Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Scott Kelly is long-time Dino in his
early 50's. He sent some photos, and
he looks like he's carved from the
proverbial block of granite. To look
at him, you'd think he was at least
ten years younger -- or maybe fifteen
or twenty.
He calls himself Dino 1384, which I
believe means he got copy no. 1384 of
the original first edition of Dinosaur
Training way back in 1996. I numbered
and autographed every single one of the
first edition books -- all 3,000 of
them. (I had writer's cramp for a
year.)
So Dinosaur Training (and watching his
diet) has been keeping him young. Which
is one of the many benefits of serious,
old-school strength training. And twenty
years from now our younger Dinos are
going to look around and see how much
fun it is to be so much younger looking
(and feeling) than their chronological
age.
But I digress. Scott had a training
question.
Scott's been doing inverted rows (a/k/a
body rows or horizontal rows -- the ones
where you hang from a low bar, a low set
of rings, or a low set of ropes and pull
yours chest up to the bar).
He was thinking about switching back to
barbell bent-over rowing, and wanted to
know what I thought.
"Which one is better?" he asked.
Well, it depends. They're both good
exercises. And over time, you should
work on both of them. But you might
want to do inverted rowing first.
Here's why.
A lot of lifters don't do very well with
the barbell bent-over row because they have
trouble making the mind-muscle connection
between their brain and their lats. They
have trouble getting the lats involved
in the row. It becomes more of a bent-over
heave.
If that's the problem -- and it's a very
common problem -- it would be good to spend
some time doing the inverted row. Work slowly
and smoothly on each rep, and work really hard
to get a full contraction of the upper back
muscles on ever rep. To do that, arch your
back and pull your elbows as far back as
possible when your chest touches the bar.
pause for a second or two in the contracted
position and squeeze hard.
(As an added bonus, this style of performance
is great for shoulder health and shoulder
stability.)
In-between sets, stand on your feet, lean
forward and grab a stationary object and
pull backward (with one arm or two arms).
Keep your arm (or arms) straight and stretch
those lats. This helps with the mind-muscle
link.
(Quick note. Some men find that the stiff
legged deadlift is a terrific lat exercise.
Dr. Ken is one of them. And a stiff legged
deadlift is very similar to the stretching
exercise I just mentioned.)
After a month or two of inverted rows, you
should have much better control over your
upper back muscles.
At that point, try working the barbell
bent-over row into your program. Train
the barbell row once a week, and train
the inverted row once a week. You'll
find that the barbell row is a much more
effective exercise when you can control
your upper back muscles.
(Note: don't think this "feeling the muscle"
thing is for bodybuilders alone. When you
can FEEL your muscles contracting, you
can CONTROL them -- and that means you
can trigger harder contractions -- which
means you can lift more weight. One of the
strongest powerlifters I ever met would
practice muscle control all day long. He
said it was "the secret." He lifted at
148 and 165, but outlifted most heavy-
weights.)
(Further note: Tommy Kono always talks
about using your lats to control the bar
when you are performing a snatch. To do
that, you need to be able to control your
lats. So we have one of the greatest
weightlifters of all time teaching
athletes to learn lat control to
improve their lifting!)
Inverted rowing is also a good way to
build pulling power for pull-ups. If you
want to work pull-ups into your program
but have trouble doing them, start with
the inverted row.
As always, thanks for reading and have a
great day. If you train today, make it a
good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. I cover inverted rowing and a ton of
different kinds of pull-ups in Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training -- and they'll make a
great addition to your training program.
You can grab your copy right here at Dino
Headquarters:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- my
Dinosaur Training DVD's -- and the ever
popular Legacy of Iron books -- are here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the day: "Think it first,
and then do it." -- Brooks Kubik
