Pendlay Rows

Allen Yeh · 08-19-2008, 08:01 AM

Anyone do them? Good or bad experiences?

I put them in there today to give them a whirl after reading a multitude of different threads in various places and I'll keep them in there for at least 5 more weeks just to see. I found the movement a bit awkward and it was very counter intuitive to me to let go of the bar and regrip after every rep. Perhaps I was doing it wrong but I don't think so.

1. Larger than shoulder width grip, hips high, lower back arched or flat, not rounded. I ended up putting a rubber pad under my feet to increase the height a bit due to my longer than normal arms and shorter than normal legs.
2. Pull to lower chest/upper abdomen area explosively without moving hips.
3. Lower the weight and deload

Am I missing anything?

Dave Van Skike · 08-19-2008, 08:39 AM

They are a staple for me and a lot of my training partners. hips stay in the same place but your back should give the weifght a little heave to cheat the bar to your chest. don't be afraid to use a belt..go heavier than you think and cheat more than you think is correct at first then work the weight down to soemthing you only cheat a little. huge carryover to deadlifts and oddly.... pullups. I shoot for at least 60% of my deadlift work set weight. so if i'm doing tripples in the high 4's, i'm rowing around 275 for triples.

Allen Yeh · 08-19-2008, 09:01 AM

What about the deloading part? Do you let go of the bar, do you re-grip? I've read different things as I tried sorting through all the information yesterday. I also read things talking about if you want your upper back to be relaxed or do you want it tight. I was trying to keep it simple with what I described above.

Do you recommend triples for this exercise? I was originally planning on staying the course with 5 x 5 (incrementing) and see where that gets me. To be perfectly honest I've never done a 5 x 5 for more than a few weeks, in the past I've always been one of those impatient f'ers that wanted to add more weight than I should have and ended up getting frustrated after plateuaing...blah blah blah. I need to stop this training ADD shit. I'm really trying to reign in the ego lifting right now and make steady progress. Speaking of which I've been ignoring a goals list lately. Procrastination is a biatch.

Frank Needham · 08-19-2008, 10:05 AM

Its hard to keep in mind sometimes but 5x5 works so well coz it will allow you to keep adding that little bit extra over a long period and then voila!, you've added 30/40/50 or more lbs to the movement. Pretty cool stuff. I've been using 5x5 a lot and its working for me. But then again, I've not really dealt with the plateau issue yet.

Dave Van Skike · 08-19-2008, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Yeh

What about the deloading part? Do you let go of the bar, do you re-grip? I've read different things as I tried sorting through all the information yesterday. I also read things talking about if you want your upper back to be relaxed or do you want it tight. I was trying to keep it simple with what I described above.

Do you recommend triples for this exercise? I was originally planning on staying the course with 5 x 5 (incrementing) and see where that gets me. To be perfectly honest I've never done a 5 x 5 for more than a few weeks, in the past I've always been one of those impatient f'ers that wanted to add more weight than I should have and ended up getting frustrated after plateuaing...blah blah blah. I need to stop this training ADD shit. I'm really trying to reign in the ego lifting right now and make steady progress. Speaking of which I've been ignoring a goals list lately. Procrastination is a biatch.

definetly the deload at the bottom I think that's how it got the name "pendlay row" becuase he really stresses that every rep start from a dead stop at the floor. That's the way we do them. I don't usually reset at the bottom, I use a hook grip or if I'm really really tired I'll use strpas. If I need to go lighter and work grip I'll use an axle..in which case i sometimes will need to reset grip.

reps... actaully I do fives most of the time. but not 5x5..we throw rows in either at the end of a general pulling day or as a seperate back day all together. so soemtimes the first two sets of 5 are not done. usually it would just ramp quickly to one top set of five on pull day.

On a all around back day, where I've already done stuff like rack pulls, tire, or maybe sled pulling in that case I'll go like this:
185x5
225x5
245x5
265x5
285x5

If I'm doing rows at the end of a dedicated pull day (deads from floor, either rack work or extended deads and then a final few sets of rowing, I'd go sharp and fast

185x5
265x5
305x3 (or 4 or whatever I get)

does that make sense?

Garrett Smith · 08-19-2008, 11:58 AM

I like them, FWIW.

Great functional stretch for the hamstrings if done correctly, working isometric strength in the stretched position (along with the pulling strength, obviously).

Allen Yeh · 08-20-2008, 02:34 AM

Makes perfect sense.

I was thinking I'd be doing something similiar to what you outlined in your all back day (not quite as much weight as you though) as I'd be doing these on an upper body day.

Thanks.

Tom Rawls · 08-20-2008, 02:40 PM

Being a literal rower, I do some barbell rows. What are the merits of the Pendlay row vs. a more upright row? And vice versa?

Greg Everett · 08-20-2008, 02:40 PM

If I recall correctly, he wants each rep actually started with a slightly rounded back to get the lats to help in back extension as the rep begins.

Allen Yeh · 08-21-2008, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Everett

If I recall correctly, he wants each rep actually started with a slightly rounded back to get the lats to help in back extension as the rep begins.

Upper back rounding right? I've read differing things but the way I tried it was so that I could round my upper back on when the bar was on the floor.