Name: Suspension Row and Progressions
Uploaded: 2023-04-26T01:03:06.000Z
Duration: 11 min 15 s

English captions

https://stream.mux.com/018a6w1IfcYdyPJBR64aiEqVVTpKo3FtIpK4sxUHC3Is.m3u8

Learn how to properly perform the suspension row and its progressions in this comprehensive step-by-step instructional video from the Brookbush Institute. This evidence-based video provides expert coaching on setup, form, and exercise modifications (including progressions and regressions) to safely build upper body pulling strength, scapular stability, and postural control. Perfect for beginner and intermediate athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and rehabilitation clients seeking to improve strength, posture, and movement efficiency.

Introduction to Row Progressions with Suspension Trainer

Demonstrating Optimal Form for Rowing

Progressing from Two Legs to One Leg and One Arm

Advanced Progressions: Unstable Environments and Cross-Body Patterns

Enhancing Load and Stability for Strength Training

Summarizing Key Progressions and Concepts

Suspension Row and Progressions

This is Brent and in this video we're going over progressions for a very common movement pattern, the row, that many of us use for back. We're going to use the suspension trainer to start developing a progression that would fit perfectly in that stability endurance or strength endurance phase of our training. I'm going to have my friend, Melissa, come out. She's going to help me demonstrate. Now,  before Melissa gets started here, one thing that I think people forget a little bit when they start using a suspension trainer is just because we put a new piece of equipment in our hand, doesn't change optimal form for the human body. So, Melissa is going to grab the True Fit here, she's going to lean back, and the first thing we're going to notice is her posture looks good. Her posture looks good, just as it would be for a weighted row, cable row, if she was doing a cable chest press. It's generally the same posture, which is head back, chin tucked, neck in alignment with the rest of her back. You notice her shoulders are down and stable, she's drawn in, her pelvis is neutral. If she had gone into an anterior pelvic tilt, I could say draw in, tuck under. Her quads are nice and tight, knees nearly locked, and her feet are parallel to one another and hip width. She's got that nice posture that we've used on every other exercise by now, just like every other row that we've done. She's going to pull and pinch her shoulder blades down and back. Let's see a few of those. What you'll notice is Melissa's form looks good throughout. She's pinching those shoulder blades but not doing this thing. This is this I am trying to pull too far, compensation. We want to make sure that shoulder blades go down and back, not up and back. Go ahead and relax for a second. And if I was Melissa's trainer, the first thing I would notice is that's too easy. So now we have to start thinking about how we progress this exercise, and there's a lot of ways to progress with a suspension trainer. We could start with maybe one leg, so we'll go two legs to one leg. One leg. Just make sure on that leg that she's using, that that glute's tight, her hips staying up and forward, she's not sagging at all. Does that make it a little tougher? Do you want to switch legs? Make sure you do both sides. Just because we're working on the back, doesn't mean we can't gain a little stability in the hip, but you want to work on both sides. Relax for a second. Still looks too easy. So we got two legs, one leg. Could we go two legs, one arm? You guys do have to be careful with this one, because, obviously, when she goes from two arms to one arm with something like a suspension trainer, she's also going to double the load. I might need to move her feet back just a little bit. You'll notice that the hard thing about this particular progression is people want to do all sorts of rotating at the trunk. They have a hard time retracting their scapulae. You've got to make sure that just because we went from two arms to one arm, we don't let go of any of those form cues. We have to keep just as strict, otherwise we've just gone too far in our progessions. Alright, relax for a second. So we went from two legs to one leg, two arms to one arm. Could we go one leg, one arm? We're going to try one of these cross-body patterns. Generally, when I go one leg, one arm, I try to do contralateral limbs, so she's going to use her left leg to stabilize, we're going to pull the right arm, and then vice versa. When she goes to left arm, I'm going to use her right leg to stabilize. You guys will find that this is real tough to maintain scapular retraction, real tough to maintain square shoulders, square hips. Is that tough? Aright, we're getting there. We're getting close. If I'm in a stability endurance or strength endurance phase, my goal is to get her to fail in 12 to 20 repetitions at a slow tempo. We're getting pretty close. I think she would be just about there. So what can I do to even further progress this? Well, an easy progression is to add an unstable environment. Be careful when you add unstable environments, like an airex pad. We don't want her sliding, her feet sliding out from underneath her. Let's go two legs, one arm on an airex pad. Alright. Let's go one foot, one arm on an airex pad. And you notice Melissa keeps her form. Well, almost. We're starting to break down a little bit here. Good, relax for a second. So, I do think the fitness professional population, the athletic training professional population, those of us who work on strength and conditioning, we do need a little bit more practice on the stability and strength side. We need more practice creating good routines. If I was working with Melissa, I think I would have stopped at the progression of single arm, single leg in a stable environment. I could see good form, but it was challenging, and I think she could maintain that good form for the 12 to 20 reps I was looking to achieve to increase endurance in that phase. Now, we do have load progressions, so I couldn back off or increase in load depending on how advanced my athlete was. Melissa's going to help me demonstrate that real quick. So, just starting off with the handles the length they are now, if she moves her feet closer to where I have these hanging, she gets more horizontal. I increase the perpendicular length from my lever here, it'll actually be more force she has to generate to do that row. And you can see she's shaking a little bit. That's tough. If I wanted to go even further, but her feet are all the way against a bar, or they're all the way against a wall, let's say I had this hanging off a wall clip, what I could do is just make these longer. I could get her even more horizontal. Good luck. That's tough stuff right there. If I wanted to go even further, I could go completely horizontal. What we're actually going to do here is we're going to start with these a little bit shorter, but I'm going to put her feet up on something. In this case, we're skipping a progression here, guys, I would usually use a bench first, but rolling a bench into the shot was just a little awkward so we're going to use a stability ball instead here. You ready? Do your best. I'm going to have you hang down first, so almost sit down on your butt. I want you to put one heel up here. It helps to get the ball in a position where your heel's in the center of the ball so that you have a little bit of control with your legs on where you're putting that ball. Your feet don't have to be perfectly together either. Now, pull up into position, get nice and flat, squeeze your butt, draw in, try to get those feet straight for me. Good. Alright, let's try a couple of those. We can see- Do you want to give it one more shot? Give you a rest? We can see this is a little bit beyond where Melissa's at, but some of those other progressions from a strength standpoint, if I needed to increase the way to get our reps down, let's say she could do more than the 20 reps I was looking for, we could see maybe moving her feet in would work, or making the True Fit a little longer here would work. This is a tough progression, guys, this might be one of those challenges I put out: Let's see who can do 20 reps horizontal with their feet on a ball with two independent suspension trainers here. We're just going to try to get a couple. I'll give the ball a little bit of stability here. Head back, really try to retract those scapulae. Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, down slow, down slow. One more. Good. Relax. Alright, guys, there you go. Tons of progressions, stability progressions: two feet, one foot; two arms, one arm. We did one arm, one foot together, so there's five progressions right there. Then we added unstable environments, like an airex pad, so then you can go back to two feet unstable, one foot unstable. Then we talked about our load progressions. Try to keep in mind where your fulcrum is. The more horizontal you get, the harder the exercise is going to be from a load perspective. Moving the feet in, making the straps of the True Fit longer, or as you saw in this last progression, which was just mean, going totally horizontal are all ways for you to progress this particular exercise. And as we mentioned towards the beginning of the video, this is the type of practice you all need, we all need as an industry to make our stability endurance, or strength endurance training just as exciting just, as challenging as the max strength training, the power training that's become so popular. Don't forget, you can't lift more than you can stabilize. I look forward to talking to you guys soon.

