dangerous or not, should it be done or not?
discuss.
Yes no both depends who you talk to and who you are some ppl can do them no prob others get instant pain. I myself don mind doing them from time to time but use DB to not bind the shoulder so much.
Phill
I agree with that. They fall into that category with behind the neck presses or overhead pressing in general and other such exercises. Some people will never be able to do them and others will be able to do them with decent weight with no problems whatsoever. I myself can’t do them without f’ing up my shoulder for months. Just like other exercises, there are other ways to work the same muscles that won’t cause some people pain.
you hear that?
thats the sounds of your rotator cuff getting its ass raped.
dont do them.
seriously/
ill post back later with the exact scientific quote of why not to.
Upright rows are the hellspawn of Satan.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Upright rows are the hellspawn of Satan.[/quote]
Interesting response, why do you consider them the hellspawn, why not a little tiny demon. I find them somewhat helpful, but I’m also one of those people that can do anything behind the neck with no problem.
As Phill said, it depends on the individual and his/her genetics. There was an article from Eric Cressey not too long ago discussing this precise exercise and its advantages/disadvantages. If I recall correctly, it’s worth doing for most people, but many people experience shoulder impingement.
Bottom line is this: if it causes you pain to perform them, don’t do them. If it feel fine, go right ahead.
Personally, I find them aight. Aight at best.
First time I did them I could do quite a bit of weight and there was no pain at all and that was for 6 months or so. I stopped doing them because I felt it wasn’t really a good exercise to do and devoted more of my energy to more overhead pressing.
I guess the advice of “if it hurts, don’t do it” comes into play here. And by hurt I mean injury pain, not 20-rep squat pain. 
[quote]lookingswell wrote:
dangerous or not, should it be done or not?
discuss.[/quote]
Upright rowing and “hard” style martial arts as a “yout” have me working around f’d up rotator cuffs in my 50’s…If I’d known better I would have sought alternatives (thanks for nothin’ Joe Weider)…
They’re a good way to destroy your shoulders. Even if they weren’t so likely to injure you, they’d still be a crappy lift.
Try some at light weight and see how they feel, I haven’t included them in my workouts for around 5 years.
Like Eric Cressy said, if you have a certain hook type AC joint you may be prone to impingement. http://www.T-Nation.com/img/photos/06-074-training/image001.png
You could do cleans instead.
I’ve heard it suggested to do upright rows only as far up as for your elbows to meet the tops of your shoulders. This would minimize problems.
I used to be able to tolerate them, but now I injure my traps every time I do them. I’ve never tried the dumbbell version, though. There are better traps exercises.
It depends on your anatomy.
I have zero trouble doing them.
I am however almost double-jointed.
If you can do them with zero problems then I think they are a very good exercise.
But that is a big “if” for most people.
For the young, barbell upright rows are fine. For us older fuckers, dumbbells work the movement with out grinding your shoulders into dust. I do the former.
I doing them on any bar that fixes your hands in to one positon is dangerous as it forces the shoulder joint into the girdle. If our hands are free to move as they naturally would through the movement, then I think they are as safe as anything else.
Do them with a rope on a cable pully or dumbbells.
upright rows cause pain…at least for me.
I read Cressey’s article and started doing high pulls in place of upright rows.
No more pain…but still gainin! although at a painfully slow rate lately…but I digress.
[quote]DeadOnArrival wrote:
Like Eric Cressy said, if you have a certain hook type AC joint you may be prone to impingement. http://www.T-Nation.com/img/photos/06-074-training/image001.png
You could do cleans instead.
I’ve heard it suggested to do upright rows only as far up as for your elbows to meet the tops of your shoulders. This would minimize problems.[/quote]
That’s how I do them and it causes no problem. Another tip: use a snatch grip width and bring the bar up only to the upper abdomen area and keep it away from the body (leaning forward a bit might help). You can use a lot of weight, you will not externally rotate and thus not create problems.
I have an olympic lifting background so I like them because they were part of the learning curve for snatches but there are many alternatives.
The L-Lateral raise is a isolation exercises you could do instead.
Cheers.
Marc
I tried the “leaning forward” method and my shoulders never hurt again. My only problem is pain in my lower hand/upper wrist. I have no idea how to overcome it.
Some really strong guys have used 405 on upright rows.
My Last Upright Row circa 1997
My Next Upright Row…Never
I do them. I love them!
I also do behind neck pulldowns and presses.
Warm-up good. Take time to warm-up the shoulder ( for this I recommend Ian Kings upper body control drills ).
Do a couple light sets and slowly progress.
If you can progress with weight with perfect form and no discomfort continue.
Yes. There will be scientists saying blah blah blah this is bad and blah blah blah this is good. Didn’t they also say in the last decade X amount of protein was bad. And now some say X amount of static stretching is bad. In a couple years they will say X amount of time with behind the neck work is good. etc… etc…
I’d say more then half will respond to this post saying they are bad. But I encourage you to do your own research ( outside of what other peopel say ) to find your answer.
Good luck!!!