Have you tried Seal Rows before? While the set-up isn’t always the most practical, the exercise is awesome and is totally worth doing! Seal Rows strengthen the muscles in the mid and upper back, and improve shoulder and scapular controlled mobility.
Coaching Tips:
- Elevate a bench. You may elevate the bench on two other benches, boxes, bumper plates, etc. The bench should be high enough that you can fully extend your arms without the weights hitting the floor.
- Lie in a prone position on the bench. Your head, torso, and hips should be in a stacked position.
- Extend your legs, and contract your glutes and quads. Your head, torso and thighs should be in contact with the bench.
- Grab onto a barbell in a pronated grip, and adopt your preferred hand width. Or you may perform this exercise using dumbells/kettlebells.
- In the starting position, the barbell should be slightly ahead of your shoulders.
- Before each rep, take a deep breath in (360 degrees of air around your spine), brace your core (360 degree brace around your spine), tuck your ribs towards your hips (wrinkle the front of your shirt), and contract your glutes and quads (you want tension in your lower body).
- Perform a row. Do not initiate the movement with your arms, and do not use momentum.
- In the top position, do not allow your elbows to flare out. Really contract the muscles in your back, and around your shoulder blades.
- Lower the weight to the starting position with control. Your shoulder blades should perform the reverse movements as they did during the rowing/concentric component and should spread apart and move away from the spine, around the ribcage, and away from the opposite hip. Do not keep them pinned.
- In the bottom position, your elbows should be close to fully extended, but not hyperextended, and the barbell should be slightly ahead of your shoulders.
- For the duration of the exercise, do not allow your shoulders to shrug towards your ears or round, or shoulders blades to excessively elevate towards your ears.
- For the duration of the exercise, your head, torso and hips should remain in a stacked position. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, round, or flex laterally, ribcage to flare, or torso, spine or hips to rotate.
- For the duration of the exercise, keep your core muscles braced (360 degree brace around your spine), and squeeze your glutes.
- In terms of breathing, do what works and feels best for you.
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