Coach Dan King

Rep 8: absolutely thriving
Rep 9: has left the chat

Nobody tells you that the seated row can quietly turn into a lower back exercise.

Watch anyone doing it in a commercial gym and you'll see the same thing. Torso rocking backwards to start the pull, then forwards again to reset. It looks like effort. It feels like work. And the muscles you actually came to train barely get a look in.

Here's why it happens. The moment you lean back, your body has found a way to move the weight without your mid back having to do anything. The shoulder blades stay locked in place the entire set, and those shoulder blades moving is the entire point of a row.

So the fix is simple, and it's uncomfortable in a good way.

Sit tall and lock your torso in one position. It does not move for the whole set. Not to start the rep, not to finish it.
At the stretch, let your shoulder blades travel forwards. Don't hold rigid tension. You need that range.
Pull by driving your elbows down and back towards your back pockets, then finish by squeezing the shoulder blades together.
Hold that squeeze for a full second before you let it back out slowly.

Then the honest part. Once your torso stops helping, the weight you were using will feel far too heavy. That's not a step backwards, that's the first accurate reading you've had of how strong your back actually is.

Lighter stack, still body, moving shoulder blades. That's a row.

Coach Dan, I got you.

Marnie wasn't lifting badly. She was thinking too hard.

Twelve cues in her head at once, and the result was a stiff back, locked hips and a bar that felt twice as heavy as it should. This happens constantly and nobody talks about it.

So we binned everything and kept one cue.

🔹 Push the floor away.

That's it. Not "pull the bar up." Not "brace, hinge, lats, chin tucked, breathe, don't round." Just push the floor away with your legs and let the bar come with you.

The bar goes up either way. The difference is what's doing the work.

🔹 Bar stays against your legs the whole way
🔹 Chest proud, hips and shoulders rise together
🔹 Push through the middle of your foot, not your toes

One cue at a time. Nail it, then add the next one.

Coach Dan, I got you

The vibe was immaculate for approximately nine seconds.

Yes, it looks ridiculous. Do it anyway.

The hip thrust is one of the best glute builders there is, and most people still finish a set feeling absolutely nothing. Usually for three reasons:

🔹 You're arching your back at the top, not squeezing. If your lower back is doing the lifting, your glutes have gone quiet. Ribs down, tuck slightly, finish with the hips not the spine.
🔹 You're pushing through your toes. Drive through your heels. Lift your toes off the floor for a set if you need to feel the difference.
🔹 You're rushing it. Pause and hold for a full second at the top of every rep.

Do all three and you'll feel it on rep four with half the weight you were using.

Just a bit awkward for less than 40 seconds, worth it for the next ten years. Save this one. 💚
Dan

"I never feel these in my shoulders."

I bet that's what half the gym community are thinking. So we swapped him onto the cable and fixed it in about ninety seconds.

Here's why the cable is better for this than dumbbells, and what we changed.

With a dumbbell, the bottom of the rep is free. There's almost no tension until you're halfway up. On a low pulley, the side delt is loaded from the very first inch, and that bottom stretch position is where a lot of the growth actually comes from.

Set the position first. Pulley on the lowest setting, stand side on, working arm across the front of your body. Lean very slightly away from the stack. Shoulder blade pulled down away from your ear before you move anything.

Elbow leads, hand follows. This is the whole exercise. Your hand just holds the handle. Drive the elbow out and away from your body and the side delt has no choice but to work. Try to lift the handle instead and your trap will do it for you every time.

Stop level with the shoulder. Above that, the delt has finished and the upper trap takes over. It isn't extra range, it's a different exercise.

Then the bit nobody does. Fight the cable on the way back in. Three full seconds. The stack wants to pull your arm across your body and every second you resist it is free work. Most people just let go and lose half the set.

Better position, lighter load, actual results. Great session Christian 👏 💚

Down 10kg. Technically.

That weight isn't too heavy for you. It's just too heavy for the muscle you're trying to train.

If you're swinging, arching, or generating half the rep with your lower back, the muscle you came for has already clocked off. Your traps and your spinal erectors are doing the shift instead.

The rule is simple: feel it before you increase it.

If you can't feel the muscle working, the weight is wrong. Doesn't matter what's on the bar.

🔹 Drop the weight
🔹 Slow the way down
🔹 Squeeze at the top like you mean it
🔹 Then, and only then, add load

Nobody in that gym is watching your dumbbells. Promise. 💚

Kings Coaching

"I do 100 crunches a day and my core is still weak."

Right, because you're doing 100 neck curls a day.

Here's what's going wrong for almost everyone on the floor.

No range at the bottom. Flat on the ground, your abs start already shortened, so there's barely anything to work with. The ab mat sits under the arch of your lower back and gives you that slight extension to move out of. Suddenly the same rep does twice the work.

Sitting up instead of curling. A crunch is not a sit up. Think about closing the gap between your ribs and your hips, one vertebra at a time. Your lower back should stay in contact with the mat the whole way. The moment it lifts, your hip flexors have taken over and your abs are along for the ride.

Hands doing the lifting. If you're pulling your head forward, stop. Fingertips light, or arms crossed over the chest. Imagine holding a tennis ball under your chin and keeping it there the whole set.

And the bit almost nobody does: breathe out hard at the top and pause for one second. Not a bounce. A hold. That forced exhale is what brings your deep core in, and it's the difference between training your abs and just moving them.

Slow, controlled, full range. You'll get more from 12 of these than from 100 of what you were doing.

Massive thanks to my client for demonstrating. Made it look far tidier than it feels. 💚

The friendship pauses at rep four and resumes at rep twelve