Thread: Row Machines...One Arm at a time or?

On the seated row machines, where the levers move independently of each other, is it best to do one arm at a time or both simultaneously? i tend to do both at the same time. i"ve noticed though that you can pull more weight if you do one at a time but you tend to twist your torso a little.

The independent levers more closely mimic a free weight bent over row I guess - it doesn't let you "cheat" by using your stronger side over your weaker side to pull the weight. For "machines" I prefer Hammer Strength because they are independent motions (and you still get to use plates and are not subject to cable drag or weirdly non-standard weights).

You can certainly give more variety by doing 1-armed rows on them. I've ocassionally switched over to alternating rows when I'm capped on weight for a 2-armed row and my form starts to suffer, so I'll switched to alternating rows. I think it allowed you to use stabilization w/ the other arm to give that 1 arm more strength w/ the same weight than 2 arms pullling double the weight.