What to look for:

• Both feet on the floor
• One hand on the bench or an elevated surface, maintaining a straight elbow position
• Feet hip width apart
• Slight knee bend
• Spine and neck in neutral position
• Torso as parallel as possible to the floor
• Neutral grip
• Allow shoulder blades to open up (protract) at the start
• Initiate with retraction & depression of shoulder blades
• The weight should move in an arc towards the bottom of the ribcage
• Keep ribcage down
• Traps relaxed
• Elbow shouldn’t be pulled past midline
• Shoulder not pulled into anterior tilt
• Not using momentum to lift the weight
• Tall posture

Coaching cues:

• “Pull the weight towards your hips”
• “Keep the chest lifted”
• “Squeeze the shoulder blades”
• “Keep your hips pushed back”
• “Pull the weight to the bottom ribs”

When to:

• Regress: If client is unable to keep positioning due to a lack of flexibility/strength either break up the reps to keep quality or regress to another rowing movement.
• Progress: If client is able to keep positioning, the coach may consider other rowing movements.

Coaching considerations:

• Those with poor hamstring flexibility will struggle to get their torso parallel to the floor. If they can maintain a neutral spine position this is ok.
• Some clients may not have the strength endurance to maintain the position through a set; allow them breaks if necessary.
• The weight should move in an arc motion.
• Placing a hand on the shoulder to ensure the traps are not taking over can be useful feedback for the client to understand where they should be pulling from.