How to Properly Work Outer And Mid Back Strength

I decided to give a protract/stretch and squeeze/retract long row with locked knee a try. video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsxn6z9l1w6/.

Interestingly enough, with the hip hiked up, thus elongating the lat substantially (low origin is iliac crest), and with an emphasis on pulling “downward” (scap depression) toward the hip and low back, grip was the weak link. I figured I’d be fine without straps, chalk, or belt, since I’ve been handling 210-275lb dumbbells just fine. But that extra pendulum-like movement rocks the dumbbell about in your hand quite a bit.

For people who struggle to “feel” the back, in particular the low origin of latissus dorsi near the waist, this variant with attention to the aforementioned details seems to do the trick. Technically, to amplify the intensity (reference lat muscle action), one would want to allow modest flexion and forward rotation of trunk in the reach and extension with backward rotation in the pull. You’re trying to create the greatest distance between pelvis and upper arm at the “bottom” of the movement and imagining mashing the two together at the top.

On the other end of the technique spectrum, the excessive hyper-immobile and overbraced-persistent-retraction form I see most people adopt for row is unnecessary for intermediate-advanced athletes. It certainly shortens the range of motion, ignores one main action of lat (trunk rotation), and reduces the actin-myosin stress necessary for maximal function, maximal strength, and/or maximal hypertrophy.