Know Your Rows: Bent Over Row vs Pendlay Row

Should you be doing Bent Over Rows or Pendlay Rows?

Personally, I prefer the Pendlay Rows for strength and Bent Over Rows for hypertrophy.

Both have their place in training, but if you have a specific training goal, one of these might be better suited for you than the other.

[TheDrokon]

Thanks for explaining without a 20 minute video

[Sigh]

Needed a quick how to and this was perfect! Thank you

[NemesisX]

I'm switching to Pend. Rows next week. Bent over rows are too rough on my lower back

[Unclejack]

I’m still trying to get the form right without looking ridiculous. Great video 💯

[virtheon]

Is it okay to also go a bit explosively on the barbell row? I can't actually hold the barbell against my chest unless I lower the weight a lot. Otherwise, I have to use the inertia from my pull to make it briefly touch my chest. But I worry about whether I might be underworking whichever muscle closes that final inch (God knows I'm terrible at back anatomy lol)

[irvingglemaud]

I'm not seeing how one variation is better for strength than the other, aside from maybe Pendlay Rows being better for targeting the arms/lats without involving the lower back as much. Increasing strength just comes from progressive overload and improving technique on the target muscles/exercise, not from choosing one exercise variation over another for the same muscles.

[angmori]

Do them from the floor like pendlays, but control the eccentric to the point where you barely touch the floor between reps.

I got to 5 reps of 2 plates with 'normal' pendlays technique and barely felt them in my back, and generally disliked them. It was also hard to be really consistent with the form.

Started doing them as strict as possible, pausing at the top for all sets except the last one, and just one plate was enough weight to light up my entire back like nothing before.

I have also done the bodybuilding style and again, don't feel the, really dislike them.

But the way I do them now, no other exercise can compete for back building, not even pull-ups because they do fuck-all for the spinal erectors

[Ryan-gkbd]

Form looks impeccable body looking strong

[zandercerlong]

Just because you explode on the way up, doesn’t mean you have to drop the weight without control and waste 50% of the workout

[frankcolliton]

Why the woman haircut like my girlfriend? Girlfriend says it's feminine.

[kevinflores]

I hear if you use a wider grip with the same form as the rows and slightly higher elbows, you can also hit rear delts

[AngelLoverErbil]

I’ve never done Pendley Rows but I’ll give it a try, , , the video made me prefer Pendley until I reached the end of the video when Marcus says Pendley is for strength and Bentover Row is for hypertrophy!

[rtoujr]

fantastic, concise and accurate. nice vid. <3

[mrjuice]

You need decent strength before even starting this lift

[Thrive]

Deficit pendlay row also gives a big stretch.

[DarrylCarlton-jlpw]

BENT OVER ROWS, U COULD NEVER MISS WIT THEM, LOOK AT THE GREATS, RONNIE, LEE, DORIAN N ARNOLD ALL DID N RECOMMEND BENT OVER ROWS FOR ULTIMATE BACK THICKNESS, FACXXXX!!!

[nightmare_insight]

What to do if I feel pain in my lower back. Just after the Set. And also I spend 10-15 minutes in my warmup

[sebrura]

How is this re risk of lower back issues?

[maxmaximum-shbx]

"What you Row is what you Know" - Geoffrey Verity Schofield

[phillyphilly]

Serious question. So if the goal is to have time under tension wouldn’t the pendlay row be counter intuitive to breaking down/tearing the muscle fiber? Since once you put the weight down even for a second the tension is gone.