The Monthly Movement

This months movement is the...

Inverted Row:

Why:

• Inverted rows are great for back strength.  They work your lats, traps, biceps, and other small muscles in your back.
• It is a great substitute for those who have problems with pull ups and chin ups.
• Being a body weight exercise it can be done more frequently than heavy weights without having an adverse affect on your performance while also decreasing the chance of injury.
• Its one of the only exercises that justifies the existence of a smith machine.

How:

• Set up a bar laying across a power rack, squat rack, or smith machine.  Now lay on your back under the bar with the bar directly above your chest.  
• Grab the bar with your hands about shoulder width apart.  At the start position your arms should be fully extended with your back and butt an inch or two off the ground.
• Keep your shoulders back and down, chest up and begin to pull up towards the bar.  
• Make sure your chest touches the bar and squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top then lower yourself back down.
• Keep your torso, hips, and legs tight and in a straight line like your would while performing a push up.

So there you go guys, the inverted row.  It's a great exercise even if you are able to do pull ups and chin ups.  As the demo shows you could raise or lower the bar to decrease or increase the difficulty respectively.  Also you could elevate your legs using a platform or bench to increase the difficulty.  Try to mess around with it and throw it into your workouts.

Train hard and train smart.