Use a suspension trainer to row your way to a strong, muscular back. Bonus: These challenging moves also bump up athleticism and mobility.
The inverted row builds strength and packs muscle onto the back. It also works to counterbalance our anterior dominant world, leading to healthier shoulders. Think of it as a reverse push-up. Like the push-up, it requires total body engagement.
You can do it with a racked barbell, but suspension trainers, like TRX straps (Buy at Amazon) or gymnastic rings, have a few advantages. You have more freedom of natural movement, and you can change the level of difficulty by just walking toward or away from the anchor point. And to make any of the variations harder, just elevate your feet on a box or bench, so your body is parallel.
Here are some cool variations:
1. Single-Arm Inverted Row
This variation trains stabilization throughout the shoulder, back, and midsection as you build strength unilaterally.
2. Single-Arm Inverted Row + Reach & Rotation
Once you’ve got the last one down, add a reach and rotation. This increases the difficulty and opens up more thoracic mobility, something we could all use more of.
3. SINGLE-ARM INVERTED ROW + KB FRONT-RACK HOLD
Ready for an even bigger challenge? Hold a kettlebell in the front rack position of the opposite arm to offset the load.
4. Two-Up, One-Down Inverted Row
Mastering this one is a good way to introduce the single-arm row and train eccentric strength. Do the row with two arms coming up and then release one while lowering yourself down. Reset after every rep.
5. Single-Leg Inverted Row
Lift a leg to make it harder to balance. While this is still primarily an upper-body lift, you’ll also feel it in the leg supporting your body weight.
6. Inverted Row to Eccentric Reverse Flye
Instead of lowering down with a single arm, place that stress on the upper back by lowering slowly in a reverse flye back to the starting position.
7. Inverted Row + leg Curl
Do the standard row, but hold the isometric at the top. From there, pull your body in, drive your heels down, and curl yourself with your hamstrings. Return from the leg curl and then release the row before repeating. This works best if your feet are elevated on a box or bench.
8. Inverted Row + Walkout
Row up and hold the isometric contraction. Now slowly walk your feet toward the anchor spot, pause, and walk back. Row back down and repeat.
9. Weighted Inverted Row
Add weight with a weighted vest, chains, or even a weight plate to progress any of these variations.
10. Band-resisted Inverted Row
Place a band across your hips to add variable load. The weight will be the heaviest at the top position as the band stretches and lighter at the bottom with the band relaxed.
11. Inverted Row – Rotating Grip
Start with an overhand grip and rotate to underhand as you pull yourself up. This is a seemingly small action, but you’ll get a lot of mobility throughout the upper body.
12. Rope Inverted Row
Challenge and strengthen your grip by doing the inverted row with a rope.
13. Inverted Row + Overhead Press
Think of this one as a test of overhead mobility. Use a suspension trainer to do an inverted row before turning the handles over and performing a vertical overhead press. Focus on maintaining a vertical position of the arms. Get your biceps next to the earlobes as you press the straps away.
And you are assuming all gym and lifters have access to a Nautilus Pullover machine as opposed to the TRX that can be carried in the gym bag and set up at home/in the gym/outdoors. Simma down now.
Your posts have a lot of thought-provoking statements, at least to me. I usually don’t dissect a post like this because I don’t want to give off a nit-picky vibe (and that’s not my motivation here either), but there’s a bunch in here that I disagree with and/or have thoughts on.
Progressing to harder variations is still progression. Adding weight to a movement is still progression. Improving form is still progression. This isn’t an “I’m so bored, let’s do something different” sort of article as much as it is a list of ideas to make an already fantastic movement pattern more difficult. Additionally, changing variations is a fantastic way to avoid plateaus. I don’t change exercises very often in my routine, but I do frequently tweak the variations to keep progressing and introduce a slightly different stimulus into my training to keep me from burnout, such as switching to a a decline weighted push up from the standard version. Additionally, the 2A Neurotype actually tends to do quite well on novelty…“Everything works, but nothing works for long”? (wise words!) The “bored ADHD adults” you speak of might actually thrive on changing variations faster than you. People in general actually need to be progressing, tweaking variations, and introducing novel stimulus (through more weight, harder variations, or more intensity) into training on a regular basis to progress, and this article highlights a fantastic exercise and some cool variations to spark some ideas to help do just that.
