Best Ways of Rowing

by Terry
(Ennice, NC)

Question: I have been sitting on the floor and rowing with my heavy bands. Would I benefit from doing the rowing on a bench that I could straddle sitting down?

I have the Terrell Owens exercise bands (excellent).

Answer: I think you can do both! I'd caution you to keep a little bend in the knees while doing your rows (I assume you're pulling from a door way with the bands roughly parallel to the floor); keeping the legs stiff is an invitation to lower back strains.

You can vary the angle quite a bit by using the same anchor point but by adjusting your stance:

Seated on the floor, you're getting the lats and middle back.

Sitting on a bench, you can pull to the chin and get a good delt, upper back, and trap workout.

Standing, you can almost exclusively target your traps and hit the side and rear delts a little, too.

Image credit: Licensed for re-use – https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/US_Navy_070329-N-8923M-029_Lt._Shaun_Estep_of_Strike_Fighter_Squadron_(VFA)_37,_the_Raging_Bulls,_prepares_for_the_physical_readiness_test_(PRT)_on_a_rowing_machine.jpg