I read an article on another site which I don’t usually care what they say about training or nutrition but there was an article about 5 exercises that you must avoid.
In this article it stated
"The Upright Row is one of the most harmful exercises you can expose your shoulders to. The problem with the exercise lies in the position your arms must be in in order to perform the movement. This position is called “internal rotation.”
To demonstrate internal rotation, hold your arms straight out to the sides with your palms down. Now rotate your hands forward as if you were pouring out a glass of water in each. To do the upright row, the arms are bent at the elbow then internally rotated.
Internal rotation itself is not necessarily bad for your shoulders. The problem comes when you raise the arms up and add resistance in that position. Every time you raise the weight, a small tendon in your shoulder gets pinched (known as impingement) by the bones in the shoulder.
This may not hurt immediately; it may not even hurt for a long, long time. The problem is the tendon will gradually become worn down and damaged. You may not even know you have a problem until one day the tendon snaps!"
is this true?
Yes, but maybe not for everyone. Depending on the structure of ‘your’ shoulder, you may be fine.
I personally don’t prescribe it to people risk vs reward type of thing. If you really like it, try DBs rather than BB. Gives a lot more freedom.
I know that CT recommends power pulls or power upright rows both of which are similar to the Olympic lifts where you use your entire body to get the weight up.
[quote]street-dreams wrote:
This may not hurt immediately; it may not even hurt for a long, long time. The problem is the tendon will gradually become worn down and damaged. You may not even know you have a problem until one day the tendon snaps!"
[/quote]
I’m not sure that this is accurate. Damaged tendons heal which leads to scar tissue and a thickening of the tendon. I’m not saying that this is a good thing as scar tissue leads to its own issues (stiffness of the joint, limited range of motion), but to say that you won’t feel any pain while a tendon is being slowly worn away is not accurate. Cartilage can be worn away because cartilage cannot heal (ask any hockey player with a broken nose), but tendons can definitely heal. Then again, I may be wrong.
Just my .02. I was have been using guillotine presses for the past 4 weeks. I went a little too heavy and the price I paid was a very sore left shoulder. I stretched and even took some Ibuprofen for it. Something I never do. Anyway, for some reason, I did 4 sets of upright rows using cables. Low and behold, shoulder quit hurting and the soreness has not returned, except when I am trying to sleep.
Take it for what its worth.
What one of the above guys said is true- upright rows aren’t bad for everyone. From what I’ve read, some people are lucky enough to have shoulders that don’t get harmed from this exercise. I’ve also read that if you must do them, do them with a grip that’s shoulder-width apart.
Unfortunately, I never read any of this until after I got hurt. I’ve been unable to lift much this past year because of a very weak tendon in my right shoulder to go along with a nasty shoulder impingement. Years of upright rows apparently wore out the tendons in my shoulder very slowly and also very slowly created an impingement issue.
I’ve gone through months of therapy, months of icing and resting, and still can’t do much shoulder or chest work. All the therapists I’ve seen say that it’s most likely because of upright rows. They may not be harmful to everyone but I know I’ll never recommend them to anyone again- even though they were one of my favorite exercises.
Street-dreams
Have a go using an E-Z bar attached to a low cable station. Use a section of the bar which is bent at 45 degrees, which is about shoulder width. This has always worked as a decent alternative to upright BB rows (which I do think fuck your shoulders up). Also, Db upright rows, done in a fashion like on the IBB program (shoulder spec, Saturday - second exercise) don’t seem to both my shoulders to much.
moogweasel
it all comes down to cost benefit analysis. There are a thousand different ways to train upper back and shoulders. If your concerned about impingement then do not do them. Like Eric Cressey says in his Shoulder Savers articles “Not all bodies are created equal in the first place; a good example would be the different types of acromions, a portion of the scapula. Those with type III acromions are more likely to suffer from subacromial impingement due to the shape of this end of the scapula”
So do not cry over spilled milk avoid what hurts and keep training because if your goal is big shoulders you may have to take a longer journey to get from point A to B but the point is you will be able to get there.
I tell people not to do them. They are not an isolation exercise and there are other compound exercises that are better IMO.
So why do them at all?
BBB
I appreciate the responses guys.
I’ve also found that doing upright rows from a low pully is a solid alternative
The problem with knowing whether your body’s structure can tolerate this exercise or not is that immediate pain is not generally present. It’s an injury that results accumulatively.
Another point to note is that the test used to gauge shoulder impingement is having the patient in the top position of an uprighted row, and that’s without resistance.