Bent over row for upper back development

Form for the bent over row

First off make sure you have a solid base to lift from. Stand either on hard rigid flooring or concrete or two forty five lb plates placed side by side.  One foot goes on one plate. The other foot goes on the other plate. Also make sure the floor is level because any incline in the floor will put your body out of balance and could lead to injury in the spine or hips or shoulders.

Now put your spine in a deadlift position. If you don't know what I mean, read this.  Now reach down with hands slightly shoulder width apart. You should have a huge breath of air in your lungs to lock your spine.  Grab the bar with a double over hand grip and pull it to slightly below the top of your abdomen. It's real important to hold that breath of air in your lungs. The weight of the bar has a pulling jarring effect on the lower back and could lead to injury if you lose that breath.  This is especially important if you plan on doing reps because you'll have to hold your breath during the entire set of reps. That's why you should probably stick with the max out routine. For the simple fact it only requires you do three reps  max.

Also this exercise is pretty hard on the rotator cuff, so I don't recommend you do it every work out. If you're alternating between regular deadlifts and acute angle deadlifts, do bent over rows on your acute angle deadlift days because your acute angle deadlift weight will be considerably less than your regular deadlift weight you work out with. So the upper back and shoulders are not being sufficiently stimulated compared to the load placed on them in a regular deadlift. Think of the bent over row as a complement that addresses the shortcomings of the acute angle deadlift's lighter load.