Starting Strength

distributed load.
    And gentlemen, when you’re doing weighted dips with a chain and a belt, be sure to arrange the chain and plates in such a way as to minimize the chance of damage to the important structures that are in unfortunate proximity, in the event of a loss of control or a swinging plate.
     

    Figure 7-45. Weighted dips, done with a dip belt and plates.

    Ring dips are best left to gymnasts or other people at lighter bodyweights who are not training primarily for strength. Ring dips are a dangerous movement for your shoulders, and weighted ring dips are foolish for anybody; it doesn’t take very much lateral movement of the rings to place the shoulder joints in a position of such instability that it cannot be controlled. The shoulders can easily be impinged during a dip because the load is driving the humerus and AC joint together, and the addition of lateral moment force to the configuration has resulted in many avoidable surgical repairs to many rotator cuffs (see Figure 3-7 ). Do your shoulders a favor, and just do your dips on bars.
    Barbell rows
     
    First, barbell rows are not a substitute for power cleans. If you use them for this purpose, you have decided to omit a more important exercise in favor of an assistance exercise, an easier movement that does not provide most of the benefits of the more important basic exercise. I say this because of the prevalence of this substitution since the second edition of this book was published. Power cleans are one of the primary constituents of the program, and barbell rows – useful as they may be to intermediate lifters – are not.
    Now that this is out of the way, let’s get one more thing out of the way. Most people associate rows with machines that place you in a position to do them; cable rows or the machine version of the T-bar rows are the most common. But the most valuable rowing exercise is the one that makes you assume the position and maintain it throughout the set. This way, you get the benefits of both moving the bar through the rowing motion and doing the stability work needed to hold your back in the right position to do the rowing motion. As with all beneficial barbell training, the more work you have to do during the exercise, the better the exercise. So let’s learn how to do a proper barbell row.
     
    Barbell rows start on the floor and end on the floor, each and every rep. The bar does not hang from the arms between reps. Each rep is separated by a breath and a reset of the lower back. Starting from the floor enables the hamstrings and glutes to help get the bar moving, so that the lats and scapula retractors can finish a heavier weight than they could from a dead hang in the arms. Done this way, the exercise works not only the lats, upper back, and arms – the muscles typically associated with rowing – but the low back and hip extensors as well.
    When you are rowing from the floor, the most critical factor in technique is the position of the lower back. The lumbar spine must be held in extension, just like it is in a deadlift and for exactly the same reason. A major difference between rows and deadlifts is the fact that in rows, the back angle changes as the bar comes off the floor; the knees are already extended and are not really involved much, so the hip extensors contribute to the initial pull from the floor by raising the chest using the locked back, transmitting this force to the bar. The finish occurs as the elbows bend and slam the bar into the lower rib cage area. The bar will leave the floor from a position directly below the scapulas, just as in a deadlift; but in a barbell row, unlike a deadlift, the back angle will never become vertical, and will not rise much higher than the shoulders at about 15–20 degrees above horizontal.
    Approach the bar with a deadlift stance, maybe not quite as close; light weights can be pulled in a curved bar path to the belly as you warm up, but as the weight gets heavier, standard pulling mechanics will prevail and the bar will operate vertically over the mid-foot, as it does in all heavy pulling exercises. As weight is added, the bar will adjust itself to the correct position over the foot, whether you want it to or not. The grip width can vary quite a bit, but a grip that’s about the same as the bench-press width is perhaps the best place to start. With heavier weights, you can use a hook grip or straps. Your eyes should be fixed on the floor a few feet in front of you. Don’t look