Pendlay Row vs Barbell Row: Differences and Benefits

Barbell row is undeniably one of the most popular moves for building back muscles and strength. If you walk into gym, there is a high chance that you may encounter a bodybuilder or someone doing this movement. Pendlay row is a similar variation with equal popularity. What should you do in this case? Let’s explore the difference between pendlay row vs barbell row and their benefits.

Key Takeaways

• Pendlay row is a stricter variation of barbell row, created by Glenn Pendlay.
• Pendlay row is great for improving explosive strength and enhancing muscle hypertrophy.
• Barbell row is a traditional way of doing rows. It is a great strength training exercise to work on back muscle definition.
• Barbell row can help you to improve on your hip hinge as well as build core stability.
• The main difference between the pendlay row and the barbell row lies in the starting position and execution.

What Are Pendlay Rows?

The Pendlay Row is a variation of the barbell row, created by Olympic weightlifting coach, Glenn Pendlay.

According to Glenn Pendlay himself [1], the pendlay row is a stricter barbell row variation where the back stays parallel to the ground. It is an exercise that helps to strengthen the back muscles for powerlifting and weightlifting. At the same time, it can also activate other muscle groups including the latissimus dorsi, biceps, rhomboid, glutes and hamstring muscles.

How to do Pendlay Row

Here are some steps on how you can perform the pendlay row correctly:

1. Start with a barbell placed on the ground. Using an overhand grip, grip onto the barbell slightly wider than a shoulder-width grip.
2. Ensure that your back is flat, and positioned parallel to the ground. This is your starting position.
3. Engaging your core muscles, use your lats to pull the barbell towards your lower chest. You’ll need to utilise explosive power to pull it.

Quick tip: Imagine that you are trying to pull the barbell towards your hip as you perform the movement.

Benefits of Pendlay Rows

The pendlay row is designed to work on having explosive strength rather than momentum. Some of the benefits of doing this row variation include:

Improved back strength

One of the main benefits of doing this form of row is that it greatly improves overall back strength. In fact, Glenn Pendlay notably created this version so that he could train his back for powerlifting sequences.

It is also important to work on your back muscles as your back is used to support the spine and helps with bending and lifting.

Enhanced muscle hypertrophy

The movement is an isolation movement that mainly focuses on the back muscles. Thus, it can significantly enhance muscle building and hypertrophy in the upper and lower back.

Better posture

It also outweighs most alternatives of the row. This variation balances muscle engagement with power and strength development. This corrects muscle imbalance and leads to better posture.

Increased explosive power

The explosive nature of the Pendlay row, starting each rep from a dead stop, can enhance your overall power and explosiveness. Throughout the lift, you are not relying on momentum. You are expected to explosively lift the barbell up and bring the barbell back to the ground.

Developing this power could help with doing other skilled weightlifting exercises.

What Are Barbell Rows?

You may consider the barbell row as the traditional form of rows. It is a strength training exercise that targets your back muscles. It is also sometimes known as ‘bent-over barbell row’.

This is an upper-body exercise that helps to strengthen your back and shoulders. It targets the latissimus dorsi, biceps, rhomboid and deltoids.

How to perform Barbell Row

To perform barbell row, here’s what you will need to do:

1. Get into your starting position with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Squat with your knees slightly bent, grabbing onto the loaded barbell. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and elbows extended.
3. Brace your core and ensure that you are keeping your back flat.
4. Lift the bar as you stand. Hinge forward at your hips with your chest positioned at a 60-degree angle with the ground. Your knees bent slightly.
5. Pull the barbell up towards your lower chest, pushing your elbows back. Feel your shoulder blades squeezing together.
6. Bring the barbell back down with control.

Quick tip: Aim to not flare your elbows out as you pull it in towards your chest. As you pull the barbell, push your elbows back behind you.

Benefits of Barbell Rows

While the key benefit of doing a barbell row is that it helps with building muscle, there are also other benefits to doing barbell rows.

Improve hip hinge

As performing a barbell row would require you to hinge forward at the waist and hip, you can expect this to help you with your hinging form. Maintaining the hinge position can strengthen the posterior chain muscles responsible for posture and stability.

It also helps to improve your hip movement, which can help you are doing other forms of exercise.

Helps to build core stability

Performing barbell rows requires you to engage the core muscles to maintain proper form and ensure that your spine is in a neutral position. This will improve overall core strength and stability.

Pendlay Row vs Barbell Row: Differences

Since pendlay row is a variation of the traditional row, you can roughly guess that they are quite similar to each other. So then what sets them apart?

Below are the differences between pendlay row vs barbell row in terms of form and technique.

Form

For pendlay row, you start by ensuring that your back is flat and you are in a bent-over position. Your torso should be parallel to the ground. You also have to utilize explosive strength to lift the barbell up and place it back on the ground.

For barbell row, you start with your torso inclined at a 45-degree angle. It is not as parallel to the ground as compared to pendlay row. Barbell row doesn’t require you to use explosive strength and you do not have to let the barbell touch the ground before starting your next rep.

Technique

Pendlay row emphasizes explosiveness, stability, and doing a full reset after each repetition whereas barbell row emphasizes on a controlled lift, stability, and continuous tension.

Which is Better, Pendlay Row or Barbell Row?

Whether or not pendlay row is the better option of the two, would depend on your fitness goals. If you intend to build muscle mass, you may want to consider doing barbell rows.

Barbell rows sit better for hypertrophy training as it is targeting muscle engagement differently.

If you intend to work on explosive strength, you may consider doing pendlay rows. Pendlay rows are a lot more difficult to perform in comparison to barbell rows as you need to have a greater range of motion and dead stops repetitions.

Conclusion

Ultimately, whether you choose to do a pendlay row or a barbell row would depend on what your fitness training goals are. They are both equally amazing exercises for strength training so it’s more about what works for you.

If you are unsure of a training program that you should follow, you might want to try out JustFit. The JustFit app offers personalized workout programs that are created based on your needs and fitness goals, making it a perfect option for those new to working out. Try it today for free!

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