One Arm Barbell Row Instead of Kroc Row?

Kroc row is great for my upperback and grip. Been doing great for my deadlift. But my gym is out of heavier dumbbell and the Kroc Dumbbell cost like 160 or something. I can’t make one that can load up olympic plates too. Do you guys think one arm barbell row would be a good alternative for it? Thanks lots.

Completely different movement. Not a bad one at all, but if you’re benefitting from dumbbell rows, this isn’t going to really replicate it.

How heavy of a dumbbell/how many reps were you working with before you ran out of weight at the gym?

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Completely different movement. Not a bad one at all, but if you’re benefitting from dumbbell rows, this isn’t going to really replicate it.

How heavy of a dumbbell/how many reps were you working with before you ran out of weight at the gym?[/quote]

I was doing 100 lbs for 28 reps. Thats the heaviest in my gym. If barbell one arm row can’t replicate the benefits of using a dumbbell. Can it still benefits my grip strength like regular kroc rows do?

It seems like less stabilization involved (don’t know for sure) and different bar path but it would still be effective in building your upper back and grip. If that’s your goal then you might as well try it.

If that’s you in the video, you don’t need to be asking us for advice. Damn!

[quote]OldOgre wrote:
If that’s you in the video, you don’t need to be asking us for advice. Damn![/quote]

I cannot imagine that the TC is John Meadows. He has his own account here.

As for the question about grip strength, anything can benefit your grip strength as long as you are holding onto something heavy for a long period of time. There isn’t anything terribly magical about the kroc row in that regard. As with most things, give it a try and see. If it’s just a 100lb cap, I would seriously consider packing an Olympic DB handle in your gym bag and using that. You could work up to 150lbs pretty easily that way. I’ve use it in the past.

I like the one arm barbell row and the meadows row for sure though. Great movements.

Try adding bands or do 5 sec negatives for the first 10 reps

Buy a roll of duct tape…tape a five or ten pound plate to each side of the 100lb. bell. Cheap and effective.

I don’t think duct taping plates to dumbells is a reasonable solution especially for gyms that only go up to 100s. What about this?

Also what kind of work are you doing before db rows? I wouldn’t worry about getting to creative on a solution until you can do like 5 sets of 20 at the end of a workout when your fatigued doing at least 1 other row movement and some other arm stuff.

[quote]sufiandy wrote:
I don’t think duct taping plates to dumbells is a reasonable solution especially for gyms that only go up to 100s. What about this?

[/quote]

I feel like this movement would be too different from the dumbbell row to merit utilizing and not as beneficial as the one armed barbell row video already posted. Most likely a great stabilizer workout for the wrist, but again, it all boils down to WHY the dumbbell row is used.

That said, several companies make a “dumbbell row handle” that is like a mini farmer’s walk implement, built to be able to perform rows with a 45lb plate without running into your shoulder. Good way to do some very heavy rows, but the ROM is quite a bit shorter unless you stand on something elevated.

[quote]lift206 wrote:
It seems like less stabilization involved (don’t know for sure) and different bar path but it would still be effective in building your upper back and grip. If that’s your goal then you might as well try it.[/quote]

True and I am not doing it for the core or shoulder anyway, so stabilization wont be a factor will give it a try next workout.

[quote]OldOgre wrote:
If that’s you in the video, you don’t need to be asking us for advice. Damn![/quote]

I wish man, I wish

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]OldOgre wrote:
If that’s you in the video, you don’t need to be asking us for advice. Damn![/quote]

I cannot imagine that the TC is John Meadows. He has his own account here.

As for the question about grip strength, anything can benefit your grip strength as long as you are holding onto something heavy for a long period of time. There isn’t anything terribly magical about the kroc row in that regard. As with most things, give it a try and see. If it’s just a 100lb cap, I would seriously consider packing an Olympic DB handle in your gym bag and using that. You could work up to 150lbs pretty easily that way. I’ve use it in the past.

I like the one arm barbell row and the meadows row for sure though. Great movements.[/quote]

I wanna train my grip with other muscles working at the same time, feels like gripping while doing movement is much harder than just gripping. As for the olympic dumbbell handle, they are pretty pricey too and can’t add weight to it for long.

[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
Buy a roll of duct tape…tape a five or ten pound plate to each side of the 100lb. bell. Cheap and effective. [/quote]

Tried it with some straps, wont work, weights move around when doing such violent exercise like kroc rows.

[quote]sufiandy wrote:
I don’t think duct taping plates to dumbells is a reasonable solution especially for gyms that only go up to 100s. What about this?

Also what kind of work are you doing before db rows? I wouldn’t worry about getting to creative on a solution until you can do like 5 sets of 20 at the end of a workout when your fatigued doing at least 1 other row movement and some other arm stuff.[/quote]

Isn’t kroc row about 1 set to failure?

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
That said, several companies make a “dumbbell row handle” that is like a mini farmer’s walk implement, built to be able to perform rows with a 45lb plate without running into your shoulder. Good way to do some very heavy rows, but the ROM is quite a bit shorter unless you stand on something elevated.[/quote]

Already checked that out, seems great for my problem thanks.

Thanks a lot for your replies guys. Great tips and information.

[quote]terrysae wrote:

[quote]sufiandy wrote:
I don’t think duct taping plates to dumbells is a reasonable solution especially for gyms that only go up to 100s. What about this?

Also what kind of work are you doing before db rows? I wouldn’t worry about getting to creative on a solution until you can do like 5 sets of 20 at the end of a workout when your fatigued doing at least 1 other row movement and some other arm stuff.[/quote]

Isn’t kroc row about 1 set to failure?
[/quote]

Probably, I guess my answer is why are they so important you need to figure out another way of doing them vs doing something else.

[quote]sufiandy wrote:
Probably, I guess my answer is why are they so important you need to figure out another way of doing them vs doing something else.[/quote]

I loved doing kroc rows in the past. It was more fun to consistently hit rep PRs than do something like 5 x 20. Warming up for a couple sets and doing the last set close to failure provided an easy indicator of strength progress with minimal impact on recovery. It’s probably just preference but I liked the motivating aspect of it.