Barbell Rows: Arnold or Dorian?

Here's an exercise that has always confused me, but that is only because of two Mr. Olympias who recommend doing them in different ways.

Arnold Schwarzenegger recommends starting with your body parallel or even slightly lower and standing on a block so you can get a full stretch on the way down. In order to move the bar in a straight vertical line and keep the lats engaged through the entirety of the movement, straighten your body until you are slightly above parallel.

Here Arnie demontrates, check out :30 mark.

Now Dorian recommends a 45 degree angle bend in the body. He claims that it puts the lats into a mechanically advantageous position. Here we see a video of Dorian instructing Kai Greene on this exact issue when it comes to barbell rows. Kai and Oscar seem to be used to doing it more like Arnold, with the body closer to 90 degrees.

Here Dorian demonstrates.
3:25 mark it starts, but at around the 7:00 mark you can hear them discussing the difference between the two.

What are you guys opinions? Obviously there is no "right" way. Both champions had terrific lats, although Arnold did have much more development in the lower area.

for me Arnold, but I would like a more scientific opinion that I'm not able to give.

Firstly I would say that no-one should be taking their training advice and technique from these videos.

Secondly the answer is "it depends". Either way you have to try and maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement, if you can't do that then you shouldn't be doing this exercise at all.

When parallel to the floor you are pulling into the body and using all of the back muscles, and you also have more torque on the spine at the lower back.

At 45 degrees you have more emphasis on the trapezius and less torque on the lower back.

So if you lack upper back, then being more upright will be better. But lets be honest, deadlifting or cleans would be a better idea.

^I second that

Pendlay rows period! Heres an article to get you started: http://stronglifts.com/how-to-perform-the-pendlay-row-with-correct-technique/

philosopher said:

Pendlay rows period! Heres an article to get you started: http://stronglifts.com/how-to-perform-the-pendlay-row-with-correct-technique/

Click to expand...

Huh, that's what I do now. I never realized I'd picked up this variation from something I read ages ago. They are so much harder to do this way, although I still prefer DB rows with a thick bar.