Ive been wondering what the ROM should be on rowing movements.
Is it necessary to touch the bar to your chest on both horizontal and vertical pulling movements. I can complete the full ROM but if I try to pause in the fully contracted position it is very difficult.
Short answer yeah, you should be pulling to the chestal area depending on the exercise. If you can’t, you’re using too much weight.
There is no need to pause, unless you are intentially pausing mid rep everytime to hold the contraction for a second.
You shouldn’t pull rows to your chest at all, you should pull them to your stomach area.
And on pulldowns, me personally, I have to rotate my shoulders to pull the bar all the way to my chest, which causes me to lose the contraction in my lats. Just pull your elbows down and back as far as they go without having to rotate the shoulders. Depends on the grip, too. Underhand I can pull all the way down to my chest.
Well for instance on pullups, I can do them with BW or even add 40-50 lbs and do them. I can touch my chest to the bar on them, but this is because of momentum. If I try to hold this position for even just a short pause, I wont be able to.
[quote]dankid wrote:
Ive been wondering what the ROM should be on rowing movements.
Is it necessary to touch the bar to your chest on both horizontal and vertical pulling movements. I can complete the full ROM but if I try to pause in the fully contracted position it is very difficult. [/quote]
Focus on keeping tension in your lats and pull your shoulder blades together and down (meaning don’t shrug your shoulders up to your ears while rowing). You should feel a nice squeeze in the middle of your back when fully contracted.
Your ROM should be whatever allows you to feel the targeted muscle best.