Renegade Row

Start with light dumbbells or no weight at all. The first challenge is holding a solid plank position without your hips rotating. If you cannot hold a plank for 30 seconds with good form, build that capacity first before adding the row.

Slow the lowering phase to three or four seconds to extend time under tension for the lats, and add a deliberate two-second pause at the top of each row. That pause forces your obliques and transverse abdominis to work harder against rotation. Sets of six to eight per side suit this movement well; once you complete all sets with square hips and a narrow foot stance, increase the dumbbell weight before adding reps. If heavier dumbbells compromise your plank, make the exercise harder by bringing your feet together, which shrinks your base of support and sharply raises the anti-rotation demand. When you can row heavy dumbbells steadily with feet touching, progress to a single-arm plank row using one dumbbell, removing a point of contact entirely. You might also try the staggered-stance renegade row, placing one foot behind the other, which shifts the stability challenge asymmetrically and exposes any left-to-right imbalance in your core control.

Rotating the hips toward the working side — this turns the movement into a lateral crunch and defeats the anti-rotation training. Let the working shoulder blade retract fully instead of rushing the pull. Feet too wide reduces the stability demand; narrow feet increase it.

Sets

3

Reps

6-8 per side

Rest

90s

Tempo

2-1-2

RPE

7