Also, the movements aren’t “made up.” They’re harder and/or different progressions of a fabulous movement that is extremely functional and effective. But if the fact that these variations are “made up” is a valid and true argument, then we also must be consistent to both sides and also consider that every Nautilus machine ever was made up by someone at some point. Which movement is more “made up”–one that could have been done a thousand years ago or a machine? Food for thought.
Or do inverted rows. Or Barbell rows. Or another movement that works. There’s more than one good way to skin a cat, that’s the beauty of fitness.
I’m sure it has. But so have barbell rows. Or inverted rows. I’ve personally never done a single pullover in my entire life. Why? Because I’ve never had a machine to do them. I don’t own dumbbells. I rarely use a barbell due to not owning one and have never barbell rowed either. Yet I love weighted inverted ring rows (feet elevated) and weighted pull ups. Consequently, my back probably isn’t ready for the Olympia yet but its pretty decent for having never done a single Nautilus pullover or barbell row in my life. I personally think that weighted calisthenics have a lot more carryover to barbell work and machines than the opposite, but I’m not going to die on that hill right now. Point being (from my own experience and from common knowledge), sure that machine is probably good. But there’s a lot of fantastic ways to build a great back. You want a muscular back? Learn to front lever. Increase your weighted pull up. If you can do 2/3 of your body weight on a weighted pull up with good form, your back might not be as big as Arnold’s but it certainly won’t look like a skinny pool noodle by any means. I challenge you to try it sometime for fun, sometimes doing new things in training is just plain fun and enjoyable.
I would hope a trainer with this much experience would realize that there’s more than his own preferred way of skinning the cat and that many roads lead to Rome–but to each their own, I guess. Credentials get taken into my consideration but ultimately mean little to me if people use them solely to justify arrogance.
It’s not to stave off boredom, it’s to drive progression and/or to avoid plateaus. I would argue here that your argument defeats itself, because with the plethora of inverted row variations alone shown here in this article no one has any reason to get bored with just this movement, let alone the rest of their exercise list. You could get a pair of rings (better investment than any single Nautilus machine, in my personal opinion), introduce inverted rows into your training each week, and try a new variation every week for 14 solid weeks (every variation in this article plus the standard version). Who’s getting bored now?? Try it, train hard, and see what your back looks like at the end of week 14.
I 100% have done this and would totally do this again next time I visit a gym (which rarely happens, but still). If it’s a movement that I like, have seen results with, and can do in the space at that time, who’s stopping me? And honestly, who cares? Why should anyone else have the authority to say what exercises I can and can’t do? I work out to do what I want to do and what works for me, not what others expect me to do. So far it’s worked out just fine. If I’m at a gym and see an open rack and it has a pull up bar on top, you better believe I’m going to work on my muscle ups that day right then and there, probably some front lever and other stuff too…and if there’s rings handy, I’ll do an entire workout in a power rack using the rings and the pull up bar. (Not to be rude to others who actually could use the rack for barbell work…I’m super willing to move. But if there’s open racks and no one needs it, I’d totally do something like that). Going to a gym and working on inverted rows is cool because you can leave the gym and do them with rings hung from a tree branch across the street. Or at your house. Or in the woods. Shoot, I could hang rings in the middle of the street from a traffic light, stop traffic, and kill two birds with one stone by getting arrested AND some sick gains. I think that’s why probably MORE people have built big backs from weighted pullups, inverted rows, and so forth as opposed to a Nautilus machine. So if I’m in a gym, of course I’m going to train how I want to and how I prefer–this is why gyms have machines AND pull up bars, and why I choose to spend more of my time on the latter. If I were in that gym you better believe I would spend most of my time on the pull up bar I noticed before all the other equipment in the background.
Such as inverted rows?? lol
You know what, we need an article here on some variations to one of those other effective movements one could also do if they don’t have access to a pullover machine…oh wait. XD (tongue in cheek humor, disclaimer)
See my thoughts on the last point again for the rest of my thoughts on this point as well, honestly. XD
Adding weight, intensity, or being a “bored ADHD adult” and changing to a harder variation keeps the reps of a movement to BB-style rep schemes. Try bodyweight inverted rows for four sets of 15. Try weighted pullups for 3 sets of 8-12. Bodybuilding via weighted calisthenics is still bodybuilding, just with different movements. Mentality is extremely similar, if not identical.
Also, look up pics of Olympic men’s rings gymnasts sometime. If acting like a gymnast makes me look like that I’m totally in, and I would imagine many others would join me on a set of TRX/rings.
