This is a simple dumbell row exercise with a twist…instead of rowing them both up at the same time, you’ll be alternating the rowing of each dumbell so you not only hit your back and arms, you get great cross-tension through the entire core and lower back area.
This is a very powerful concept – in real life and athletics, you’ll rarely find an event where both arms operate in unison. This exercise works with that tendency to develop the core and the back.
You can use lighter weight and go for higher reps with this one but in this demo, I wanted to show that you can use heavier weight and really challenge your core strength while hitting your back.
In the first part of the video, I’m using 85lb dumbells. In the second part, I increased it to 105 lb dumbells – that’s GREAT core training, believe me!
One KEY thing with this exercise is to plant your feet right together – and I mean RIGHT together. They should be touching. This is much easier for performing the rowing movement because your legs won’t get in the way then.
So start by rowing up with the left arm.
As you lower the left dumbell, start to row the right one.
Row up all the way with the right, while the left is at the bottom.
Repeat!
It’s like a see-saw kind of idea where as you row one, you lower the other. This is what puts the cross-tension on the core.
Very effective for hitting the back AND the abdominal area.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJmFGfYWuLk[/youtube]
Nick Nilsson is known in the fitness industry as the “Mad Scientist of Muscle,” and for good reason! For more than 28 years, Nick has been creating unique, new exercises and training techniques and putting together some of the most innovative muscle-building and fat-loss programs available anywhere.
Great variation.
Using one arm at a time definitely brings the lumbar stability musculature more into play.
Nice addition to the dumbbell row variations available.