Our violin-shaped rowing bench

14 October 2023
Adarsh Gopal

I love chest supported rows. In a world plagued by rounded upper backs, rows are the soothing balm that lets you throw your shoulders back and squeeze those back muscles. Giving the upper back more work is the way they become stronger so you can abuse them hunched over a screen.

Chest supported rows are a way to row without worrying about any other part of your body. When you stand and row, your position comes into question. Especially if you have spent time using your lower body to exercise. Enter chest supported rows.

You lie on a bench on your stomach. You hold a weight in each arm. You roll your shoulders back and pull the weight towards your lower chest. It’s important to visualise pulling the weight towards you using your shoulders and upper back. Our greedy arms will want to kick in. But they’re just coming along for the ride with the upper back muscles being the driver.

Now here’s our little brag. The bench I am rowing on is a little different from the usual bench found in gyms across the world. It is shaped like a violin.

What’s in a bench? A pad mounted on a metal frame that can bear your weight and whatever you lift. It is primarily used for bench pressing. But being the contrarian that I am, I prefer rowing to benching on a bench.

The bench is narrow on one side and wider on the other. When you row with your head on the narrow end and lower body on the wider side, the bench lets you do two things:

Rotate your shoulders freely all the way down. A wider bench would restrict the shoulders especially for narrower specimens of humanity such as me and most normal people
Allows the weight to move freely without knocking on the bench

This would be an advantage if one were using a barbell or any other implement too. Needless to say use bands, use pulleys, use anything really, just start rowing.

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