Lu Xiaojun Back Exercise “Lu Rows”

Over at his blog Rob Macklem posted this sequence of Lu Xiaojun getting his Back Pump on in the worlds training hall.

Usually I am not a fan of naming exercises after athletes, but “Round Back Deficit Snatch Grip Deadlift Row” is just too long. So I’m just going to call them Lu Rows for now (since “Chinese Rows” is already taken) .

From the Comments: Notice how the shoulder blades are fully extended at the start and then contracted at the top. This hits the lats and rhomboids a lot, try bending over like that with a 20kg on each side and let it pull your back muscles.

Naming Contest: Your suggestions in the comments 

Rob writes that: “I have seen the Chinese do this exercise in the training hall at a number of world championships”.

Disclaimer: As Rob notes in his post a lot of you will probably try this variation and I can’t blame you. Nothing wrong with exploring new exercises in my opinion, as long as you use common sense. Lu is only using 90kg, So around 50% of his best Snatch. That means you should probably use way less. Start with the bar and see how your body reacts.