Bodyweight rows, also known as an "Australian Pull-up” (your down-under the bar/rings), are an exercise that is often overlooked. Chin-ups and pull-ups often take centre stage when it comes to bent arm pulling strength. Gym rookies are on a mission to get their first pull-up, while the intermediate and advanced strength athletes are looking to increase their total number of repetitions and their weighted chin-up numbers.
Bodyweight rows are the foundation of gymnastics/callisthenics bent arm strength training as they build the strength necessary for rope climbing and pull-ups. Not to mention the increase in grip strength. Bodyweight rows are also useful for correcting muscular imbalances and deficiencies, leading to shoulder injuries and poor posture.
Advanced bodyweight warriors often overlook the benefits of bodyweight rows, and they fail to see how bodyweight rows are infinitely scalable to match or challenge all levels of strength.
Pull-ups and legless rope climbing are a great goal to strive for in terms of upper-body pulling strength. So how do you get there? Many coaches and clients alike mistakenly jump ahead and start training pull-ups and rope climbs without working on the foundations. Progress can be slow and even plateau because the correct muscle activation, connective tissue overload, and strength have not been developed. This is where the bodyweight rows are required to train bent arm pulling strength and move us closer to the more difficult pull-ups and rope climbs.
Even if you already have pull-up and rope climbs, the bodyweight row's difficulty can be adjusted to challenge your current level of strength.
Beginners may start with the body on an incline and progress to an intermediate level where the straps are vertical and the row becomes more horizontal.
The more advanced client can elevate the feet and set the body on a decline to increase the level of difficulty. Bodyweight rows can even be performed with additional weight.
Those who are working toward a single-arm chin-up can also perform single-arm rows.
Bodyweight rows also come with a wide variety of grip variations, each targeting slightly different muscle fibres in the forearms, biceps, shoulders and back. Possible grip variations include pronated grip, supinated grip, neutral grip, supinated grip (using one ring), false grip, rope grip, mixed-grip and more.
Bodyweight Rows Help to Prevent Elbow & Shoulder Pain
There is no questioning. Pull-ups and rope climbs are both outstanding exercise for bent-arm strength training. However, the overuse of vertical pulling often leads to elbow and/or shoulder pain.
Why do you feel pain in your elbows? Why does your shoulder hurt? It’s a question of structural balance, and hence the best bodyweight training programmes include bodyweight rows weekly because they are a horizontal pulling movement.
Including bodyweight row in training can pay huge dividends in terms of maintaining good posture and shoulder health.
It’s not uncommon to see extreme and powerful athletes struggling to:
Hold a weight overhead
Hold a straight body handstand
Perform a deep overhead squat
If you have trouble straightening your arms overhead, it can be a sign that your shoulder external rotators are weak, and your scapular movement is limited. This can lead to shoulder, wrist, elbow or even lower back pain due to your poor shoulder mechanics.
This is another excellent opportunity to include bodyweight rows, as they strength the posterior shoulder muscles and balance out both horizontal and vertical pressing exercises. We all love a bro sesh of bench press, but are you balancing the horizontal pressing with horizontal pulling? Most people need to double the number of rowing repetitions compared to pressing repetitions because they already have a structural imbalance from sitting hunched over a computer or phone all day.
By focusing on restoring structural balance, you will increase your strength, power, speed, movement quality, movement efficiency and lower the chance of injury. Sounds like a worthwhile investment.
Shoulder health is a priority in our online training programmes, and building a strong and stable shoulder is essential to structural balance for posture and performance.
The Perfect Bodyweight Row
Here at TSTMethod, the standard for bodyweight rows requires strict quality. We don’t want our client performing rows with piked hips, failing to extend the elbows, or performing half repetitions. We teach our clients to move slowly and with control, as this is the best way to increase muscle activation and build strength.
Bodyweight Row Technique:
Set the rings to the appropriate height for your choose variation (incline, flat, decline), then assume the bottom position with the arms straight (elbows locked) and the shoulders protracted (spread the shoulder blades across the back).
Keep tension throughout the midsection to ensure that the hips are extended, the knees are locked, and that the body is held with a tight line. The body's shape does not change during the row; only the arms and shoulders should move. A solid object is much easier to move than a bag of sand. Do not be the bag of sand!
The legs must remain straight, the glutes must stay contracted, and the midline must be tight.
From the bottom position, initiate the pulling motion by depressing (pulling the shoulders down towards your back pockets) and retracting (pinching the shoulder blades together behind your back) without bending the elbows.
After setting the shoulders back and down, flex the elbows and pull the rings towards the torso. It would be best if you continued to pull until you reach the top of the movement when the elbows are behind the body and the biceps cover the forearms. Pause briefly, then slowly lower back down with control until you reach the bottom position described in point 1 and 2 above.
Repeat for the given amount of repetitions at the specified tempo.
This technique can seem more challenging for those who have been performing bodyweight rows incorrectly. However, the purpose of training should be to challenge ourselves to adapt and grow stronger, not just to do as many low-quality repetitions as possible (AMLRAP) or make the movement easier. The clients who make the best progress consistently allow the quality of the movement to dictate the load. We are trying to find the most challenging version of the movement that we can perform with strict quality.
Bodyweight rows offer more than just upper body pulling strength. Learning how to create full-body tension is essential for gymnastics/callisthenics training. Movements such as push-ups, levers, planche, and handstand require an awareness of tension.
As mentioned above, bodyweight rows are a great way to train grip strength, especially when using a slow tempo, high volume, or isometric holds. Grip strength-endurance is critical for pull-ups and rope climbs, as well as many other movements in the gym. Research has shown poor grip strength is correlated with a shorter life expectancy, higher blood pressure, increase risk of heart disease, increase risk of all disease, and more.
Hopefully, you've been convinced that bodyweight rows can add value to your workouts and help you reach your upper body pulling goals.
Unlock your first chin-up
If you're struggling to get your first chin-up and you're looking for a program that can get you there, you might like to take a look at our level 1 Building Bodyweight Strength Program.
If you've got your chin-ups and pull-ups and you would like to increase your numbers or weighted reps, we are here to help with online training.
Until next time. Don't break yourself, Make yourself.