Barbell Rows, Dumbell Rows and all varieties of chins and pull-ups. I would also recommend deadlifts and olympic lifts such as snatchs and pulls.
Best thing for me was wide grip pullups and my wings became visible for the first time it looked so friggen cool. Hope yours sprout out to.
[quote]Yami Mao wrote:
those with heavy weight should kill your lats, or if you’re as fat as I am, you should be limited to doing pullups that way anyway. deads and rows, etc.[/quote]
dude
I was with you till the “fat as I am” comment. My problem has been getting the LOWER lats to activate my upper area is in good form, but it makes my mid section look wrong. Any one got ideas for the lower area?
10 sets of pulldowns with one plate for 20-30 reps a set (with a jerking motion that leads into a sort of tricep pressdown) and then 10 sets of one-arm rows with the pink plastic dumbells.
No, seriously, back is my strong point and it was built through pull-ups and chins and bent rows. Keep the reps under 10 except for 1-2 months a year when you do higher reps. Don’t do super wide chins or pull-ups unless you want to fuck up your shoulders. Medium width is best for pronated, and close grip for supinated.
I’m currently working on an article detailing the 10 best back exercises.
All of the above mentionned exercises are indeed very good.
Two other of my favorites are “Oliva style 1 arm dumbbell rows” and “Decline cable pullover”.
The later has already been described in part 1 (or 2?) of my “Violent Variations” series.
The Oliva row is a simple dumbbell row with a slight variation:
When the dumbbell is in the low position really focus on stretching the lats by letting your arm hang low and forward. When you pull, do not pull in a straight line but rather up and back toward your abdomen/hip area. Hold the dumbbell like a barbell (handle perpendicular to your body) as opposed to parallel to your body like in a regular 1 arm dumbbell row.
Hold the peak contraction for 2-3 seconds on each rep.
Thib in the book “7-Minute Rotator Cuff Solution” it says pullovers are a no no because of the impingement they cause on the rotators. What are your thoughts on that? Would it be wise for an athlete to do pullovers? Does the decline lessen the impingement because you’re not going below head like you would on a flat pullover?