How To Make The Renegade Row Better!

Jessica Bento, Physical Therapist (Creator DVRT Restoration Certification, DVRT Rx Shoulder, Knees, Pelvic Control, & Gait Courses)

Believe it or not, we are very aware that the ideas we share don’t seem common place and at first can seem pretty overwhelming. That is why we look for ways to communicate our DVRT ideas through more familiar movements and drills. A great example is my recent breakdown of the renegade row (or push-up row, whatever you prefer). The renegade row is a great core exercise (that is its primary purpose not a back exercise), but there are some common mistakes as well as the fact getting the average person to do them well seems very challenging at times.

So, I wanted to breakdown how we can progress to better renegade rows so that we can get the tremendous benefits from them, but also see how we focus on the qualities that an exercise teaches and not so much the exercise itself.

I took the renegade row, which is a rather popular exercise but one people tend to get wrong quite often.

So what makes a good renegade row? Check out the video above

A lot of times you see peoples entire body shifting side to side, or a lot of rotation of the hips occurring. You also might see some all out effort of that individual trying to row the weight and hike it up off the floor. In other words it just looks awful. 

I think over time, the actual intent of an exercise gets lost and no thanks to the wonderful world of social media, no one really asks the why’s any more…they just see and do.

So what is the renegade row really trying to accomplish? Why even do it in the first place? Well, it is an amazing core stability drill teach the how to use the whole body and resist unwanted movement. A drill that is often too challenging for some people that lack core stability. Too challenging because they don’t work up to an excesses like this or understand what it is they need to address. 

For one, everyone tends to get fixated on the rowing part of the drill, but the portion of the row is really too difficult and unstable for most to load their upper back. So looking at it as an upper back exercise really should’ be the case. 

Understanding this means we don’t have to use the actual renegade row if people can’t do it properly. Yes, I said it, YOU DON’T NEED TO DO IT. 

Lately I feel so many people think they need to work towards a certain exercise and that really shouldn’t be the goal. It should about building good movement qualities, not being able to complete certain exercises because they are popular on social media. 

So when it comes to the renegade row, we can take the qualities that make it a good drill and apply them in a way that be better performed. Teaching whole body integration. 

Below I break down a series of where you can start people: 

 

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We can take those same qualities and layer progressions, still teaching how to brace and create the stability. 

 

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Creating a solid foundation of good core stability and pelvic control will allow you to build up to a drill like the renegade row. 

Earn the progressions and know where to start. 

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