Hey what do you guys do for isolating your lats? My right side is smaller than the left. Another fact about it I don’t know if it matters but my right scapula seems to be a lot tighter than my left. I can pop my scapulas out for some reason and the left one goes out way higher than the right. I don’t know if this has anything to do with it. I’ve been doing unilateral pulling and have been trying to really concentrate on working the right but I just never seem to get a good burn in the right side. I just always feel like I’m using all arm even when i use straps just to try and focus on the pull with the lat. WIth my left I can do it automatically it seems I can just focus it so much better for some reason. Its getting very frustrating and some tips would be appreciated!
CT wrote a while ago about putting an incline bench between the pulley station (so that one end of the bench is pointing towards one stack, and the other end is pointing towards the other stack), laying sideways on the bench, and with your available arm (not the one that you’re using to support yourself on the bench), grab the upper cable handle, and pull down with your elbow towards your hip (providing a nice tight contraction in a single lat).
Another trick to isolate your lats, is to do your pulldowns with a neutral grip, and while maintaining a straight back (none of that leaning away crap). As your keep your elbows in front of your torso, your actual lats will take the brunt of the work.
I find that supinated grip rows really hit my lats along with wide-grip lat pulldowns. A lot of it is mind-muscle connection. If you just haphazardly do exercises you probably wont get the desired results. Really concentrate on using your lats and squeeze them at the end of the motion. The CT movement that Stu mentioned also does the trick, though admittedly Ive only tried it once just to check it out, so I cant vouch for its long-term efficacy.
If you need to isolate your lats, then do ISOLATION exercises for the lats: STRAIGHT-ARM pulldowns, machine pullovers, dumbbell pullovers, and kneeling rope pulldowns.
I had trouble targeting my lats and upper back some years ago and what brought them up were those exercises and pre-exhaust.
So my back routine looked like this:
Machine pullovers or straight-arm pulldowns
Lat pulldown (cable or Hammer Strength)
Dumbbell row
Cable row
Rear delt raises
Deadlifts
Like a lot of other people, I believe, for bodybuilding purposes, the back needs a shit load of work and a really good mind-muscle connection.
Some people have excelled by just snapping out quick reps (a la Ronnie Coleman) and I CAN’T argue with their results! But for me, I had to do every rep in a deliberate fashion in which I lowered the weight in a controlled manner, lifted it explosively, and PAUSED for a quick 1-count at contraction.
I have to do a lot of work that get a mind muscle connection with my lats.
It is very good now though.
There are several things you can try. Slow eccentrics and very slow deliberate reps are good.
Esp. chin up negative . Barbell rows are good too. I would actually go so far as using exclusively lifting straps to cut out your forearms and grip getting in the way.
Possibly try some metal bending too, u cannot fail to feel your lats.#
Rows of all kinds are the best , esp barbell and chest support . I can feel my rhomboids working like crazy with chest supported rows with straps.
When I was really working hard to isolate my lats I liked to first work with large compound exercises like deadlifts, pullups, chins with added weight when I could get above 12 to 15 reps, T-bar rows, B/O BB rows, etc. Then worked on isolating the lats to really fatigue them with either high repetition work or compound sets, like wide grip lat pulldowns SS stiff-arm pulldowns, t-bar rows SS unilateral cable rows or DB rows, 1-arm DB rows SS assisted T-bar rows or the assisted pullup machine, etc.
One really easy way to learn to feel your lats working hard is to put a towel on your cable attachment for the lat pulldown or a rope works equally well. Use a lighter weight and drive the weight down from your elbows. It will really help you feel your lats working better. Practice at contracting them really hard at the bottom and you should develop a better feel for how they should be working. This technique only works with a lighter weight though since it’s tough to hold on to the towel, but it gives you some good grip strength as well. The towel/rope gives you the freedom to move your arms how you need to in order to completely contract your lats through a full ROM without being limited by the bar/handle. Also works on the low row.
Another one to try is attaching two D-rings on a low cable or pulley. It gives you a little more pulling power to really contract your lats.
Dumbell rows, 1 arm cable pulldowns and 1 arm cable rows really hit the lats harder than most exercises for me. Obviously they are compounds and hit your traps and arm flexors too, but i can feel the brunt of the work being done by the lats on these exercises.
[quote]Rat1111 wrote:
I don’t know if it matters but my right scapula seems to be a lot tighter than my left. I can pop my scapulas out for some reason and the left one goes out way higher than the right.
[/quote]
This has something to do with it. Unilateral differences in strength and flexibility is a huge risk factor for injury. And in your case probably looks stupid as well.
Search around and find some scapula mobility drills and incorporate them into your warm up. Other than that, do what everyone else said with the unnilateral pulling movements.
There are lots of factor that influence the scapula such as your serratus and crap like that. it might not necessarily be a pulling strength issue, but could be a stabilty issue that is causing something else to compensate instead of your lats on the weak side.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
CT wrote a while ago about putting an incline bench between the pulley station (so that one end of the bench is pointing towards one stack, and the other end is pointing towards the other stack), laying sideways on the bench, and with your available arm (not the one that you’re using to support yourself on the bench), grab the upper cable handle, and pull down with your elbow towards your hip (providing a nice tight contraction in a single lat).
Another trick to isolate your lats, is to do your pulldowns with a neutral grip, and while maintaining a straight back (none of that leaning away crap). As your keep your elbows in front of your torso, your actual lats will take the brunt of the work.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
AzCats wrote:
I still tend to feel these a bit in my tris even though my arms are st8,
Try using a rope attachment.
S
[/quote]
I have never tried them with the rope. Hands together or apart? Hands facing down or neutral grip? Can you elaborate Stu. I’m not sure how the rope attachment would take the tris out of the movement, but I will give them a shot next back day and see how they feel. I usually use the straight bar with the hands sometimes 6" apart and other times with a wide grip(hands facing down obviously)
I like to allow my hands to actually touch at the top portion of the movement (where your lats are really stretched out). At the opposite end of the ROM, my hands are about 6" apart, just enough to get a good squeeze in the lats, but not pulled apart so much that it becomes a mid back contraction.
[quote]AzCats wrote:
Sarev0k wrote:
MY 2 cents, straight arm pushdowns. Nothing engages the lats better for me.
X2 These are a great finisher. I still tend to feel these a bit in my tris even though my arms are st8, but the pump from these are fantastic. [/quote]
Indeed a finisher. I used to do a width day and a thickness day but now back looks like this for me:
Weighted Wide Grip Chins
Lat Pulldowns
BB Rows
Cable Rows
Straight Arm Pushdowns
Cable Pullovers sometimes
I use the Nautalis(sp?) pullover, or the cable press down to pre-exhaust like Yates used to do. If you watch his blood and guts video you’ll know what i’m talking about. That and doing all the basic back movements is more than enough for me.
