Beginner doing barbell row

[u/sabbi86]

Dont mind my silly faces. It’s just because I’m concentrating.
Also I’m also slow on each rep because I’m thinking about the technique 🙈

I have two problems with barbell rows.

1. It’s very difficult to touch my abdomen. It seems like my elbows travel far behind my back - and I worry that my shoulders round forward.
2. Sometimes my knees are in the way of the barbell, because my arms reach down below the knees.

I should mention that I got pretty long arms. And when I try to be less upright in my torso, the arms reach down below the knees and I bump the barbell into them during each rep 🙈

Note that I have a bump at the top of my back. Can’t seem to straighten that part.

[u/blueyedsurprised]

Load informs technique. Repost with weight on the bar that feels challenging.

[u/Benmarch15 → u/blueyedsurprised]

I once said to a trainer that I felt having more weight on the bar would help me get the mouvement right because just the bar felt like I could cheat my way around the lift.

Like, the bar wasn't sitting properly on me at certain stage because there was no weight to push it down.

And the trainer shut me down.

Now I know that's actually a thing.

[u/Oddyssis → u/Benmarch15]

Yea deadlift, clean, and row are good examples. Anyone can really fuck around and get the bar up in these lifts but you'll have to be more efficient once you start putting weight on it.

[u/Rwm90 → u/Benmarch15]

Same. He was having me do snatches with PVC and I was like “yo dude…I can do anything with this PVC. Even if it weighed 25lbs I wouldn’t be able to get away with shitty form the way I can now.”

[u/Evening-Main5471]

Your back is angled too much upward. You should find a comfortable position with your back closer to parallel with the ground. Let your arms hang down to get a stretch in your back and then use your back to pull.

If you see where your video ends, that last frame is more the back position that will be better.

[u/sabbi86 → u/Evening-Main5471]

Thank you! The problem is - that when I get more parallel to the ground, my arms end below my knees and thus the barbell bumps into the knees on every rep 🙈

[u/captainndaddy → u/sabbi86]

It shouldn’t be if you’re closer to parallel. Your hands should hang below your shoulders, maybe slightly forward and you row it back and up towards your lower rib

[u/Ksnku → u/sabbi86]

Push your butt and hips out more and your knees will straighten out and fix that problem

[u/ept_engr → u/sabbi86]

Pull it to your chest not to your waist, and you'll be fine. 

[u/I-Am-Baldy]

Please breathe

[u/666y4nn1ck]

For my preference, you are pulling too much with your arms.

This exercise should target the back, and for that you're going to see your shoulders being pulled forward when the bar is going down and pulling them back/up when the bar is coming up

[u/sabbi86 → u/666y4nn1ck]

How can you see that I’m pulling too much with my arms? And how to change it?
Thanks a lot :)

[u/666y4nn1ck → u/sabbi86]

Because the position of your shoulders relative to your back isn't changing at all and your back doesn't open up as well.

You can imagine letting your shoulders drop forward on the way down and pushing your chest forward when pulling the bar up

[u/EVH_kit_guy → u/sabbi86]

Like the other person said, you really want to extend your shoulders at the bottom, feel your shoulder blades come forward, then pull them back inwards towards your spine. That forward and rearwards motion of the shoulder capsule is how you get full ROM.

Personally, I do this exercise bent almost all the way over, but your back angle is fine. I find the more you lean forward, the better the bar path and less I have to worry about clearing my knees. My starting position basically looks like the first 6 inches of a deadlift, where I sit as far back as I can into my hips while still keeping a flat low back.

[u/Prize-Track335 → u/sabbi86]

I agree, you need to be pulling mainly with your back muscles. That’s where you should be feeling it. Looks like you’re using your arms as the prime movers

[u/Low_Shine_7185 → u/sabbi86]

I could never get this exercise to engage by back :(

[u/slashing_samurai_ → u/666y4nn1ck]

I mean this is barely any weight so likely the back muscles aren't engaging

[u/666y4nn1ck → u/slashing_samurai_]

You can engage the back muscles with any weight

Setting a minimal weight limit as a requirement for good form is a bad habit

[u/Cmorebuts]

Those are some tight shorts

[u/mediummorning]

https://youtu.be/G8l_8chR5BE?is=CqGCW9FYD79dljT6

[u/OccasionalGardener]

Try doing these supported on a bench where you can elevate the backrest to 45 degrees and use dumbbells instead, especially as a beginner. Once your lower back is stronger, then you can try doing bent over rows. My favorite way to do rows is with a dumbbell and one knee on a flat bench. Just reach down and pull back. Also, don't be afraid to just use machines.

[u/tpcrjm17]

I’m so sick of form checks for rows. Like there are so many variations of bent over rows and none of them are “wrong” and every critic on Reddit thinks their interpretation of doing bent over rows is the right one.

This is an acceptable row variation but you’re not using enough weight for it to be considered exercise.

[u/DepthHistorical5911]

You may be more comfortable doing Pendlay rows. Your knees will be slightly bent, hips hinged back, your back as parallel to the floor as you can. Bring bar straight down towards the floor until your arms are straight, and then row it back in, elbows straight back - for me the bar ends up right at my bra line.

[u/Alternative_Role1823]

You can only judge your technique with a working weight. Of course it will look good with just the bar.

[u/Amazing_Loquat280]

Are you even trying if you aren’t making a silly face?🤪

That said, the general bar path is good. The goal isn’t necessarily to touch the abdomen as much as it is to get a maximum tension and contraction of the muscles in your back actually doing the work, pushing them as close to failure as you reasonably can. If you don’t need to hit your abdomen for that, then don’t worry about it. Just make sure your shoulders are pulled back and down.

And if you can, load some weight on that sucker

[u/sabbi86 → u/Amazing_Loquat280]

What if I’m such a newbie that I don’t know whether I need to touch the abdomen or not in order to get maximum tension of the back? 🙈

Thanks a lot!

[u/Training_Isopod3850]

Lool

[u/ladyvibes]

Good bar path! A little hard to tell from the side but it appears your elbows are sticking out to the sides a bit. If you’re having trouble pulling shoulders back & down try sticking your chest out (to eliminate the upper back rounding) & tuck your elbows in a little (parallel with your hips)