I have found that a good exercise to finish with is stiff arm pulldownd done very slowly. They really enable you to feel the lats working.
Place them at the end of your heavy and basic stuff like chins and deads for a couple of slow higher rep sets just to feel the muscle working.
Works well for me.
DB Rows: heavy, heavy, heavy! Also try chest supported rowing (I use a low pulley row unit- the type that has a bench at about knee height, place an adjustable bench at 90 degrees facing away from the stack, and use an additional length of chain to attach two pulley handles to give the required ROM).
If you are having difficulty “connecting” with your lats, I would suggest 1: holding the contracted possition for a count of five. 2:Occaisionaly train to give soreness in the lats. This isn’t always bad, it really helps to feel the lats if they are a tad sore. You can also flex the lats throughout the days after training while (slightly) sore; this really helps you connect to those lats. Once you’ve got the link you won’t lose it and your lats WILL grow.
All the best,
Old Dax.
I’ve always used narrow to medium width chin ups with various grips. For 3 weeks block, I’d do weighted chin ups for low reps one day and do 10-12 reps for rows on the other day. in the next cycle, i reverse it. I never could really do wide grip pull ups. It feels so unnatural and also it felt like my shoulders were gonna pop out or something.
I happen to like the nautilus pullover machine and that seems to be the case with Christian Thibaudeau as well as he have developed an exercise that duplicates that feel. It can be found in violent variations in issue 303. It might be worth to try. Another exercise that at least help me “connect” with the lats is stiff arm DB rows (issue 248 "The Big Back Stack by Christian Thibaudeau).
Nautilus pullover is an awsome exercise…especially the older models - just don’t see them around much anymore. Nautilus pullovers supersetted with either rows or chins would be an excellent way to fry those wings!
More pain. You need more pain.
Emphasize pronated (palms forward) shoulder width chins, and supinated narrow pullups. Pick a number between 20 and 30 and alternate between the two grips until you hit it, number of sets irrelevant.
The next workout, bang out 4 sets of 15 reps with your 15 RM, alternating between a slightly wider pronated grip and shoulder width supinated. Use the late pulldown machine with a standard bar, but don’t pussyfoot around. Most of this is mental.
At peak, when I could handle 30 pullups a set, I used reverse eccentric pullovers as a finishing exercise. Hang on a bar, pronated, and then tuck your legs and lean back until your arms are by your sides and your head is pointed toward the ground. Now slowly bring your legs down, keeping your arms straight and a straight torso. The stronger you get, the more you straighten your legs. Eventually it’ll look like a gymnastic move and you’ll be able to hold yourself in place, arms straight up, torso and legs parallel to the ground.
DI
Guys,
I really appreciate all the responses; I have back exercises to try for many months to come!
Knight, I definitely like the sound of that routine you described! I’m going to try it tonight.
Dax, I really think that’s all it is, the mind-muscle connection. I think I like the idea of extended isometric contraction as you mention to help “feel” the muscle working, but I’m not sure I’m understanding that “chest-supported row” you described.
Patch, unfortunately, my gym has no Nautilus equipment.
Thanks again!!
Bandgeek,
I’ll try to explain the move better.
My gym has two low pulley row units; one has the bench almost at floor level (about 4 inches off the floor)the other which I use for this chest supported row has a bench at about knee height, its part of a Gym80 multistation unit with a weight stack of about 140kg.
I take an adjustable bench, set it to 90degrees (i.e. the “back” of the bench is vertical) I jam this against the end of the low pulley row bench so that if I were to sit on it in the normal way I would face away from the wt. stack.
I then sit facing the stack so that the “back” of the adjustable bench supports my chest an prevents any forward lean. I use two pieces of chain, with carabiners to connect everything. First piece of chain is connected to the two pulley handles (the handle type that you’d use for single arm work e.g. crossover handles) this piece is about 18 inches long. I attach a longer piece to the centre of the 18 ins chain and fasten this to the machines cable. This longer piece allows me to adjust the ROM so that, when seated and holding the handles, there is tension at the fully extended position but by uncurling my fingers I can let the wt. stack down without crashing into the rest of the stack.
I hope this clarifies things, and I hope you can try the exercise. It is a little humbling at first due to the strictness of the movement. The main thing is to avoid moving your chest of the supporting bench, if you do this you’re cheating.
I had to start at about 60kg for 3 or 4 sets of 8, I now do about 85kg for the same reps. I started with higher reps (~12)to learn the move, then lowered reps to 8 and then down to 5. I now cycle between 8 reps for 4-6 weeks (2 min rest period), and 5-6 reps for 4-6 weeks (3-4 mins rest period).
Hope this helps!
Old Dax
Dax,
Got it! So because of the position you find yourself in relative to the machine you need to lengthen the cable by adding chains; now it makes sense.
By the way, last night I was sitting home and just practicing isometric contractions of the lats by pulling the shoulders down and holding for 10 sec or so (sort of mimicking the full contraction position of a pullup/pulldown) and I could really feel it. Thanks again!
geek
You’re welcome, T-men help each other right?
Yes sounds like you understand the explanation.
Give those lats hell!
Old Dax