Proper way to execute Barbell rows?

[FCRS]

Hey guys, I would appreaciate some feedback on this...

Should you perform bent-over barbell rows by:

1) Retracting your shoulder blades back, keeping the back straight, and allowing all of the movement to occur in the lats (and therefore excluding the rhomboids)...
or..
2) keeping your back straight and allowing your shoulders to fall forward and your shoulder blades to seperate, and in the concentric part of the motion pull the shoulder blades back as you bring the weight up (And therefore including the rhomboids in the movement)...

the second way would allow for a greater range of motion and more muscles trained but i'm not sure if that movement is safe...

how to perform it best to build back thickness?

[MrMondodondo]

First off, make sure you keep a neutral spine position when doing this excercise.

Lean slightly forward, get a full stretch and use your elbows as the main focus on lifting the weight up to the apex. make sure to give a good squeeze before lowering.

[Papi93]

As long as you maintain neutral spine alignment, you could use either technique. I, personally, like to use pullups and pulldowns to work the lats. In my opinion, they are a superior lat exercise (vertical pulling).