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By David Barr
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I got an email from a client
this week talking about his training [and am continually amazed
that I can get entire articles out of them]. Although I did
his personalized
diet and supplementation programs (click here for more information
on those), he thought he'd give my experience as a
strength coach a bit of a test run.
His problem is that he's doing
a mandatory exercise and simply not feeling any benefits from
it. And when I say "benefits" I'm specifically referring
to a strong contraction.
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So here he is, busting his ass, doing
what he's been told (by internet authorities, no doubt) and he's
frustrated at the result. As you know from the title, the exercise
in question is the bent over row, and I think it's the worst exercise
in existence. Okay I'm completely exaggerating, but at the same
time I'm not alone in my disdain for this back killer.
What To Do When
You're Told To Bend Over
When I was but a young lad of 16,
I began training and followed everything that the biggest guys told
me. I did the big basic exercises -you know: squats and bench- but
there was also the "Big Bent Row" that was supposed to
"Pack on EXTREME Mass!". (have a good chuckle at the vernacular,
but remember that people still write like this.)
The problem is that I could never
really feel a contraction with rows that I could with other exercises.
Strangely it didn't seem to be related to the movement of my arms
-I could do the same rows on a machine with a great contraction.
Drive to Dilution
Having interviewed several people
about this, it seems as though the problem with bent over rows is
quite common. For some reason, most (if not many or even all) just
have a very hard time contracting the major back muscles during
this exercise.
Holding the stance is no problem,
nor is performing any other back exercise, so what's the trouble?
The theory I'm developing is one of
central drive dilution, which
means that the nervous system is simply asked to do too much during
bent over rows. By trying to contract too many muscles simultaneously,
the signals of the nervous system simply get diluted such that nothing
can be contracted maximally.
This is similar to having a single
hose through which water is traveling at a high pressure. Branching
off from the end of this hose are numerous other hoses, off of which
there are yet other branches. By the time the water gets to the
end this third and final set, the once high-pressure water is only
coming out as small trickle.
The Challenge
As I began to think of all of the
muscles involved during a bent over row, I became quite surprised.
After all we usually think of the deadlift as the exercise the recruits
the most muscle for a prolonged period. But by involving all of
the back and arm muscles (yes even a head of the triceps), rows
come out on top. I've actually issued a bit of a challenge to people
to see if they could think of an exercise that recruits more individual
muscles for a prolonged period. So far there haven't been any takers.
Bilateral Evidence
Although the word theory is thrown
around colloquially as a synonym for "guess", a scientific
theory is a testable prediction based on evidence. Consistent with
this usage, the central drive dilution theory comes from something
we've all experienced called the bilateral deficit.
Whether you've known it or not, your
body contracts muscle far better during single limb work than when
using both limbs. For example we have better contraction during
a single leg squat than the traditional two-legged version. This
happens because the neural signals for muscle contraction get divided
during the bilateral exercise, whereas everything can be focused
during single limb work. This bilateral deficit is not only a reason
why you should be incorporating unilateral work into your program
(among others), but it's the extension of which that is the central
drive dilution theory.
Conclusions
Don't do bent rows. Unless of course
you like them.
Do single limb work, eat more vegetables,
and check out The
Anabolic Index!
About The Author
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