Two questions

[coldfire]

Hi,

I have two quick questions:

1. I've seen some people (Dave Tate for example) suggest to train your lats in the same plane you bench, which means you must perform barbell rows.
What do you think about it? Are barbell rows a must?
From what I understand from your books, rows are assistance exercise and are not required in a balanced training.

2. I've asked this in another thread, but didn't get a reply either because it is a stupid question or because it was out of context. How should someone who is duck-footed or pigeon toed, adjust his stance (or anything else) while squatting.

Thanks in advance.

[Mark Rippetoe]

1. I think that as long as the lats get trained hard they get strong. If you can't do pullups, why would you think that rows would be more important? I don't train advanced powerlifters like Dave does, so my thoughts on this might not be terribly relevant, but I like rows, and I like chins, but I like chins better for novices.

2. I thought I addressed this question, actually. It's in the book. If you're feet are not put on straight, you have to compensate for the mal-alignment by adjusting your stance accordingly. The critical feature is the tibial/patellar/femoral relationship, not the feet per se.

[coldfire]

1. I think that as long as the lats get trained hard they get strong. If you can't do pullups, why would you think that rows would be more important? I don't train advanced powerlifters like Dave does, so my thoughts on this might not be terribly relevant, but I like rows, and I like chins, but I like chins better for novices.

I am not a powerlifter either. I just train for general strength, for myself. Nothing competitive.
I don't think rows are more important. I asked it, because I did rows for a long time, and it seems to me I can't do them with proper form. I just can't stay parallel to the floor with proper back position, so I took out rows out for now and stayed with pull ups and power cleans.

2. I thought I addressed this question, actually. It's in the book. If you're feet are not put on straight, you have to compensate for the mal-alignment by adjusting your stance accordingly. The critical feature is the tibial/patellar/femoral relationship, not the feet per se.[/QUOTE]

Sorry, I didn't understand it from the book. Thank's for the reply.