Renegade Rows – Do You Make These Mistakes? Part II
26 Mar
A reader of this site, Andy, asked me in Part I of the renegade rows series what to do once renegade rows become way too easy. He says he doesn’t feel his abs sore after workout. I will answer this in two parts. First, I wanna make something clear regarding muscle soreness. It is a sign of only one thing – that your body was not ready or adapted for the stress that caused the soreness. Nothing else. So you may continue to workout, especially when training for strength as opposed to muscle size (these are two different goals!), without needing to blast your body so that it’s sore every time.
[She wanted to know if getting that tat was a mistake. Hm, let me think, girl... Tell you what - I like the ink, but all this other extra stuff covering your body needs to go LOL!]
The second issue is whether you do the renegade rows with proper form to ensure that your core gets maximum stimulation. So in this article I will address the issue of proper form in more detail.
Here Is A Video With A Good Explanation Of The Proper Form For Renegade Rows
[This video is very helpful in understanding how to transfer the weight between your arms so that you can row with the free arm. Just watch it and you will see what I mean.]
Here Is My Buddy Vasko In Our Gym Doing The Exercise PERFECTLY With 40kg Dumbbells
[Vasko is very strong for his size 6'2'', 190 lbs, can deadlift 200kg+. Note that he is an athlete and needs his body weight to stay down, yet his strength needs to be as high as possible to be fast and explosive. This is what the relative strength advantage is all about.]
Here Are 3 Examples Of How NOT To Do It
[This guys is twisting like mad. Remember, this is an exercise in stabilization. It is NOT a back/rowing exercise]
[This guy is a little better, but still, almost no stabilization, his hips are lifting off, he is doing way too many reps.]
Renegade Rows are done to teach and enhance core stabilization. Low reps are the only option here. Sets of 10 while good for fatiguing the muscle and building it up, are USELESS here. Maximal contraction is the goal when training for stabilization.
[This guy is actually walking around with the exercise. He is not getting the core strength benefits from this exercise.]
It is true that he is burning some calories – but again the renegade row is NOT a fat loss or general physical preparedness exercise. It is a drill that makes your abs freaky strong and rock hard. If done correctly!
To End On A Positive Note – Here Is My Good Friend Val Doing PERFECT Renegade Rows With 16kg Dumbbells
[That's one tough chick right there!]
Photo by Digita Sophia
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Yavor, thanks for the shout out and the videos. It is always a good reminder to revisit proper form. Next time I do these, I’m going to be extra strict regarding form.
Yeah Andy, just make sure you are rigid as a plank and contract those abs super hard.
Yavor
Yeah I’m a chauvinistic pig cause the only thing I gotta say after reading this article is — it’s so hot when that chick does great renegade rows
Haha, yeah, she’s way cool bro
My wrists hurt when I do this any suggestions?
Ray,
here are my suggestions:
1. Try to support yourself on your palms as close to the heel of your palm as possible (as opposed to supporting yourself on the backside of your knuckles which hurts the wrist)
2. If the pain persists try doing fisted pushups for a while to make your wrists stronger.
3. If this doesn’t help – ditch the rows
Cheers,
Yavor
Hi Yavor,
I can across an article on this website a couple of days ago which was about the benifits of relative strenght and importance of it. The article had a link the the Jones Gym article on the same subject. I can not find this article on your site now? has it been removed?
Mel,
I haven’t removed any articles. Maybe you meant this article:
Relative Strength Advantage – What Is Fitness?
Anyway – this is a good subject for another article which I should write.
Cheers,
Yavor
hey yavor,
What do you recommend for rest periods between sets (i’m currently doing 3-5 sets of 5)
Chica,
2-3 minutes are enough. Also – you can alternate between two exercises, for example renegade rows and a pressing (military press, etc) or leg (squats, linges) exercise. This saves time – you can rest from 0 to 60 seconds when alternating exercises (one set of exercise 1, followed by one set of exercise 2, etc..).
I’ve never seen this before… It’s almost like a row and a plank combined. This seems like a really great exercise for an athlete to develop core strength, I imagine it’s pretty hard to stay stable when lifting 40kg like your friend above!
Kieran
Kieran,
yes it is pretty hard, but one can achieve core strength pretty fast
the important things about this drill are to shift the weight between the two arms and two flex and tense the muscles of the legs and butt.
hey yavor
thanks for these articles – i love renegade rows. planks had gotten easy and boring, but with enough weight i find these realy challenging. can you recommend a similarly challenging lower back exercise?
thanks,
chica
Chica,
the lower back works in accord with all the muscles of the posterior chain (back of the body). So deadlifts work the lower back quite well. Any exercise really that makes you hold the arch position under resistance is good.
You can try good mornings ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFDmJaFw5HU or the super man exercise ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2f24JKuocI for a body weight variation.
Cheers,
Yavor
p.s. just remember to always keep the arch in the lower back tight. This also means keep the back tight when picking stuff up at home.
u are doing a great job.i have learnt a lot from u since i visited ur site two days ago.pls are there other workouts that i can do to work the abs using dumb bells? thanks