okay welcome everyone to episode number

two of technique Tuesday before we get

started with this episode I just want to

quickly say thanks to everyone for all

the amazing feedback on the last episode

on the bench press I do tend to get a

little bit of pushback especially when

it comes to setting up that arch for the

head exercise but honestly the comments

in that video we're just amazing so

thank you so much for all the support so

in this episode we're gonna be taking an

in-depth look at the pendulum row which

we can actually think of as a sort of

very strict variation on the standing

barbell row now the original Pendley row

coined by american olympic weightlifting

coach glen Pendley was originally used

to develop explosive power off the

ground for Olympic athletes but for our

purposes here which will mainly be to

build the muscles of the back we're

gonna be modifying the exercise in a few

important ways so with this movement

we're gonna be performing shoulder

extension which will be carried out

mainly by the lats in to a lesser degree

the long head of the triceps transverse

shoulder abduction which I'll hit the

rear delts and then scapular retraction

which will be handled by mostly the mid

traps also but the Pendley row because

you're so bent over there will be an

isometric lumbar extension contraction

held by the spinal erectors at the low

back throughout the whole movement and

this is important because not only will

bigger stronger erectors help to

strengthen your deadlift

they'll also lead to the appearance of a

bigger back overall since they run all

the way up the spine leading into the

lats and traps sort of enhancing their

appearance as well so we're really

hitting the entire back with this one

with no real loose ends and while the

biceps will assist with the elbow

flexion component of the lift I would

consider this exercise more the back

builder and not a bicep builder so to

set up the Pendley row make sure the bar

is evenly loaded on both sides and

you're using the safety Clips safety

clips are actually pretty critical here

because an unclipped bar almost like we

cause the plates to progressively shift

off the bar on each rep and it could

lead to increased risk of injury now

generally speaking you want to load this

movement in a more moderate rep range

usually in the

eight to 12 reps own and if you just do

too much weight with these your form is

inevitably going to break down you'll

probably start using a lot of leg drive

hip drive and so forth and because the

Pendley row puts your back in a

mechanically disadvantageous position on

purpose if you're either loading it too

heavily or doing too many reps it can't

accumulate fatigue in the lower back

which might interfere with any dead

lifting that you have later in the week

now just as a point of reference here

you can see dr. Mike is Rotel at around

250 pounds of body weight and with

extremely impressive lat development

using 235 pounds here and just notice

how his form is perfectly controlled and

each and every rep looks more or less

exactly the same so with this exercise

rather than thinking why is someone this

big so weak you instead want to think

why is someone this big using less

weights than I'm using so just for

reference here something just under 1

times body weight might be a good high

end strength standard to aim for in that

moderate rep zone all right so you want

to approach the bar similar to how you

would a conventional deadlift setting up

with roughly a shoulder-width stance if

you have longer legs you may need to use

a slightly wider stance or externally

rotate your feet out a little bit so

that your knees don't get in the way of

the bar path you want to bend down and

grab the bar by pushing your hips back

so that your shins are kept in vertical

with the barbell positioned in the mid

foot to toe area when viewed from the

side grab the bar with a double overhand

grip going slightly wider than shoulder

width you want to make sure you pick a

grip width that allows your upper arm

and lower arm to make a 90 degree angle

at the top end of the range of motion

you can use chalk or straps to help with

the grip is it allows you to focus more

on pulling with your back muscles

but since the loads shouldn't be that

heavy anyway I don't think they should

be necessary from here you want to

anteriorly rotate your pelvis or in

other words pop your butt out like in a

bikini pose to pull your spine into a

completely neutral position now remember

that the spine is naturally curved so if

your lower back is totally flat it is in

fact slightly flexed which under load

and in this position certainly is less

than ideal now if you aren't able to

reach the bar on the ground without

rounding your lower back I'd really

recommend elevating the bar up on some

bumper plates or using aerobic risers to

help shorten the range of motion and

that allow you to keep that safer

neutral spine position you want to start

each rep with your scapula a slightly

protracted and then initiate the

movement off the ground by pulling your

shoulder blades together I'm going to

drive your elbows up and slightly back

so that when viewed from the top your

arms are traveling back at about a 45 to

65 degree angle relative to your torso

over tucking here is really going to

prevent the traps from working properly

while over flaring may take the lats out

of the movement and put your shoulder in

a more compromised position so generally

speaking more flair will mean more trap

involvement and more tuck will mean more

Latta involvement now but all in all I

would say a 45 to 65 degree pulling

angle is gonna hit all the muscle groups

back there pretty evenly the burner

should make contact with your lower

sternum just around nipple level and to

finish out the concentric you can think

about really squeezing your shoulder

blades together at the top to really

nail the mid traps lower the bar under

control while focusing on keeping your

shoulder blades retracted until the

plates are just a few inches above the

ground at which point you'll want to

protract your shoulder blades and what

the plates come to a dead stop on the

floor and to keep more constant tension

on the back you can just do a controlled

touch on the ground however a true

Pendley row does have the weight come to

a full and complete stop to reset the

stretch shortening cycle and force a

dead stop pull on every single rep now

throw out the entire positive and

negative you want to maintain a lumbar

spine isometric contraction forcing the

low back to stay neutral and you want to

keep your head in a neutral position as

well a little bit of neck flexion or

extension shouldn't really hurt jerking

your head up or down might make it

harder to fully retract your scapula and

maximise on the lift okay so by far I

would say the most common error that I

see here is just simply going too heavy

most of the time if you just strip the

weight back and focus on getting the

form right all of these other errors

will automatically correct themselves

and you want to really try not to be one

of those lifters who let their form slip

in the name of progressive overload and

remember that adding weight to the bar

really only counts as progressive

overload when form is consistent now the

second most common error that I see is

using too much leg drive or hip

extension to force the weight up you'll

want to remember that while there will

be exceptions

the best studies do show that full

ranges of motion tend to be better for

maximizing strength and size gains and

in order to maximize range of motion for

the lats on any row your torso should be

close to perpendicular with the line of

pull meaning that your chest should be

pretty close to parallel with the floor

throughout the range of motion if you

look up and you can see the lettering on

your shirt at the top end of the range

of motion your chest is probably rising

up too much I also want to quickly

mention a good substitute exercise here

which is gonna be the Helms Row where

you'll have your upper chest positioned

against the top of an incline bench

resting it on a towel or a pair of knee

sleeves and you want to still row with a

nearly ground parallel back angle but

this time using dumbbells and this

alternative is great for people who

can't help but use excessive leg drive

on the Pendley row since here your chest

is forced to stay pinned up against the

bench I do find that the Helms Row is

best performed with slightly higher reps

or in the 12 to 15 rep range and while

this isn't nice very strict alternative

because you'll be rolling back a little

bit more than rolling out I do think of

this alternative is more of a lat

dominant row than a trap focused row but

with that said if you do focus on scalar

retraction throughout the ROM you'll

still hit the mid traps to a pretty

significant degree

now one potential downside here is that

you may not be the spinal erectors

quite as much especially if you don't

deadlift or squat regularly now since

you're gonna lose that by symmetric

lumbar extension contraction with this

variation so if you can do it properly I

still think the pendulum is an important

part of any complete training program

and if you want to completely maximize

your back development I would consider

this to be about as close to an absolute

must as there is alright so that's going

to conclude this week's episode of

technique Tuesday over here next to my

head I'll have a link to the last

episode on the bench press now make sure

you check that one out if you haven't

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I'll see you guys all here next Tuesday