The Old and the New


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Well, the old crowd is back on the gym floor. The push is on: The treadmills are rolling; dumbbells are bouncing; sweat is pouring and lungs are bursting. How long will it last? There are surely some swollen people on a free week pass gurgling and sputtering, their faces contorted and sad. What happened, they wonder? They’ve resolutely undertaken a mission and it’s beginning to look bleak. They may join as regulars if the struggle and confrontation doesn’t overwhelm them.

And, then again, maybe not... Even in a non-intimidating gym atmosphere where work gets done and the participants appreciate each other’s presence, there’s a strange tension in the air.

Should the new faces fail the seven-day endurance test and reality check, what will be their lot? Will they give up and try again another time? Some of them aren’t young enough to try again another time. We should encourage, instruct, paint a hopeful and real picture and not deceive. Three weeks and you’ll become a fan of the iron, as the commotion rages on. Those who listen and hear, the big-hearted and the tough-minded, will persist while the weak withdraw.

The strong grow stronger, and the broken, I suspect, will diminish further and grow more restless. They will sink like a discarded, half-submerged rubber tire in the lifeless pond around them. Next year, perhaps.

While all this is going on, why don’t you try to rebuild your back by restoring your ability to perform the wide-grip bent-over barbell row? I know: Get a life, Draper. What greater aspiration is there for the 50-year-old child?

The secret is in the warming up, the positioning of the legs in relation to the bent-over back, the grip arrangement, and the concentration on the muscle work, the strains in the skeletal and ligament structure, the continuity of force, the weak and injured points under recovery and protection.

Persistence, a familiar family friend, will indeed prove its worthiness when a number of failed attempts convince you you’re tangling with the enemy. You’ll discover a miracle groove on your later insistent sets, and within three meticulous workouts the iron pathway will be established.

Determination, a cousin to the aforementioned old friend, will demonstrate its significance clearly as you refuse to cast the master exercise aside simply because of inability. One needs to find the eye within the needle before one can transport one’s camel. There’s always a way.

You  might wear a belt to compact the torso when rowing, but don’t use hand straps in the hopes of strengthening your grip. Let the grip strengthen on its own. As in squatting, tons of oxygen is needed, staying tight throughout with no sloppiness in the borderline explosive concentric rep and controlled eccentric. Think. When heavy, pull harder.

Hit back twice a week, alternating dumbbell rows one day with the bar on the other; take eight sets of 10s, 8s and 6s to accomplish the job. To complement the rugged rows, wide-grip pulldowns behind and before the neck work well. Pullovers and seated lat rows should find their way in there throughout the week, or chins if you can. Deadlifts impose themselves delightfully four or five times a month. They’re rude, but loyal. I also like hyperextensions in torso training. This practice adds immensely to the ability to squat, deadlift and barbell row with reasonable health.

The basics rule. I regularly spotlight the bent-over barbell row because of its comprehensive, systemic reaches -- the grand feeling of pulling with all you’ve got and the results in mass and width I’ve enjoyed in past applications. To make them work I’ve given them priority in my workouts over the years, and if I did nothing else on a particular day but a successful repertoire of rows, I’m complete.

However, as you might guess, it never stops there.

Dave

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