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The Pendlay Row. Image credit: Glenn Pendlay

The Pendlay Row is a variation of the Barbell Row named after Glenn Pendlay, head coach of Wichita Falls Weightlifting team. There’s a lot of confusion about correct technique on the Pendlay Row & its differences with the Barbell Row.

Instead of giving you my view on the Pendlay Row, I’ll give you Glenn Pendlay’s. It’s his exercise after all. Then I’ll follow with my conclusions & a video of the Pendlay Row based on my understanding of Glenn Pendlay’s writing.

The following text & pictures were posted by Glenn Pendlay on forums years ago. You’ll recognize Justin Brimhall on the pictures who was model for Starting Strength. I edited formatting & pictures but left Glenn Pendlay’s text intact.

The Pendlay Row: start - finish. Image credit: Glenn Pendlay

Rows. Well, the best way to do them is to start with the bar on the floor every single rep. Your middle back will have slight bend to it. You pull the bar off the floor quickly with the arms, and by a powerful arch of your middle back.

You finish by touching the bar to your upper stomach or middle stomach. At no time is there any movement of the hips or knees, no hip extension at all, all that bends is the middle back and the shoulders and elbows.

This is hard to do and you have to have good muscular control to do it, or you’ll end up straightening up at the hips along with the arching of the back. But if you can master doing them this way you will get a big back.

This works because the lats actually extend (arch) the middle back in addition to other functions, just like with glute-ham extensions compared to leg curls. You always get a stronger contraction when you move both the origin and insertion of a muscle, flexing it from both ends so to speak.

The bar returns to the floor after each rep. The bent row is actually best done as an explosive movement and the bar is moved fast. I have trained many people who could do this exercise with 350 or more lbs.

I myself have done reps with 425, Ed Coan, who also knows how to do them properly, has done reps with over 500lbs without his back ever coming above parallel with the ground. That is stronger than Dorian Yates or Ronnie Coleman.

I did rows with Coleman once, actually, and I was far stronger than he was. He could not do more than 350lbs strictly although he could do over 500lbs by standing almost all the way up at the completion of each rep.

Ed Coan is probably the strongest person on these, although one power-lifter I trained did manage 525 for a double done strictly.

Rows. Look at an anatomy chart. If the scapula and upper-arms are held in a constant position, shortening of the lats WILL result in arching of the middle and upper back. I AM NOT saying that the lats are primarily responsible for upper back flexion. What I am saying is that they can assist in this.

I also HAVE done EMG work on various different rowing techniques. And there is not doubt that rows performed as I describe them will activate the lats more completely than done any other way I have ever seen.

I have done EMG work on a large quantity of people for rows. And I’ve always found that these kind of rows activate the lats most completely. And besides, even if you don’t buy the fact that they activate the lats better, you can always be content with the fact that your getting an erector workout.

Here’s a couple of pics. 2 of the starting position, 1 of the finished position. Looks so simple I’m almost embarrassed to post them.

And this kid is terrible at relaxing his upper-back at the start, but you can see that he is “scunching” his upper back at the top, trying to arch the upper spine as much as possible, that’s really the key to get as much activation as possible, making the attempt to arch your back, upper-back specifically as much as possible at the top, without extending the hips.

You can see that his hip angle doesn’t change at all. The chest comes up because he is arching his back as he pulls, but the hips don’t extend. When you let the bar down, let the upper-back relax, and if possible bend the spine a little and let the shoulders come forward. Then as you pull the bar up, pull the shoulders back, arch the back, and pull with the arms all at the same time.

Looks simple, and really is simple to do once you do it once and see how it feels. with a guy like this who cant bend his upper-back that well, it doesn’t look much different than any other row. But again, it’s the effort to pull the shoulders back and arch the back as you pull that makes the difference. Even though there will be more spinal and shoulder movement in some people than others.

Pendlay Row starting position: notice bent upper-back. Image credit: Glenn Pendlay

Here’s a couple more from the side that show better start and end position. Look at the difference in the arch of the back, how far the shoulders are pulled back, but no real difference in hip angle.

Pendlay Row end position: upper-back arched, chest forward. Image credit: Glenn Pendlay

Conclusions. Key to the Pendlay Row is arching your upper-back at the top without extending your hips:

“When you let the bar down, let the upper-back relax, and if possible bend the spine a little and let the shoulders come forward. Then as you pull the bar up, pull the shoulders back, arch the back, and pull with the arms all at the same time.

Pendlay Row Setup. The first picture is for me the starting position of the Barbell Row. Glenn Pendlay writes Justin doesn’t relax his upper-back. Let’s use the bottom pictures as reference of correct Pendlay Row technique.

• Bar on The Floor. The bar starts on & returns to the floor on each rep just like with Deadlifts & Barbell Rows.
• Roll Shoulders Forward. Relax your upper-back. Let your shoulders roll forward. You’ll have to look at the floor for this.

It’s possible – but not easy – to bend & arch your upper-back while keeping your lower back fairly straight. You can see this in the first picture. If you can’t: do lots of shoulder dislocations & cat/camels.

The Pendlay Row. Row the bar against your lower chest while arching your upper-back & without extending your hips or knees.

• Pull Fast. Pull by arching your upper-back powerfully. The Pendlay Row is an explosive exercise. Move the bar fast.
• Arch Upper-back. Try to make your shoulder-blades touch. Pull with the elbows. Bring your chest forward. Look forward.
• Touch Lower Chest. Where the bar touches your torso depends on your build, hip position & angle of your back. Pull the bar where it touches your body for the Bench Press.
• No Hip Extension. The hip angle doesn’t change, hips don’t extend. Only your upper-back, shoulders & elbows move.

Your torso will go up because of the upper-back arching. But the Pendlay Row is not a Deadlift: work your upper-back not your posterior chain. Your upper-back gets the most work when parallel to the floor. Here’s how I do Pendlay Rows.

Difference with the Barbell Row. So what’s the difference between the Barbell Row & Glenn Pendlay’s variation the Pendlay Row?

• Powerful contraction of the upper-back when pulling the weight up.
• High bar speed because of the upper-back arching.

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