KEY AREAS: Upper & Middle Back, Arms, Shoulders, Traps, Rhomboids
START POSITION: Get onto an inclined bench in a prone position (face down), and get hold of 2 dumbbells. If you are lucky enough to have a trinaing prtner, ask them to hand you the dumbbells once your are securely onto the bench and supported by your legs, feet and chest.
If you alone – well you just have to muddle through and maybe use lighter weights to avoid an injury.
Let the dumbbells hang down vertically at your sides directly underneath your shoulders. Keep your head up with your neck in line with your soine and briefly relax before you begin the exercise.
NOTES: Keep yor elbows tucked in (not flared) and concentrate on squeezing your Back muscles together as you bend elbows and pull the dumbells upwards until they are somewhere level with the top flat surface of the bench (i.e. the bit you are lying on). Take a deep breathe before you start and breathe out as you come up, pause very briefly at the top position and then breathe slowly in as you let the dumbells down again.
There are several distinct forms of this exercise which are all very effective, but they differ slighly in the muscles engaged, My favourite (and part of the Mojoh Method suite of exercises) is the Neutral grip dumbbell row (shown above right). You can also use either a barbell or a 2 dumbells with a Pronated grip (overhand), and you can again do these with either a wide or narrow grip – I think the key here is to investigate and play around with the various options, but in the beginning just be patient and follow the Mojoh Method recommended routines.
This woud be the one being performed by the black lady here – doing a great job – elbows tucked in, good angle, straight back, feet and legs well placed for stability. Check out the becnch angles in both photos – the nagles look bang on the same to me. Angles are very important and vary between exercises, so take care with them.
The Incline Bench Row is another good example of an exercise which should be done with light weights by beginners, but the weight can quikcly be increased as confidence grows – because we are engaging the large Lat muscles of the Back – more muscle mass equals more power, and therefore more weigh can be (and should be) used, once the form is perfected.
