At my gym there's these 2 rowing machines thats almost the same. What do they work? They're those plate loaded machines. I didn't want to take a picture of the whole machine because I don't know if they allow taking pictures in there.

 

 

Robert,

 

They are essentially the same thing except the hand placements and grips are different. The High Row uses palms down while the Front Pulldown uses palms up. It also depends on the spacing on the handles. Wider grips hit the outer back and closer grips hit the inner back. They are both designed to hit the lats, traps, rhomboids, and muscles of the upper back and shoulders - teres major, teres minor, and infraspinatus. I prefer the Front Pulldown to hit these muscles. I don't like High Rows but that is my personal preference.

 

John

Ohh, I want to gain more thickness in my upper back, which one is better for it?

For upper back thickness, you want to do close grip type pulls/rows like:

 

1) Close grip cable pull downs

2) Standing close grip T-bar rows

3) Close grip low cable rows but pull the handle up towards your chest

4) Cable face pulls

5) Close grip pull-ups

 

John

Like John said

1) T bar rows

2) Bent Over Barbell Rows (Under hand grip for lower lats, Over hand grip for upper back)

3) Dumbbell Rows

4) Band Pull Aparts

5) Close Grip Chinups

6) Close Grip Pulldowns

7) Farmers Walk

8) Cable Face Pulls

 

changing grips always helps.

Is the close grip chin ups with palms facing you, or the palms facing each other?

It may be worth noting that using a neutral grip (palms facing toward each other) is going to be easier on the elbows, if you suffer from elbow pain with any exercise.

 

Brandon

interesting Never really had elbow pain from supinated grips.