Pendlay rows bad for the back?

[galapogos]

Hi,
I've been doing pendlay rows as best as I know how to based on the pictures and descriptions I've seen on this site and others, but haven't done them ever since I got my hip injury. Recently a friend of mine was doing it and a trainer at the gym we were at stepped into correct him, telling him that it was bad for his back.

Now usually I'd dismiss this as most PTs don't know what they're talking about, but this is a guy whose opinions I respect tremendously, since he's a certified strength, conditioning and rehab specialist with over 20 years of experience, who has trained olympic athletes, professional sportsmen, given seminars, and hangs around the likes of Michael Boyle and Steven Cotter.

Granted, my friend wasn't doing the pendlays with good form(hips were high, knees weren't really bent, torso wasn't as close to horizontal, motion was unnatural), but he seems to believe that you shouldn't deweight the bar and that you should keep a 90deg angle at the hip and that the torso should be 45deg to the groun, or you'll screw your back up. That sounds like a normal row to me.

I'm kinda confused because it's kinda impossible to keep a 90deg angle at the hip when doing pendlay rows since your back will almost be horizontal. Also, while I trust him with anything related to strength/weight training, I also know that Glenn Pendlay is a very well respected person in the strength circles as well. Does anyone have any thoughts on the correct pendlay row execution(preferably with images/video), and any potential for injury?

Thanks.

[GoJu]

Even people with experience can have an incorrect bias, what the trainer was talking about was a normal, ask him if he's ever heard of a pendlay row. There are plenty of people here who do pendlay rows with respectable weight and they're fine, look up Lencho, VikingMan, and Bluntdog, they use weights in the area of 250-275, I've also read that Ed Coan could do pendlay rows with 525 with his back never going above parallel.

now I think pendlay rows can be more dangerous than yates rows or regular rows because of the position your back is in which is why it's important to keep good form, here's a good vid:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UIUg8nDVEFs

[galapogos]

I guess I'll ask him the next time I see him. Before my injury my 5RM was about 209 I think, but at that weight I was struggling to keep my form right. I was just wondering what the proper body biomechanics should be when in a row position to avoid injury. Thanks for the youtube video. I'll take a look

[DoubleWide]

Mostly, it just sounds like your friend had terrible form. The PT was correcting him more to a standard row, which your friend is less likely to screw up. The PT may or may not know about Pendlay rows, but will probably still go with a standard row after seeing your friend's form.