Renegade rows are a few exercises that give maximum results in minimum time and equipment. All you need is a pair of dumbbells, and with renegade rows, you can build a strong core and back. However, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
It requires a certain fitness level to perform this exercise efficiently, and a beginner may be unable to renegade rows. Also, individuals with lower or upper back injuries may find it difficult. Renegade rows require your body to maintain a stable balance, which isn’t possible for many people.
That’s why, in this article, we are going to discuss the five best renegade rows alternatives that offer similar benefits while allowing you to focus on your stability.
Let’s dive in.
Contents
What is the Renegade Row?
For people who are not familiar with renegade rows, let’s discuss it briefly.
The renegade row is a compound exercise focusing on your core, back, and shoulders.
It is challenging because of the plank position and the requirement for good balance and control.
How to Do a Renegade Row?
Are you wondering how to do a renegade row? Here’s a precise explanation of doing a renegade row:
This full-body exercise requires you to go into a plank position while using one hand and lift a dumbbell in the other hand.
Benefits of Dumbbell Renegade Rows
- Renegade rows target multiple muscle groups simultaneously, making them perfect.
- Renegade rows are essential to building a stable core because it is a full-range motion exercise.
- This compound exercise helps improve unilateral strength and balance. Incorporating renegade rows in your workout routine will enhance muscular control and improve movement imbalances.
Why are Renegade Rows so Hard?
Although the renegade rows offer many benefits for the development of a fit physique, it has some drawbacks as well that make them hard, such as:
- When doing this exercise, you must rest your wrists on a dumbbell or kettlebell. It bends your wrist backward, causing pain as your body weight is on it.
- The plank-like position in renegade rows limits the performance of the exerciser.
Even if anyone has a problem with doing renegade rows or wants to improve their fitness training, substituting renegade rows with better alternatives is a good idea.
Let’s take a look at the best dumbbell renegade row alternatives.
Top 5 Renegade Row Alternatives
The following renegade row alternatives are much better than the exercise itself because the substitutes do not put you off balance and make you focus harder on core stability.
Here are the top 5 dumbbell renegade row alternatives that you should check out:
1. One Arm Dumbbell Snatch
One-arm dumbbell snatch is an excellent beginner-friendly power-builder. It helps you build your strength while improving your shoulder mobility.
The dumbbell snatch has similar benefits to renegade rows, yet it is easier.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to perfect the one-arm dumbbell snatch:
- Place a dumbbell on the floor.
- Get in a quarter squat position and hold the dumbbell by fully extending your elbow.
- Let the empty hand hang at a rest position.
- Forcefully extend the hips, knees, and ankles, and bring the dumbbell up to the ceiling.
- Extend your stabilized arm fully and catch the dumbbell at its highest point. Lower your arm and then start again at the starting position.
We recommend you do 8-10 reps for each arm. Also, it’s a pro-tip to start with your bodyweight to tune the movements before adding dumbbell weight.
2. Pull-ups
Pull-ups may be challenging for beginners, but this compound exercise work on many major muscle groups of your body.
Pull-ups do not involve the lower body much, so you can also do them when encountering any lower body injury.
Pull-ups, especially weighted pull-ups, are a great shoulder developer and six-pack recruiter, and they stabilize your back and prevent you from swaying.
Here is how you do a pull-up:
- Add a weight belt if you wish to do weighted pull-ups.
- Then start hanging on the bar and move upwards while focusing on your back muscles slowly
- Keep moving upwards until your shoulders reach the bar, and then slowly lower yourself down.
3. Seated Cable Rows
Seated cable rows are one of the best cable machine exercises. It uses all of your muscle groups but can be done only in the gym because of the required equipment. Although this exercise cannot strengthen your core as much as the renegade rows, it is perfect for building a solid and broad back.
The cable machine allows you to add weights to increase the resistance and train accordingly.
Here is a step-by-step instruction to do seated cable rows:
Sit on the machine’s seat and put your feet on the pedals. Next, bring the handles of the machine towards your chest.
Take a slight pause and slowly lower the handles to their original position.
When doing the exercise, ensure your back is straight, and the weight is bearable. You can add weight as you gain experience doing the seated cable rows.
4. Half-Turkish Get up
The Half-Turkish Get up is a full-body exercise that engages everything from your core, traps, shoulders, glutes, and hamstrings to quads.
Although this exercise takes time and expertise to advance, our summary of the Half-Turkish Get up will help you master it quickly.
Follow the given steps:
- Lie on the floor using your back and outstretch one hand with a tightly gripped dumbbell.
- Then, bend your knee and sit upwards using your second hand.
- The last step is to raise yourself onto one knee.
- Take a 5-second break and repeat the same steps 5-10 times.
5. Hollow Hold Dumbbell Press
The hollow hold dumbbell press provides all the benefits of the renegade rows without causing strain to your lower body.
This exercise also uses dumbbell weights to engage your shoulders, arms, core, and back.
Follow the given steps to master the hollow hold dumbbell press:
Lie down on your back and keep two dumbbells in your hand. Raise your legs in the air at a 45-degree angle.
Now slightly raise your shoulders and extend your arms when holding the dumbbells. Take a break and lower the weights slowly to reach the starting position.
Final Thoughts
The reason for the popularity of renegade rows is its double effect on building your back and strengthening the core.
However, there is still a need for more improvement in the renegade rows, so the above list of alternatives is perfect. The exercises mentioned above activate more comprehensive ranges of muscle groups all at once in comparison with renegade rows.
We hope you liked our choices of renegade row alternatives and incorporated them into your workout routines.
