cable row technique

The old saying, “you can sometimes have too much of a good thing” is very true when it comes to rowing exercises in the gym. There is a lot of confusion surrounding this movement pattern with regards to posture, and especially shoulder and neck rehabilitation. I must admit I was one of the people who always thought you just can never have too much rowing exercises. More the better, sticking to a ratio of 3 rowing exercises to one pushing movement, and that pulling your shoulders down and back is a good thing. Only to find out years later I had developed a depressed shoulder that led to a shoulder impingement! The very thing I was trying to avoid! For gym beginners this is rarely an issue as we see them overcompensate with too much upper trap involvement but it is very common the educated gym participant, athletes and anyone who has some postural awareness. As with all exercises is is all about stability and quality of movement. In this article, I am going to help explain what that really means and to understand exactly how the shoulder moves so you can base programs, exercise choices around what your body needs to move freely and without restriction, as opposed to rigid rules based on isolating muscle, that only serve to create dysfunction and pain.

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