By Elizabeth Towe
The horizontal body row is a very accessible total-body exercise that emphasizes back and core for strength and improved function in the pulling motion.
This is an overall great exercise for strength – also helps train the co-contraction of core, hip and posterior shoulder girdle to pull while stabilizing the body in a straight line. It’s good for swimming and overall upper-body strength and stability.
Exercise:
- Use a bar such as an Olympic bar on a squat rack or any appropriate bar at a playground.
- Lie under the bar so that the bar is at mid-sternum level.
- Choose a grip on the bars so that the hands are wider than shoulder-width apart (wrists should be in line with the elbows when pulling up).
- Activate the core by bracing the abdominals, lifting the hips of the ground and drawing in the pelvic floor. Your body should be in a straight line from your heels through the crown of your head.
- Perform the row by pulling the sternum toward the bar (squeeze the shoulder blades toward each other), keeping the body in a straight line.
- Slowly lower the body to start position, maintaining abdominal bracing and length of spine.
- Complete eight to 12 repetitions for two to three sets, maintaining neutral spine.
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Elizabeth Towe is a runner and a cyclist and the owner of Balanced Movement Studio in Carrboro. She graduated from East Carolina with a degree in exercise and sports science and has been personal training for over 20 years. Her ultimate goal for all of her clients is to help them realize and achieve the optimal quality in their life – and to remember to have fun doing it.
