Ring vs Bar Rows

[Joaquin Malagon]

Hey community, I've been performing ring rows for many weeks now. I recently decided to ditch the rings and work on a bar instead. I find the stimulus is different, obviously much more stable but I can also feel a much stronger contraction in my upper back and feel weaker actually on the bar. Does this indicate that there is a hole in my preparation?

[Alessandro Mainente]

here follow the reasons of why i prefer the rings:

-bar holds the same grip all the time, this does not permit to work on the muscles the work on supination and pronation;

-the bar is fixed and this decreases the amount of work of muscles involved in unfixed equipment like, for example, the ones working on stabilizing the shoulder girdle.

-the bar does not permit asymmetrical work and for this reason is impossible to check for imbalances;

-the range of motion is reduced at the point where you reach the bar with the upper body, while on the rings you can pull the rings into more shoulder extension;

-last but not less important, bar due to the fixed grip reduced the possibility to change the range of motion during the exercise (like beginning from the closer grip and finish on the wider grip).