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Body RowsBody Rows are essentially a pushup turned upside down; in fact, some people call them inverted pushups. This exercise has a lot more aliases: fatman pullups, horizontal pullups, supine rows, chain rows, ring rows, blast strap rows, suspended rows, etc. They are a very useful exercise in that they let you get a great rowing workout in without stressing the lower back. The minimal equipment required can be improvised very easily. They can be done on a bar:  For videos check out these - There are many ways to set up a bar for inverted rows. You can fix the unloaded bar of the Smith machine to the appropriate height and hang from that; you can also set the pins in the power rack at the right height and rest an unloaded barbell on the pins. They can also be done hanging from rings or handles:  That ring setup is available from ringtraining.com including the nylon straps. Another setup using Blast Straps from Elite FTS.com :  Another setup that can even be done in a hotel room ...  ... as long as the door and frame is REAL sturdy. That above is the Jungle Gym from Life Line USA.com . Another great video from the University of Wisconsin. This setup requires very little equipment: two handles, a couple lengths of chain, and some snap links. If you work out at a commercial gym, you can use a chin bar or other handy horizontal attachment point and the D-handles from the crossover machine - bring your own chains and snap links. You can also attach both handles to one chain, for a close grip version similar to seated pully rows. You'll find that this exercise is very easy to scale to just about anyone's level of strength. If you set the handles high, and position the feet so you are more upright, the exercise is easier. Set up so your arms hang straight down, and elevate your feet, and the exercise is much harder. Keep your feet in the air so your entire bodyweight is in your hands and you have one of the hardest pulling exercises you can imagine. Here is the hardest foot position:  from http://www.fitstep.com/Misc/Newsletter-archives/issue28-back.htm Last edited by ccrow. |