Hey what’s up guys, first post here. I’m currently doing upper/lower splits. My main goal for the winter season is to build up my lats to be huge. What do you guys suggest to do this as quick as possible? Advice? Programs? I’ve been doing WS4SB for a few weeks and love it and I’d like to stick with it but at the same time add a large amount of mass to my lats. So I’d like to stick with doing compound movements with a bit more concentration on the lats…thoughts are appreciated, thanks guys.
Lat pull down, weighted pullups (wide and close grip), weighted chin ups, heavy rackpulls will activate pretty much the whole back.
There’s another lift that’s similar to a pull up but you keep your feet locked in the decline bench and put a DB on your stomach/waist. Then you do a pull up motion using a BB. Forgot what it’s called.
Look up HSS-100 Back specialization.
if your gym has a pulldown row machine then thats pretty good i think its called a iso row or something like that
Pulldowns, pull-ups, Rows.
Be sure to “feel it”. Big lats are hard to build without mind/muscle connection.
make sure you stretch the muscle after using it.
and stretch it hard…for at least a minute
You first need the mind muscle connection as SH said. If you can’t feel your lats and flex them at will, you will find it difficult to recruit or build them up much if at all. One arm pulldowns focusing on the elbows bringing upper arm touching the side of the body work well for this.
Assuming you have that connection and you can “feel” the muscle, HEAVY pulldowns with a stretch at the top (and some body english to keep the groove when you pull down more than your bodyweight. A wide grip is better but try to grip the STRAIGHT end AFAP, when you grip the outer BENT portion your lat recruitment is reduced imo.
Pullups done properly are a good back builder if you start from a dead hang each time and initiate the pull with your lats.
[quote]Standard Donkey wrote:
make sure you stretch the muscle after using it.
and stretch it hard…for at least a minute[/quote]
What are some good stretches for the back? I have a hard time stretching it.
hanging from a pullup bar
i like gripping any horizontal bar that’s about waist height with one arm and leaning back.
Rack Chins and Wide-grip Pulldowns are my 2 favorite.
Whatever you do, make sure to get a good stretch in the lats between each rep. That means stretching at the hang position on a Rack Chin/Pullup and stretching at the top position for a Pulldown.
Rack deads from the knee are great too once you start going really heavy. Use straps and double overhand grip.
i agree with the stretch and squeeze… deadlifts, pullups, pulldowns, and rows r my fav
[quote]Trenchant wrote:
Lat pull down, weighted pullups (wide and close grip), weighted chin ups, heavy rackpulls will activate pretty much the whole back.
There’s another lift that’s similar to a pull up but you keep your feet locked in the decline bench and put a DB on your stomach/waist. Then you do a pull up motion using a BB. Forgot what it’s called. [/quote]
They’re called Supine/Body Rows. Did some there yesterday actually. I pretty much echo the rest of what everyone said, my personal favourite lat builder is weighted pull-ups, different grip variants and so on. One week try doing a Pull-up/Chin complex.
Take these exercises (i modified this a little myself, this is what i usually do and it has a few more compared the the original):
- Very wide Hammergrip (i.e both palms facing the same direction)
- Very Wide Pullup
- Wide Chin up
- Shoulder Width Hammergrip
- Alternated (mixed grip, one hand pronated and the other supinated)
- ^^ Again Alternated (switching grip)
- Narrow Grip Pullup
- Narrow Grip Chinup
Perform each one with bodyweight (or whatever added weight you prefer but its ideally used for bodyweight only) until failure, rest for 10 seconds and then perform the next until failure, rest for 10 seconds and perform the next one (you get the idea). Rest for 60 seconds at the end and perform the set again but in reverse order. 2 sets is all you need, your lats (and arms) should really feel it. I like to do this every 3-4 weeks as its a nice change
Personally I find the close grip parallel (i think it’s v-bar?) bar for pulldowns is better than straight. The contraction in the lats is insane.
Weighted Pullups FTW
just do more rowing, in as many planes of motion as you can, oh and of course make sure you progress in weight over a period of time, that’ll fix it right up
On top of everything else others have posted I really like doing heavy single arm cable pull downs.
[quote]Der Candy wrote:
Personally I find the close grip parallel (i think it’s v-bar?) bar for pulldowns is better than straight. The contraction in the lats is insane.[/quote]
Great stretch at the top as well.
Here’s another great lat exercise that will give you a fantastic stretch (and contraction) if you do it right. Dave Tate here is using the Rope attachment:
You can use any attachment though, there is a vid of Dave Henry doing them with a wide neutral grip attachment. I’ll see if I can find it and post it.
[quote]Short Hoss wrote:
Pulldowns, pull-ups, Rows.
Be sure to “feel it”. Big lats are hard to build without mind/muscle connection.[/quote]
This is very true.
Don’t shrug and don’t pull your shoulders too far back which are 2 parts of the same error if the lats are the target. If you’re feeling your mid and upper back or even the teres muscles too much that’s what you’re doing.
Pull your pulldowns or rows to where the plane of motion hits just below your ribcage or even a little lower for seated rows. You’ll notice even sitting in your computer chair that if you mimic the motion you can pull your shoulders back further if you shrug.
That’s exactly what you don’t want because it un-recruits the lats and brings in the smaller back muscles which is fine for working those muscle, but won’t optimally work the lats.
Pull your shoulders back and arch while consciously keeping your shoulders down. Do it right and you’ll feel it from your armpit all the way down to just above the belt line.
Also do not discount stretch position work for lats like with Doggcrapp forward leaning rounded back partial seated row things. To get a feel for how that principle works, next time your getting close to failure on seated rows with a narrow handle let yourself lean all the way forward, let your back round and pull your elbows toward your hips for a bunch of very short ROM burns.
That will flame your lats and can help learn what they feel like when they’re getting very direct work.
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Der Candy wrote:
Personally I find the close grip parallel (i think it’s v-bar?) bar for pulldowns is better than straight. The contraction in the lats is insane.
Great stretch at the top as well.
Here’s another great lat exercise that will give you a fantastic stretch (and contraction) if you do it right. Dave Tate here is using the Rope attachment:
You can use any attachment though, there is a vid of Dave Henry doing them with a wide neutral grip attachment. I’ll see if I can find it and post it.[/quote]
i do mine that way and the stretch is great feeling also do close grip reverse grip pull downs they give me a good stretch and pump to, especially with pause reps
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Der Candy wrote:
Personally I find the close grip parallel (i think it’s v-bar?) bar for pulldowns is better than straight. The contraction in the lats is insane.
Great stretch at the top as well.
Here’s another great lat exercise that will give you a fantastic stretch (and contraction) if you do it right. Dave Tate here is using the Rope attachment:
You can use any attachment though, there is a vid of Dave Henry doing them with a wide neutral grip attachment. I’ll see if I can find it and post it.[/quote]
Yes, that movement was the inspiration for the above.