Friday

190405

Workout of the Day

80

Alternating-arm dumbbell row 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps
(8 reps per arm)

Practice controlled descent from handstands for 15 minutes.

Row 2,000 meters.

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Dumbbell Row

9

[D]ifferentiating between cause and non-causative factors is essential. Elimination of the latter only ameliorates or reduces the incidence whereas elimination of the former eradicates the disease. Swamps are not a cause of malaria. Draining swamps may reduce the incidence of malaria but it is eradication of the malarial parasites that eliminates the disease. Reduction in incidence rather than elimination of the disease precludes a causal relationship.

W.E. Stehbens, "The Concept of Cause in Disease," 1985

Comments on Dumbbell Row

9 Comments

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Lynne Pitts
April 6th, 2019 at 6:17 pm
Commented on: Dumbbell Row
Torso rotation more fully engages the pulling muscles including the lats and the mid-back. The square level back movement is not just "isolation," it's incomplete.  

Whether starting the stubborn lawnmower (or, more recently, the snowblower) or rescuing a pal who's fallen over the edge of a cliff, I'm not going to line my feet up parallel, bend over, and only pull til my hand hits my ribs.  

Staggered stance and engagement of the "core" to pull back past the torso is what gets the coordinated full power pull, and it's why the db row brings advantages different from the bent-over row.
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Tripp Starling
April 5th, 2019 at 4:41 pm
Commented on: Dumbbell Row
Makes sense to me!
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Greg Glassman
April 5th, 2019 at 4:12 pm
Commented on: Dumbbell Row
This is a full range of motion, core to extremity, functional movement. 

It’s the abbreviated movement Matthew is describing that would require justification and that justification would undoubtedly be “isolation”, something that doesn’t hold any value at CrossFit.

The torso turns here for the same reason it does when you throw a ball, and the line of action is complete for the same reason we finish our squat fully extended.
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Chris Desmarchais
April 5th, 2019 at 11:19 pm
Respectfully, I would strongly disagree with the premise that isolation movements do not hold any value in CrossFit. If you take this point to its logical conclusion it does not make sense to put your knee on a bench either. I’m not aware of any sports played with one knee on a bench and one foot on the ground. In my opinion any movement can be functional if it serves a defined purpose and that purpose is useful to the athlete. As a side note, a strict row will also have the added benefit of training anti-roation which in many experts opinion (like Dr. Stuart McGill) is often more athletically advantageous than rotational movements. CrossFit has often consulted Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell as a subject mattter expert in powerlifting. Louie repeatedly says at Westside 80% of their training volume is made up of small special exercises that build the main lifts by addressing weak points! Obviously a CrossFit athlete has different needs but I believe the principle is sound. If the strongest lifters in the world can benefit from isolation movements it seems to me that they would have a place (however small) in a well rounded CrossFit training program as well.
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Basem ElAdawy
April 6th, 2019 at 2:38 pm
I have to agree with Chris on this one.

Even though isolation movements are of minimal importance to the recreational crossfitter, the row d3scribed by Matthew is still a compound pulling movement that develops the back musculature.

Also, isnt this rep scheme and the stimulus behind it (max strength) better suited for say a barbell row and not dumbells?

If I can barbell row 315 for a single, 8 singles per arm at the heaviest dumbell weight wouldnt really be effective.

Do you agree?
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Alexandre Bureau
April 8th, 2019 at 12:46 am
In ten years from now, we'll see a Twitter post about the fact that the one arm dumbbell row should have been taught in the "isolation" method
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Basem ElAdawy
April 5th, 2019 at 6:29 am
Commented on: Dumbbell Row
what is the reason behind the torso rotation and the very high pull ?
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Thomas Eichholzer
April 5th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Sign me in, would like to hear some experts talk about this one too. horizontal plane vs. torque, fight
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Matthew Jaquish
April 5th, 2019 at 3:35 pm
I would also be interested in further discussion on this. I've always tried to use full ROM pulling as high as possible, but while maintaining flat back and square shoulders and wonder what the pros/cons would be to this exaggerated torso rotation with the exercise?
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