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Exercise of the month – Wide grip swissball cable rows |
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The rhomboids are a very important, yet often neglected, muscle group between the shoulder blades.
Sitting on a swissball, grab a wide-grip bar attached to an adjustable cable machine with both hands. The pulley should be positioned facing your lower chest. Keep your torso upright, abs tight and shoulders back.
Pull the bar towards your lower chest, keeping your elbows up and flared out to the sides. One of the difficult parts of this exercise is to keep your elbows up while keeping your shoulders down. The rowing motion should come from the upper back, not the arms or lower back. Squeeze your shoulder blades together, and then slowly allow your arms to extend to the starting position, without leaning forward at the finish. Most people will find that when they get tired, they will want to drop their elbows to the side of the body. This will recruit the big, strong lat muscles which we do not want to train with this exercise! We are trying to recruit the rhomboids – a group of muscles between the shoulder blades. The rhomboids help keep the shoulders back in their correct position. Unfortunately many people have tight chest muscles, usually caused by poor posture (ie. sitting in front of a computer all day with our shoulders slumped forward.) When the chest muscles are tight, they pull the rhomboids into an unnaturally stretched position. This causes them to become weak and eventually inhibits correct recruitment. This in turn causes the trapezius muscles around the neck to help perform the rhomboids function, causing overuse and inflammation.
Correct technique is vital for this exercise. Make sure you ask one of our experienced trainers to watch your form, and incorporate this fantastic exercise into your exercise routine!
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