Starting Strength

the weight is too heavy. And “excessive” is a rather subjective concept here. Someone might decide that no chest drop is allowable, in which case heavy weights cannot be used in the exercise. Or someone might decide that as long as the chest can be touched with the bar, the rep counts. This degree of variability is one of the things that distinguish an ancillary exercise from a primary exercise: if a large degree of variability is inherent in the performance of an exercise, it cannot be judged effectively or quantified objectively. For this reason, the barbell row makes a very good ancillary exercise but a very poor contest lift.
     
    A variation on the standard barbell row is to supinate the grip, thus adding more biceps to the exercise. This reverse-grip row is irritating to the elbows in inflexible people; the rather extreme degree of external rotation of the humerus, combined with the completely supine hand, is irritating to the forearm muscles’ insertion points on the elbows when they are flexed with a heavy weight, even though this rotation is usually tolerated well for chin-ups. The reverse-grip row can produce tennis or golfer’s elbow very quickly, so if you decide to try this version of the movement, start with light weights and cautiously work up to your heavier sets the first time or two. And use a narrower grip than you would for the prone-grip version to minimize the grip position problems.

    Figure 7-48. The supine grip sometimes used for the barbell row. This lifter also uses the hook grip.

    Back extensions and glute/ham raises
     
    There are a couple of ancillary exercises that require special equipment but are useful enough to make it worth locating. The Roman chair is an old piece of gym equipment that can be found in one form or another in most training facilities. It was developed in the late 1800s by the famous physical culturist Professor Louis “Attila” Durlacher from a device known as a “Roman column” that served a similar function. The Roman chair is a very basic bench (a bench has no parts that move during an exercise; a machine does) that supports the trainee’s shins or feet from the top while supporting the thighs from below, thus allowing the trainee to be in a horizontal position, supported by his legs. You can use the Roman chair while facing up for abdominal work or while facing down for back work.

    Figure 7-49. A simple type of Roman chair.

    Ab workouts done on this bench are called Roman chair sit-ups , after the device. The back exercise has been for many years referred to as a “hyperextension,” although that term specifically refers to a position that most joints don’t like to be placed in, so the exercise is therefore preferably termed simply a “back extension.” You may hear “hyperextension” used for the exercise from time to time, but it is losing its place as more people become familiar with biomechanical terminology.
    The back extension is a very good way to directly work the spinal erectors using both concentric and eccentric contractions. The normal function of the trunk muscles is stabilization of the spine, using an isometric contraction that allows little or no relative movement of the vertebrae. But the trunk muscles can be strengthened by the active motion of the spine during this exercise, which functions like a reverse sit-up; the erectors extend the spine from a flexed position over a broad range of motion. The fact that the spine is extended in a position parallel to the floor is a function of the simultaneous hip extension, which the glutes (all of them, the maximus, medius, and minimus), hamstrings, and adductors perform in coordination with the spinal extension.
    You perform the back extension by assuming a face-down position in a Roman chair, with the middle of your thighs on the front pad, the back of your legs (just below the calves and just above the heels, right on the Achilles tendon) jammed up into the foot pad or roller pad, and your body held parallel to the floor. Keep your knees very slightly unlocked but not bent, with just a little tension from the hamstrings protecting the knees from hyperextension. The movement is an eccentric spinal extension – just let your chest drop down toward the upright of the bench, until your torso is perpendicular to the floor – and then an concentric spinal extension, raising the chest, followed by a hip extension, which kicks in the glutes and hamstrings to finish the exercise with