maratoolAlternating Renegade Row
How to do the alternating renegade row
- Place two kettlebells on the floor about shoulder width apart. Position yourself on your toes and your hands as though you were doing a pushup, with the body straight and extended. Use the handles of the kettlebells to support your upper body. You may need to position your feet wide for support.
- Push one kettlebell into the floor and row the other kettlebell, retracting the shoulder blade of the working side as you flex the elbow, pulling it to your side.
- Then lower the kettlebell to the floor and begin the kettlebell in the opposite hand. Repeat for several reps.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the rhomboids and mid-trapezius, which draw the shoulder blades together and back down the ribcage.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the abdominals brace the trunk so force can pass between the hips and the shoulders; the biceps add force at the elbow; the chest adds pushing force at the shoulder.
The lats and triceps take a share of the work as well.
Every exercise for:Middle backAbdominalsBicepsChestLats
How this movement works
The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A kettlebell's mass hangs below and outside the handle, so it pulls away from the grip and the wrist has to stay packed. That offset is why racked and swinging variations feel nothing like the dumbbell version.
Every exercise using:Kettlebell
These train the middle back too, using equipment this one does not:
- Bent Over Barbell Rowbarbell
- Bent Over Two-Dumbbell Rowdumbbell
- Leverage High Rowmachine
- Rhomboids-SMRfoam roll
- Seated Cable Rowscable
Difficulty
Listed at expert level. It asks for range, stability or speed that takes time to build, and it punishes a rushed set-up much harder than an easier movement would.
Of the 37 middle back exercises in this database, 3 are listed at expert level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.