From out of Kettlebells…
I was first introduced to this upper body exercise via the kettlebell community. I was watching a video of a small, fit young woman demonstrating the row. She was using 5lb kettlebells, so of course my ego started doing the math. How much could I do? At first glance, I thought it was kindof easy after all the weights looked so light and I knew I could row alot more than 5 lbs. I didn’t realize it was an entire upper body workout as well as a core/abdominal beast!
My first attempts with this were dismal. Or so I thought. I was sweating bullets with 10lb dumbells! I could barely get to 10 reps! I was losing all core stability, my hips were dropping and my arms were ready to give out. That’ll teach me to neglect my core. I was mortified, humbled and excited all at the same time. I like a good challenge. I hope you do too!
So I introduce to you…The Renegade Row!
Basically you are in a pushup position, feet fairly wide, hands on either dumbbells or kettlebells. The goal is to keep the body as level and stable as possible while rowing up one dumbbell, bringing it back down and then rowing with the other hand.
All the same rules apply as any other rowing motion you would do. You are pulling from the back, trying to squeeze the shoulder blade back behind you. If you don’t feel like you are doing this, reduce the weight until you have it under control. This isn’t an ego exercise, its a core exercise. If your core is weak, you’ll know because your body will twist as soon as you pick up the weight.
The benefits of this upper body giant:
- Increased shoulder stability to help bulletproof your rotator cuffs
- Abdominal and low back strength and endurance
- Directly can help you with stamina to hold a pushup position, no more sagging hips
If you are having trouble with using weight and keeping your body stable, start small. just practice holding a pushup position and doing a rowing motion. You’ll be ready to start working with light weights in no time.
Let me know what you think!
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, very thorough and easy to follow.
You covered all the bases.
You make it look really easy though.
I will give it a try.
Good work Nate.
These make me feel muscles I never knew I had. Excellent!