I can definitely see how you are biased towards rows. Those Kroc Rows messed me up pretty good!
Here is what I am going to do tomorrow morning - I am going to go down the rack with Kroc Rows, and finish up focusing on finding a few isolation exercises that work well for me.
Your help has been golden man. I do a lot of doorknob stretches, but not as much as I should, so I will definitely start doing those as often as I can.
[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:
To OP just a suggestion you could try hitting back 3 or 4 times a week and force yourself to train lats while they are sore to aid in feeling them. I remember CT doing something similar for Daryl Gee? [/quote]
Don’t steal my ideas!
…jk[/quote]
haha I see you posted something similar earlier… I only steal the good ideas!
^^ Looking huge man. Keep up the good work.
[quote]Loudog75 wrote:
I disagree Spartee, You need to be able to feel the lats moving. I think you’re right that yes the muscle is being worked but I think the issue is that you’re not focused on the muscle you’re training.
Instead of chins, I’d focus as posted earlier on Lat pull downs. Use a weight that allows you to flare your lats (like you have I.L.S) and squeeze. As you build the connection to the muscle, increase the weight.[/quote]
I’m confused. When did I say feeling the muscle wasn’t important?
I feel my back just fine with pullups.
[quote]howie424 wrote:
What do you suggest for my lat session tomorrow morning?
Should I destroy them one more time before I start back into CT’s isolation work?[/quote]
Could you point me in the direction to finding CT isolation work for lats. I tried google and the search to no avail.
I don’t discriminate against any exercise. Try out pullups with various grip and bar and pulldowns/rows with various machines, pulley systems, and atteachments. You’ll never get an identical feeling.
Hey bud, I posted in reply to the first post, and went back and realized that most of the things I said had already been suggested!
Anyways, I always think about “elbow chopping” the imaginary guy behind me to fire the lats. And really stretching the lat, and chop. And keeping a soft bend in the elbow, so the bi’s don’t take over the movement.
Good luck!
Go to the cable stack, take the rope attachment and connect it like you are going to do pushdowns…now walk back, bend the knees and row facing the stack…Rapes my lats everytime.
Speaking of lats,
there was this recent video of CT doing a three-exercises-superset with cables.
I believe he does three rowing variations (unilaterally?) and I thought what a cool finishing exercise this would be.
Alas, having spend at least damn hour searching for it, I have given up on finding it.
Does anyone know which video it was?
[quote]Schwarzfahrer wrote:
Speaking of lats,
there was this recent video of CT doing a three-exercises-superset with cables.
I believe he does three rowing variations (unilaterally?) and I thought what a cool finishing exercise this would be.
Alas, having spend at least damn hour searching for it, I have given up on finding it.
Does anyone know which video it was?
[/quote]
Got ya. The first page has a back workout and I think the second page has that triset you were talking about.
http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/1328
They also got a PDF print out of the workout list too.
http://www.T-Nation.com/img/livespillPdfs/ProfXBootCamp1.pdf
How are things going Howie? Any success?
As dumb as this my be I liked doing assisted machine one arm pull ups. I usually set the weight stack when I have to grind out the 8th or 10th rep. I really focus on getting a good stretch at the bottom of the exercise.
Will try what has already been said in this thread.
[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
How are things going Howie? Any success?[/quote]
Yes. Last week for 3 mornings in a row I went in and did a lot of stretching, heavy pulldowns, heavy kroc rows, and heavy pull/chin-ups. On the fourth day I carried on with my normal routine. Nothing heavy, but focusing on that peak contraction.
Ended up doing some Kayak Rows, which felt really nice, and about 20 sets of pulldowns, and a lot more stretching.
The following day (fifth day in a row of training lats) I did an upper body circuit with my sled. Chest press, row, fly, reverse fly, tri pushdown, hammer curl. The rows DESTROYED my lats.
Today is day 6, I will be going in to do some heavy DLing. I can feel my lats pretty good, so I am going to focus hard on activating them during my heavy pulling today.
Sitting here eating at the moment, and my lats just feel heavy as hell (both of them!!). I love it. Next step is nursing my left shoulder back to health.
Lots of band scarecrows and face pulls and ice.
i find jumping from movement to movement between sets and high reps really help. Also if you use a rope on the cable machine kneel down on the floor and pull the rope down into your cheast while turning your hands out wards really gives you length in the musscel
[quote]howie424 wrote:
Sitting here eating at the moment, and my lats just feel heavy as hell (both of them!!). I love it. Next step is nursing my left shoulder back to health.
Lots of band scarecrows and face pulls and ice.[/quote]
Good stuff, you should be seeing some visible changes soon. Hope the shoulder gets better.
Oh, and good luck with getting an invite to the Training Lab!
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
I feel my back just fine with pullups.[/quote]
So do i.
I fail to see how lat pulldowns are superior to pull ups. As stated i believe a lot of this has to do with an individuals ability to activate the intended muscle. If you’re unable to activate your lats on pull ups what makes you think you will be able to do so on pull downs. If it’s done right then you should feel your lats on both movements.
I remember doing BB rows with 275lbs and doing pull ups with 90lbs attached to me for sets of 5. I was also doing HS iso lateral rows with 3pps+25 for reps and i would hardly ever feel sore nor was i seeing the growth i thought i would.
Now i do a superset of BW pull ups with straight arm pull downs, and i get the most intense pump in my lats and a burning sensation equivalent to want i get in my quads when i do leg extensions.
I don’t go higher than 225lbs on BB rows but the movement is now more controlled and i hold a brief contraction at the top.
My arms would get fatigue when i did pull ups in the past but now my actual lats are the limiting factor in pull ups. It really makes a world of difference when you can actually feel the muscle. My lats are growing better now than when i used heaver weights.
Many guys could make their chest bounce but how many guys can do the same with their lats?
Don’t get me wrong, heavy ass weights on back movements will definitely give you growth, but you’re not reaping the full benefits if you aren’t able to recruit the targeted muscle.
[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
[quote]howie424 wrote:
Sitting here eating at the moment, and my lats just feel heavy as hell (both of them!!). I love it. Next step is nursing my left shoulder back to health.
Lots of band scarecrows and face pulls and ice.[/quote]
Good stuff, you should be seeing some visible changes soon. Hope the shoulder gets better.
Oh, and good luck with getting an invite to the Training Lab![/quote]
Thank you very much, I appreciate it!