Respectfully disagree based on my own training philosophy, experience, and mentality (see my last point again), but to each their own. No hate for you, man! I can reasonably assume at this point based on your comments that you likely don’t have as much familiarity than myself with ring work or this movement pattern as a whole which is totally ok–I don’t have as much machine experience as you, so it’s not a “one of us is better than the other” statement, just an observation of the reality I have observed thus far that you are saying these comments to someone whose personal experience and training says otherwise.
It’s not crap if it works…hypertrophy is achieved in multiple ways. Honestly inverted rows have an extremely low balance requirement since both hands are attached to rings or TRX, and both feet are fixed on floor or a box for elevation. Balance required is minimum and the movement is pretty dummy-proof, who have you ever heard that can’t balance one of these? It takes no more balance than a push up. So hearing “balancing circus act crap” in reference to this movement reveals either (or both) the depth of your understanding regarding this movement and its balance from a physiological perspective as the body moves through space while being securely anchored at all four appendages, or that you are extremely dismissive to the point of arrogance regarding anything you don’t agree with or know about.
Regardless, the claim that the inverted row is a balancing circus act crap movement that can’t be used for hypertrophy purposes is completely false.
Kinda weird how some of the old-school bodybuilders trained super wide grip pullups (chest to bar, not just chin) with bodyweight only then…
It’s said that Franco could do chest-to-bar pull-ups for sets of 25 to 30. He never even added weight to these. And I know Franco is no Arnold for sure, but he was Arnold’s training partner, so maybe that counts for something at least.
Respectfully disagree, since my “bored pencil neck” (and the physique under it) isn’t looking that shabby thanks to this taking all of this balancing crap seriously, giving it a chance and training it with a bodybuilding mentality. (Still a long ways to go but each day is a new opportunity for which I’m grateful.)
I totally agree, we just disagree that there are multiple effective ways to do this, in this discussion for the back muscles in particular. Larry Scott’s advice is sound, and I challenge you to see if it still holds up with these movements. Like I said before, do some sets of heavy weighted pull ups. Train front lever and be able to hold for time. Both of those things alone will exhaust the target muscle (back) in the shortest time possible and by your own argument both should be rather favorable for hypertrophy by your own metrics quoted from Larry Scott…for a front lever, I would imagine that you probably will be able to count the time in seconds on one hand, if your target muscles are able to do the movement at all to start out with. Pretty decent way to exhaust some back muscles as fast as possible, imo…but it’s a circus act so this balancing nonsense doesn’t work, I suppose…
Arnold might not have but Franco sure did while training chest to bar, super wide grip pull ups. It’s only nonsense if it doesn’t work. If we’re using professional bodybuilders to disprove these circus movements, it’s weird how those same bodybuilders like Franco still trained super wide pullups and wasted time on this “nonsense” and saw results from it, so it just goes to show there’s more than one way to skin a cat for those humble enough to see the value of other perspectives.
Found this article from a website that promotes these “crap gymnast balancing circus act” stuff every once in a while in between a lot of great lifting content, but it seems to be from a reputable source so I’ll include it here since it’s relevant:
Research shows there are three keys to building muscle: muscle tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage. While traditional training will take care of the first two, nothing creates that growth-inducing damage like eccentric (negative) work.
After your normal pull-ups and rows, finish your lats off with 3 sets of 3-5 reps of eccentric front levers.
I challenge you to try the front lever (eccentric or full) and then finish it off with a few sets of weighted inverted rows on rings at a weight that challenges you, feet elevated. Feel your back burn and welcome to the gains circus, maybe even stop to say hi to the ringmaster…I would argue that your “hard core” rhetoric ignores movements like weighted inverted rows, which can be just as hard as bodybuilding movements when executed correctly. Or your “hard core” training fails to train or even consider front lever, which is so difficult most people in gyms can’t do them because they either don’t believe in circus tricks OR never have the strength to do the movement (or both).
I’m a fast typer and I know very well how the Discourse platform this forum is built on works in terms of formatting things, so it wasn’t that long to be fair.
I was hoping for some solid and well-reasoned points in response to continue the convo and challenge my own understanding, but ok…wish you the best!
RomanGabriel… Chill out, try the movements at the hardest angle you can muster. It’s infuriating when “professionals” rip people apart for continuing education and innovation with reference to dated nautilus machines. If you don’t know why these variations are beyond ideal compared to machines then you are a lost hope swimming in ego… Also ADHD adults are fine, making up exercises but you’re allowed to make up words like mamby pamby or whatever nonsense? Unreal
