Smith Bar Upright Rows: Good or Bad?

[Big Smoothy]

Barbell Upright Rows started to tweak my back a little.

So I switched over to the Smith Bar a few months ago. Now I feel the tweak again.

Maybe I need to strengthen my back and stomach more.

I've read about Smith Bar squats being bad because it causes an unnatural arc and motion.

Is the same true for Upright Rows on the Smith Bar?

The motion does not seem 100% natural to me.

 

[Mudge]

I liked the angled smith but my new gym does not have one, even before my move I just went back to free weights.

Smith squats place a shearing stress on the knee like a leg extention. Anything that forces you to stay work with the machine, is not natural movement.

 

[CowPimp]

Beyond the feeling of unnatural motion, smitch machines aren't good because they don't require you to use as many stabilizier muscles. I hate smitch machines for any purpose. In fact, I hate using machines period save a few leg and back machines. Cables are also decent. I'm all about free weights.

It sounds to me like you should avoid upright rows period, or lower the weight so that you can ensure impecable form.

 

[animalmachine]

have you tried using a curl bar? i find this helps me a lot for better grip and balance, thus more stable form.

 

[LAM]

Originally posted by Mr_Snafu
Barbell Upright Rows started to tweak my back a little.

So I switched over to the Smith Bar a few months ago. Now I feel the tweak again.

Maybe I need to strengthen my back and stomach more.

I've read about Smith Bar squats being bad because it causes an unnatural arc and motion.

Is the same true for Upright Rows on the Smith Bar?

The motion does not seem 100% natural to me.

any exercise that can be peformed with free weights will always be superior to that same exercise on a machine..

 

[Riverdragon]

It's funny that this thread came up. Yesterday I was doing upright rows and decided to try the smith machine because I had seen so many people using it. Personally I didn't like it because of the controlled path that you have to follow. Plus I couldn't do as much weight with the smith machine. I had been using the EZ curl bar but wanted a change. Maybe next time I will try the cable machine.

 

[animalmachine]

Originally posted by Riverdragon
It's funny that this thread came up. Yesterday I was doing upright rows and decided to try the smith machine because I had seen so many people using it. Personally I didn't like it because of the controlled path that you have to follow. Plus I couldn't do as much weight with the smith machine. I had been using the EZ curl bar but wanted a change. Maybe next time I will try the cable machine.

just because you see a lot of people doing something, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea

 

[Riverdragon]

Yes I know, but it's not like they were jumping off bridges

 

[JerseyDevil]

Although I did them for years, upright rows are just a bad exercise overall. Along with behind the neck presses, they should be eliminated since they both cause too much stress on the shoulder capsule. Focus on military's to the front, side lateral raises, front raises, bent over rear lateral raises, shrugs, and behind the back shrugs to work the shoulder girdle and trapezius muscles.

 

[Big Smoothy]

Thanks to everyone that responded. I read all of the your posts, aleast twice.

One option I'll try, is using the curl bar with a little less weight.

The other option, is not doing Upright Rows, and replacing them with other rows, and behind the back shrugs.

Upright Rows do not really bother me. The "tweak" is very minor...but the "tweak" is there....and who knows what it can lead to over time.

I've always that Upright Rows were one of the "gotta do" exercises for shoulders....I am learning from you folks that if I replace that exercise with others, and do them properly with high intensity, I can hopefully obtain the results I want.

Cheers.

 

[Mudge]

Forget behind the back shrugs IMO, if anything is not natural its that movement right there.

 

[JerseyDevil]

Really? I don't 'feel' regular shrugs in the traps very well at all. The behind the back shrugs, I feel intensely. With a BB it is sort of awkward at first. Using a Hammer Strength flat bench machine is ideal. This was a movement Lee Haney used to preach was one of the best for trap development. Maybe it just depends on how you're built.

 

[Big Smoothy]

Mudge has a serious point. Behing the back shrugs are not natural.

 

[M.J.H.]

I prefer freeweight upright rows hands down, but that's just me.

 

[Mudge]

Really? I don't 'feel' regular shrugs in the traps very well at all.

I was using machine shrugs for a long time, I really did not get into barbell shrugs until I forced myself a changeup for at least ~6 weeks and slowly got into them. Now other than deads, regular shrugs are my mainstay for traps. To be honest now that I've used straps, I swear they are bigger even after the first workout.

I'm not saying behind the back is not effective, I'm just pointing out its anything but a natural movement. Heck getting my arms behind me is task enough.

BTW Hammer has a real shrug machine now, my old gym had one. I liked them because I could stand straight up and down which made me feel better about my spine. I could also load the thing up with plates pretty heavily.

 

[JerseyDevil]

Ok... you guys convinced me. Scratch behind the back shrugs from the list (I still like'em though).

 

[Mudge]

If you like them then I would not really try to make you stop, if you haven't hurt yourself and you enjoy them then maybe its not so bad for you. I forget if I had seen Levrone do them but some pros still do old timer movements.