[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Just a pointer: Pendlay rows are supposed to be done with momentum. But it has to come from your back, not your hips. Also, the higher up the chest you touch, the more upper back you get while hitting against your stomach area gives you more lat recruitment. I’ve been tinkering with P-rows a lot these past weeks and these are my observations.
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While they are supposed to have some momentum, I think most people take this to the extreme when learning them. In my experience, when teaching someone or yourself to do them, trying to teach momentum only serves to have them pull themselves into a rounded back bent over high pull seizure. Quasimodo doing a high pull is the best way to describe it.
When someone is learning they need to have a small enough amount of weight on their that the bar can be pulled quickly but without momentum. Teaching them to lock in their lower back is priority number one. You want to tighten against the bar (take the slack out) then pull the scapula together as you open up the chest, this brings the bar up and starts to get them a feel for how to fire the upper back. Progress the weight slowly and by the time they get to the part where they need a little momentum they will be more than capable of applying it without going into FUBAR territory.