The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (57 page)

With a slight lean backwards at the hips, your chest pushed out and your elbows staying close to your body, you are ready to begin the exercise.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

Once in position and focused on the muscles of the back, pull the bar down to your upper chest region, maintaining your postural alignment.

Make sure that you pull the bar down in a smooth, controlled manner, letting the muscles of the back do the work, keeping your biceps and momentum from becoming involved. If you don’t know the difference between controlled form and momentum already, you will surely feel the difference in muscle stimulation when you use correct, controlled form.

As you reach the bottom of the movement, make sure to squeeze the back muscles for a count of 11/2 seconds with the bar close to or touching the upper chest region.

Slowly allow the bar to move upward until it is in the start position.

When you reach the top, do not rest! Immediately begin pulling back down, making sure you do so slowly while maintaining the correct form and postural alignment. Remember the time under tension principle of continued motion and no rest. You are here to work, not rest. You will accomplish a great deal more by keeping constant tension on the muscles, throughout the entire set as opposed to resting at every transition of the top and bottom positions.

FAQ:

When I do this exercise, it hurts my shoulders
.

ANSWER:

If you experience pain with any exercise, stop! It doesn’t make sense to continue doing an exercise if it is hurting you. Try variations of this exercise until you find a pain-free version. Some variations you can try to include similar movements, hand grips, bar attachments, or machines. A simple modification can make all the difference in the world.

Seated Low-Pulley Row

Using a close-grip parallel attachment

The low-pulley row, which exercises the lower lats and mid-back muscles, is an exercise that most people perform incorrectly. They either lean too far forward in the beginning of the movement or too far backward when they squeeze the bar to their stomachs (peak contraction position), thus taking the stress right off the lat muscles. Many people also use only momentum instead of muscle to move the weight—especially if they are trying to lift too much.

Throughout your training, you will notice how you can choose between a variety of handles to use for this exercise and many others. Each one hits a slightly different area of the back, which provides a great variety for an exciting and never stale back routine. The description of technique and form below assumes that you will be using a close-grip parallel bar attachment.

PROPER ALIGNMENT

Once you attach the bar to the pulley system, take a seat on the machine bench.

Choose a weight that will allow you to practice perfect form while also providing enough weight to stimulate the back muscles. Using too light a weight will keep you from feeling the desired muscle stimulation.

Take hold of the bar, either leaning forward or having someone hand it to you.

Sit straight up while you bend at the knees.