SGHP vs. Rowing

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
1

CT,

Can you tell me what a Kroc-Row or Pendlay Row would give you that a Snatch Grip High Pull wouldn’t, regarding lat and upper back strength development?

Thanks.

2

  1. a high pull works primarily the upper back and delts. Traps, rear delts, rhomboids and obviously legs and lower back, there is some lats involvement to keep the bar close, but not enough to really build them.

  2. I’m personally not a fan of Kroc rows… I know it’s probably sacrilege but we each have our own preferred exercises, rarely do I use Kroc rows with myself or clients.

  3. I do like Pendlay rows, when done properly it is a very good overall back builder. I do it and have my clients do it more often than Kroc rows but my primary “rowing” exercise is the chest on flat bench supported row (also called chinese row because it’s primarily used by chinese weightlifters). Here is one of my clients doing it with KBs but you can do it with DBs or a bar:

The reason I prefer this over the Pendlay row is that the lower back isn’t involved. While getting the lower back super strong is important, if it tired out too fast it will take away from the exercise. And the neural drive is “divided” into more muscles, resulting in a less intense contraction of the lats/upper back. Finally, you can’t cheat on the chest-supported row.

Another exercise that I love to build the back is the sweeping deadlift. Here’s one of my Crossfit girls doing it:

At first I began using that exercise simply to teach how to engage the lats to keep the bar close when pulling. But I found that if you go back far enough there is a lot of tension on those lats… my athletes were all sore in the lats the day after their first session. Since the deadlift is already a good lower back, mid-back and traps builder, utilizing the band to involve the lats makes it a complete back exercise. It’s even more effective for upper bacl/lats development to do it with a snatch grip.

3

Thanks you, CT. Does the resistance of the band in the sweeping deadlift provide the same sort of lat resistance as a front lever or straight arm pulldown?

4

C. Thibaudeau, why arent you a fan of kroc rows ?

5

[quote]monsterhoch wrote:
Thanks you, CT. Does the resistance of the band in the sweeping deadlift provide the same sort of lat resistance as a front lever or straight arm pulldown?[/quote]

Correct

6

[quote]Akidara wrote:
C. Thibaudeau, why arent you a fan of kroc rows ? [/quote]

Every coach has its own favorite movements. The Kroc row just isn’t one of mine. No specific reason, I just never got much out of them personally (but it’s probably a good exercise since so many are raving about it) and because I don’t feel them personally I don’t tend to use it with my clients.

7

I just have to say, I used the sweeping deadlift last night and my lats were lit up afterwards. It actually left me with a killer pump and I felt I was able to engage my lats in all my other movements afterwards.

8

[quote]Trevorxgage wrote:
I just have to say, I used the sweeping deadlift last night and my lats were lit up afterwards. It actually left me with a killer pump and I felt I was able to engage my lats in all my other movements afterwards.[/quote]

Yep, I often use it at the beginning of an olympic lifting session with my crossfit athletes to turn on their lats so that they can engage it easily on their snatch or clean without having to think about it.

In which case I use lighter weights (about 90-95% of their snatch or clean 1RM depending on whcih one we are doing) a moderate band stretch, just to activate the lats.

The second option is to finish the workout with it in which case we can go a bit heavier, but especially get a bigger band stretch.