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Using its integrated T-bar attachment, members can experience an explosive lat exercise that works their entire posterior chain and pushes great results. The GHD provides an excellent barbell bent-over row workout, which is often tricky to master with free weights. With bent-over rows, you have to decide for yourself where to place your hands. Compared to free weight bent-over rows, where you have to decide where to place your hands and start your lift lower to the floor, the T-Bar is much simpler to learn and offers a starting height and fixed angled handles for optimal placement and stability. This handle versatility allows you to use different hand positions to work your back from a variety of angles and use the most common and effective grip positions:
Close-Neutral
Shoulder-Width Neutral
Wide-Overhand
Narrow-Overhand
With four hand positions to choose from, you can add plenty of variety to your workouts. The safety of each movement is paramount. With this in mind, the weight is directly below your center of gravity and places less stress on your lower back. To compare, bent-over barbell rows and Pendlay rows place the weight out in front of your center of gravity, which results in a forward pulling motion that can increase lower back strain. Excellent for members learning the row movement, the T-Bar attachment allows chest supported rows that are easier on the back than a standing position and focuses on your upper back – and just your upper back – for great results. Plus, for added variety, this particular movement can be performed with dumbbells as well for excellent activation of stabilizer muscles.
The GHD portion attacks your lower body with excellent effectiveness by isolating movements and targeting specific lower body muscle groups. The GHD focuses on back extension exercises to build lower back strength and target the hamstring and glutes. It is often performed on a 45-degree bench with the feet anchored; however, the GHD allows multiple locking angles to allow fine-tuned targeting of specific lower body areas and increased range of motion. Unweighted back extensions are often performed for high reps, such as 15-20 reps or more, but the movement can also be performed with added weight in lower rep ranges, such as 8-12 reps per set. The variety of rep ranges, and even the multiple locking angles, allows our trainers to create a GHD workout circuit that can be customized to the member’s specific lower body goal and skill level. As a result, the GHD boosts amazing lower body benefits, including:
Building size and strength in hamstring and glutes.
Increases lower back strength and muscular endurance.
Can be progressed by holding weights or adding band resistance.
Effective posterior chain training without loading the spine, unlike a deadlift or squat.
Take it from Bret “The Glute Guy” Contreras, one of the foremost experts in glute development: “The ability to lock the GHD at a 45-degree creates arguably the best glute exercise you’ll ever experience.” Contreras popularized this new approach to the “back extension” by creating a routine that minimizes movement at the lower back and maximizes movement at the hip, instead hyper-extending hip-focused extension movements at 45 degrees for explosive glute targeting that eliminates lower back movement and the potential for back strain.