In another thread here TribunalDude (correctly) noted that I have no width on my lats. I have always done plenty of pullups and things of that nature, to no avail. I also DB & BB row a couple times per week usually, and that has not made a difference either. I’ve gone from 170 lbs. to 210 lbs., with 75% of that being muscle, and it didn’t make a difference. I went from being able to do 6 or 7 unweighted pullups to being able to do 10 with 45 lbs. added on, and a bodyweight of 210…and still no lat width.
Is there some special focus I should be using when doing pullups to really focus on width? (similar to how you’re supposed to think of your arms as hooks when you row)
You’ll know when you’re doing them correctly when you feel your lats pulling and not your arms.
I’ve done reps with 90 pounds attached to my belt weighing 263lbs and my lats didn’t have crazy width, it’s when I started pulling with my back that I noticed things to change, common sense bro…
[quote]AccipiterQ wrote:
In another thread here TribunalDude (correctly) noted that I have no width on my lats. I have always done plenty of pullups and things of that nature, to no avail. I also DB & BB row a couple times per week usually, and that has not made a difference either. I’ve gone from 170 lbs. to 210 lbs., with 75% of that being muscle, and it didn’t make a difference. I went from being able to do 6 or 7 unweighted pullups to being able to do 10 with 45 lbs. added on, and a bodyweight of 210…and still no lat width.
Is there some special focus I should be using when doing pullups to really focus on width? (similar to how you’re supposed to think of your arms as hooks when you row)
Thanks, much appreciated[/quote]
Think CHEST UPS instead of pull ups. Get your upper chest to touch the bar and use a wide grip, which will emphasise the teres major, adding width to your upper back.
To fully contract and therefore thicken the lats use a shoulder grip width and pull your elbows down to your sides, touching your lats’ and with the chest high and the shoulders down and back, contract your lats to the maximum. This is very tough considering most of us stop short in the contracted position by at least a 1/3 of ROM left in the exercise. Try it without weight, itsa bitch!
I’m no bodybuilder in the least - but your lack of back width might be because you have small teres muscles. I find that moving my grip substantially wider than shoulder width helps with increased activation in the teres muscles. You might be strong on movements involving humeral extension as in a chin up or narrow grip pull up. However, a lot of the muscles in the upper back function to adduct, internally rotate, and externally rotate the humerus. Changing exercises, moving your grip out, etc. might help you develop those muscles that contribute to the appearance of a wide back.
overhead pressing has added width to me, without a huge change in weight. thinking here is that your lats play an important stabilizing role in pressing, and overhead presses with NO leg drive and a wide grip, pushing with your shoulders not your triceps gave my scapula a fuller movement as opposed to before using them
arnold says, and im inclined to believe anything until i try it and it fails, that wide grip pull ups, thumbless grip, pulling yout chest to bar and really stretchin your scapula is an effective formula for adding width.
but yeah, the t-cell has a back discussion. it can be summarized as thus
1)mind muscle connection with the back
2)rach chins
3)stretch in lats on every rep
Agreed with what everyone else is saying. I don’t think pull-ups are a great lat width builder for me, and once I go to heavy my bis start taking over. Rack chins work really well. I don’t feel lat pulldowns much in my lats either. I’m also going to try those close grip neutral pulldowns. I’m planned to do some wide grip neutral cable rows, see how that works for width.
For the mind-muscle connection in the lats, ive been doing high-ish rep wide grip lat pulldowns. About 16 reps. I can really feel the specific muscle working and i love it. Im sore in my lats for the first time haha
get a pullup bar, and do one set(with a nice wide grip) to near failure every day. When i did that my lats got WAY bigger without even any massive weight gain. However due to a number of curcumstances they have shrunk quite a bit lately, but that’s alright im trying to focus on thickness right now anyways
For lat width, load and stretch at the bottom. Pause for a second or two at the bottom, and your lats will initiate the movement. Chest high. Dont worry about peak contraction too much.
The droop rows in carlito’s video will help with lat thickness (lower lats if that makes sense).
Everyone keeps raving about rack chins, give them a try…but chest high throughout, stretch at the bottom with a pause…and then go heavy.
To help with back involvement generally, open doors (at the supermarket etc) by initiating the movement with your scapulae moving in. After a while, you will be able to feel your back in rowing movements.
Stretching at the bottom is a great idea however the OP should know that there is a big difference between actively holding the stretch keeping the muscles tight’ than just passively hanging there between reps.
The extreme mobility of the glenohumeral joint means that it cannot be stabilised by the normal, passive elastic mechanisms of ligaments esp. in extreme abduction. Instead it has active stabilisation from the short muscles that surround the joint (rotator cuff muscles). The joint shape and locations of the muscles mean that there is little to support the joint inferiorly (bottom of joint) so if you choose to stretch the lats in a hanging position, stay tight! I have had a few clients complain of shoulder discomfort or a feeling that the shoulder is coming out of its socket while hanging loose between reps esp. as fatigue sets in.
Switch to chin ups. I swear if you know how to pull with your back on chin ups or even close grip chin grip pulldowns hit my lats better than pullups ever did + i can load them a lot more. Pull from the elbows though not your hands. You gotta really feel the lats working on they won’t grow like you want them too. Also those lat rows look like something worth trying as well.
If his lats suck compared to the rest of him after gaining 40 lbs total, then they’ll still suck compared to the rest of him after gaining 80 lbs total if he doesn’t change something in the way he trains them.