[quote]LoRez wrote:
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
Those BBers certainly got one thing right about lats. If you want big, strong lats, train them everyday. Lats used to be my weak point (that and chest). In less than 2 months they’ve become one of my better body parts and I’ve been SEEING changes on a weekly basis.[/quote]
How have you been training them?[/quote]
I’m in a bit of an aesthetics phase at the moment, so I’m mostly going for width. I’m currently doing a little every day:
Mon - 5 sets of prescribed reps, working my way up to 10 reps/set weighted wide neutral grip chins (SS with 5x8 strict press)
Wed - Lat pulldowns, 3 sets of higher rep work (12-15), wide grip
Fri - Your favourite row for 5x10 (SS with 5x10 flat DB bench). For me, I find super strict DB rows or chest-supported rows do the best job of hitting my lats. Might try Meadows rows sometime, those look good.
Sat - BW chins, wide neutral grip, 3 sets AMRAP.
Most of my lat work is trained as BBer might, i.e. I like it strict (though the end of the AMRAP sets might get a little kippy). I don’t see the point of explosive reps unless you specifically want to train that movement pattern for something (like if you’re a crossfitter and have to do muscle-ups for time… LOL). Lats are assistance work, so should be trained as such.
Upon typing this, I’m thinking I might switch Wed and Sat for intensity reasons though. Might switch up my grip too. Noticed that a day of regular pronated grip pull-ups really got my lats going, so it might be time to change it up. Giving my lats a bit of a break at the moment because they’ve been getting hit pretty hard lately. I like using straps and fully encourage it. The point of deadlifting or lat training isn’t to be limited by your grip when you’re doing high reps, so with straps I can hit it harder. Just make sure to do separate grip work.
The really high frequency training has done a shit ton to improve my mind-muscle connection. After a month of this, I could do a lat flare for the first time. While the PLers out there might scoff, better mind-muscle connection with your lats means more effective training of them and better engagement of them in the bench press and deadlift.
The more I look at my training program, the more I realize what a bastardized version of BBB it is. I suppose Wendler would probably say, “you’re not doing BBB!”