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Suspension Row And Progressions

Back strength training exercises - best progressions for barbell rows, dumbbell rows, pulldowns, pull-ups, cable rows, TRX rows, and band rows. Back movements for endurance, stability, hypertrophy, and strength, and a sample back routine.

Back Exercise and Pulling Progressions

Have the client or patient grasp the handles of the suspension trainer.

Cue your client or patient into a position in which the straps and their fully extended arms are aligned. This is achieved by asking them to appropriately adjust the strap length, foot position, body angle, and shoulder and arm position.

The foot position and strap length may need to be repositioned during the first few repetitions to ensure that the straps and forearms maintain alignment throughout the motion.

Feet perpendicular to the floor and 2nd toe aligned with ASIS

Pelvis neutral (absence of anterior or posterior pelvic tilt)

Torso, scapula, and head in neutral alignment

Torso and lower extremity alignment should be achieved by cueing the client to press their heels into the floor: extending the hips (contracting the glutes), extending the knees (contracting the quadriceps), dorsiflexing the ankles, and performing the abdominal drawing-in maneuver.

Note that optimal torso alignment should be achieved via hip extension, not lumbar extension.

Ask the client or patient to pull the lower portion of the rib cage toward the handles and “squeeze and depress their shoulder blades” (retract and posteriorly tip their scapula).

The end of range (top of pull-up) should result in the hands, wrists, and elbows in, and the forearms in line with the direction of pull.

Cue your client or patient to control the eccentric phase at the desired tempo, allowing the resistance to return them to the starting position with arms near full extension and scapula protracted

Have the client or patient address any form or recruitment issues (posture check).

 Load is reduced if the body is positioned more vertically, increased if the body is positioned more horizontally, and the feet may be elevated for additional load.

 Single-arm (unilateral), single-leg, stability ball under feet

 Additional resistance with a weight vest.

Often professionals and exercisers will attempt this exercise with straps that have insufficient length to accommodate the width of the shoulder girdle. This results in form issues, as the exerciser attempts to pull around the straps or avoid painful sharp corners, seams, and buckles. Using longer straps, or 2 straps that can be hung individually at shoulder width solves this issue.

The scapula should not be cued into a fixed position. The concentric phase should include retraction, and the eccentric phase should include protraction.

Attempting to pull-up “too far” will result in a loss of optimal scapular position, likely resulting in anterior tipping. The range of motion should be the largest range that can be performed without pain or compensation.

Suspension Row and Progressions

Rope Row

Single Leg Alternating Horizontal Abduction with External Rotation

Suspension Row with Rotation

Suspension Rotation Complex (Pallof Press)

Single Leg Squat to Bilateral Cable Pull Down

Modifications of Renegade Row

Chaos Row

Rope Row with Eccentric Control

Standing Cobra

Horizontal Pull Up (Inverted or Hanging Pull-Up)

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