Ham Pull Through

Anyone care to explain the correct form for this exercise?

Dave Tate has a pic of a rather extremely rounded back with head down in his article at Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION.

And Coach Davies has a pic of a straight upper back, natural arched lower back with head up in his article at Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION.

I’ve done the Davies’ style for two workouts and they certainly hit my ass in a different way than my standard fare of RDLs and squats. Should I continue with this or is there some benefit to Tate’s style?

I’m certainly no expert, but I’d say use them both. Tate and his guys do rounded back good mornings, and arched back good mornings. They also probably do arched back pullthroughs, and rounded back pull-throughs.

I really feel those rounded-back pull-throughs hammering my low-back as well… so it depends what you’re looking for.

Maybe stick with the arched back for a while, then change 'er up.

Just my 2 pennies.

Nothing to add with regard to your inquiry; I just wanted to say that it’s nice to see you posting more in the T/N forum as of late.

Both versions are effective and should be used.

For anyone interested, there is generally no need to be concerned about the rounded back when doing these.
With pull throughs you tend to use a fairly light weight and go for a significant number of reps ~12-20 or thereabouts. I’ve done both and due to the light weights (100-150 pounds), I find that my lower back isn’t compromised with rounding and I can get more reps with rounding and a better stretch do to the less strict nature of them.

Cool. Thanks for the feedback, guys. Didn’t know if I was misinterpreting the pics/descriptions or what.

A big whats up to karma–
I would think that a straight back would be ideal for glute-ham raises. Why? If you goal is to hit the glutes and hams , all posterior chain muscles, it would seem logical to do this for the entire posterior chain. So just keep your back flat and hips pushed forward