[quote]51747 wrote:
I’m posting links to my pictures below for you guys to be able to see what I’m talking about.
[/quote]
You know, honestly I don’t see that your lats are lagging behind the rest of your body. You look fairly in proportion.
That said, if you truly cannot feel your lats working (or you feel pulls primarily in your arms), then definitely go ahead and work on learning how to activate them.
Cephalic_Carnage’s suggestion about keeping the workout to just a few “money” exercises and focusing on getting stronger on those is very good advice. I’d second it. I also like the exercise selection that he suggested (try the “strap pull-overs”).
Also, do not fall into the trap of overcomplicating training and having to switch things up every 4 weeks or any such nonsense. You aren’t going to gain any appreciable strength in 4 weeks time, and you need to build appreciable amounts of strength if you want to grow big muscles. Keep the same exact exercises, rep range and workout format until it stops producing results (read: you hit a plateau and cannot continue to get stronger). Then and only then make minor changes (change exercises) so that you can again continue making progress. This might take 12 weeks, it might take 3 years. The amount of time is not important, the progression is.
As far as bodybuilding is concerned, most people SHOULD learn to ‘dislocate’ their scapulae and depress their traps (as someone else mentioned).
Much of the improvement advanced bbers and DC trainees experience as far as back width is concerned has less to do with the improved size of their lats as compared to their improved ability to relax the traps and move their shoulder blades further apart (David Henry?)
I think the weighted hanging lat stretch is the primary contributor to some of the ‘improvements’ we have seen in that regard.
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
That said, if you truly cannot feel your lats working (or you feel pulls primarily in your arms), then definitely go ahead and work on learning how to activate them.
[/quote]
[quote]thosebananas wrote:
if your weighing 170 which using my awful maths is roughly 11.5 stone. depending on your height thats not very big and i wouldnt worry 2 much about your lats atm. id just worry about lifting big, eating bigger and sleeping.[/quote]
[quote]Boffin wrote:
thosebananas wrote:
if your weighing 170 which using my awful maths is roughly 11.5 stone. depending on your height thats not very big and i wouldnt worry 2 much about your lats atm. id just worry about lifting big, eating bigger and sleeping.
7.) Perform first exercies on an unstable surface (e.g. warm up with a variation of pullups where your body is pulled “into” the bar on a smith machine and your feet are elevated on a swiss ball)
.
I am trying to envision this… do you have a diagram or video? Thanks![/quote]
Try the old school barbell in the corner t-bar row. On the peak contraction try to “fold” your back together, try to get both shoulder blades to touch. Do this with a 3 second eccentric and hold the peak for 1-2 seconds.
Use an easy curl bar for barbell rows and use a pronated grip (palms facing away from you). Your grip length should be the width of your torso, ie, as you are pulling the bar up your fore arms should be rubbing your obliques. Row so the declined center part of the bar touches the sternum. Keep it smooth and again try to hold the peak contraction. Note that you wont be able to use nearly as much weight with these recommendations.
