have more enthusiasm than understanding the training process, rashly begin to work with huge weights in such exercises, but this does not lead to any result. This often leads to injury. Therefore, first of all, you need to set the correct technique for performing the exercise. To do this, read this section carefully or consult a qualified personal trainer.
Determination of load
First you need to decide which part of the back you are going to train. To emphasize the load on the upper back (small and large round, rhomboid muscles and back deltas), you need to do the pull of the T-bar to the chest. The T-bar pull to the belt should be done to put more pressure on the lower lats. Accordingly, your position will also change. If you want to pull to the belt, you need to stand as close to the bar as possible, if to the chest - a little further.
The next key point is grip. The wider the grip, the more the large and small round muscles will work. A narrow and parallel grip will engage your latissimus muscles more. The reverse grip will put more pressure on the lower lats, but the biceps will also be heavily involved. To work only with your back, without connecting additional muscle groups, use the wrist straps. Under no circumstances should your wrists be tucked in when you hold the T-bar grips. This will create too much tension in the forearms and biceps, immediately increasing the risk of stretching the muscle.
Initial position
Take the correct starting position. The slope in the horizontal rods is key; the smaller the angle, the more the load will shift to the lower lats. If the angle is closer to a straight line, then the entire upper back will be included more strongly. The amplitude also changes from this. The larger the angle, the shorter the amplitude. In any case, you need to maintain a natural arch in the lower back and keep your back straight. Lock in this position.
Many people use an athletic belt when doing this exercise. You need to understand that when pulling the T-bar, we need a stabilized position of the body, the back should not be rounded at any point of amplitude. This can be difficult with a belt. Use it only when working with heavy weights, but do not tighten too tight, it should not interfere with your breathing properly and keep your back straight.
You also need to keep your knees slightly bent to relieve stress on easily injured hamstrings.
Exercise
- Begin to smoothly pull the handles towards you. To engage your back muscles more, bring your shoulder blades together and keep your arms closer to your body. If you spread your elbows to the sides, the rear deltas will begin to work harder. Do the exercise at full amplitude, continue lifting the weight until the shoulder blades are fully brought together and the latissimus dorsi contract. All this is done while exhaling. At the top point, we pause for a second and squeeze the back muscles as much as possible. It is important at this moment not to strain the biceps, otherwise during the negative phase of the movement, all the load will go into them. Do not change the position of the neck and head while lifting the T-bar, too strong axial load on the cervical spine will be created, possibly pinching the nerve.
- Then slowly lower the T-bar down while inhaling. The negative phase should run approximately twice as slow as the positive. It is important not to round the thoracic spine at this point and not to change the position of the body. At the bottom, pause for a second to stretch the latissimus dorsi, and repeat from the beginning.
- If you are working with decent weights for this exercise, then a little cheating is acceptable on the last two or three reps. Help yourself with your legs to create momentum, this will take some stress off your back muscles, but will increase the intensity of the training.
Crossfit complexes with exercise
If you have learned the technique well enough, you can try out the proposed training complexes below, which contain such an exercise as the T-bar row in the bent over.
