BACK EXERCISES
Barbell T-Bar Rows
Why Is This Exercise So Effective?
The T-Bar Row is an excellent exercise for building thickness in the back. This technique will allow you to do T-Bar Rows with a barbell if your gym does not have a machine dedicated to that purpose. This is also very useful if you work out in a home gym and don’t have the room and/or funds to get a T-Bar Row machine.
How To Do It
- Set one end of an Olympic bar into a corner and load it with small plates, e.g. five 10’s.
- Setting weights on the other end of the bar will counterbalance the bar to prevent the back end of the barbell from flipping up when you first start to lift the other end off the ground. Placing the bar in the corner of something will keep it from moving side to side.
- Another anchoring option is to wedge the end of the bar under something that will not move rather than loading it with plates.
- Load the bar with 25 or 35 pound plates. If you use 45 pound plates, the plates will hit you in the abdomen before you can get a full enough range of motion.
- To execute, set yourself up like you were doing a bent-over row, with your knees bent about 90 degrees and your back arched and tight, looking straight forward.
- Your feet should be straddling the bar just outside shoulder-width apart.
- Bend over with your back arched and your abs tight. Wrap your hands around the bar by the weighted end with an interlocking-finger grip.
- Pull the weight up into your lower abdomen, squeezing your shoulder blades together hard. You should be looking forward throughout the movement in order to maintain the strong arch in your lower back.
- This exercise can also be done one arm at a time or with the rope attachment looped around the bar. As well, some variations of the E-Z curl bar have an exaggerated bend in the middle. This bended area can be hooked around the bar.
How to incorporate this exercise into your workouts:
The Barbell T-bar row can be done anywhere in your workout.
- If you plan on doing other back exercises in the same workout, you should do this one after any back exercise that requires skill, power or balance.
Common Errors
1. Improper body position
This problem is typical of bent-over row movements. If your back is flat or hunched over, or your knees are straight, then your form is wrong and you will most likely hurt yourself. Always keep a tight arch in your lower back and your knees bent.
2. Body movement
Do not dip your upper body down to meet the bar. This is often done in order to get more reps or use more weight. This dipping will decrease the tension on the muscles and can lead to injury in the lower back.
3. Not weighting or anchoring the other end of the bar
If the bar is free or unweighted at the other end then brace yourself, because you are about to get an Olympic bar spanking!
Tricks
1. Shrugs
The barbell T-bar row can also be used for shrugs for the middle traps.
- Load the bar with 45 pound plates.
- Using large plates will prevent you from bending your arms too much (though you should have them slightly bent to maintain tension in the elbow joint). The plates will hit your body before you can bend your arms.
- Use the same body position as explained above.
- Let your shoulders stretch forward then bring your shoulders back as though trying to touch your shoulder blades together in a backwards shrugging movement.
2. Drop sets
This exercise lends itself to drop setting (reducing the weight upon completing a set, then immediately doing another set of the same exercise with the reduced weight). As you do the exercise and come to failure on each drop, simply reach forward, slide a plate off the end and keep going. You can drop until you only have one plate left on the bar.
3. Sit back
The heavier the weight you are using, the more you’re going to need to sit back to properly counterbalance it. This will help keep your body in the proper position for the exercise as well.