Lat Exercise Guides

ifPerforming pull-ups, don't focus on getting chin over the bar, or pulling up by your hands, focus on moving elbows down and in toward body. Feel lats kicking in more this way.

2007: Quadruple Pre-Exhaustion Lat Routine

Here are my latest recommendations, and I'm fairly sure Arthur Jones would be in agreement with them:

1. Straight-arm pullover: Lie crossways on a bench with shoulders on the surface and head and lower body off the bench. Hold a dumbbell at one end with both hands and position it over your chest. Lower the dumbbell slowly beyond your head and stretch your lats. Raise the dumbbell smoothly to the over-chest position and repeat until failure. Quickly turn 90 degrees on the bench and get ready for the bent-arm pullover.

On the straight-arm pullover, take a deep breath and lower the dumbbell slowly behind your head.

2. Bent-arm pullover: Whatever you handled on the straight-arm pullover, you'll be able to do 50-100% more resistance on the bent-arm version. Lie face-up on a bench with your head barely off the edge. Anchor your feet securely underneath and have a spotter hand you a heavy barbell.

Your hands should be spaced 12 inches apart, with the barbell resting on your chest. Move the barbell over your face and head and lower it smoothly until it almost touches the floor. Keep your arms bent and stretch at the bottom. Pull the bar over your face to your chest. Repeat the lowering and lifting for maximum repetitions.

3. Pulldown to chest on lat machine: Stabilize your lower body under the overhead bar. Grasp the bar with an underhand grip with your hands shoulder-width apart. Pull the bar smoothly to your chest. Pause, then return slowly to the stretched position. Repeat until momentary muscular failure. Release the bar and immediately move to the bent-over row.

4. Bent-over row: Place your feet beside two moderately heavy dumbbells. Lean over and grasp the dumbbells in a parallel fashion with your palms facing each other. Keep a slight bend in your knees to reduce the stress on your lower back. Pull both the dumbbells upward, to the sides of your thighs, and pause at your waist. Lower slowly to the bottom and repeat for maximum repetitions. After the last repetition, quickly get to the chinning bar.

5. Negative-only chin-up: You'll need a chair or bench for assistance. The idea is to do the positive work with your legs and negative with your upper body. Since your biceps and lats will be well fatigued by now, it'll take a focused effort on your part to do even three or four negative chins — and initially you won't require any added resistance.

Place the chair or bench directly under a chinning bar. Climb into the top position with your chin over the bar. Hold onto the bar with an underhand grip and space your hands shoulder-width apart. Remove your feet and lower your body very slowly to a dead hang in eight seconds. Climb back to the top position and repeat for as many repetitions as possible.

Push yourself hard on this great exercise! Stop when you can no longer control the downward movement, which is usually a lowering time less than two to three seconds.


Twice a Week

After a couple of workouts, and with the proper arrangement of your available equipment, you should be able to move from one exercise to the next within three seconds or less, which is the goal. The five-exercise cycle — each exercise performed for one set of 7 to 10 repetitions — should take no longer than seven minutes.

Once you get the hang of the routine, do it intensely and progressively for no more than twice a week, for two consecutive weeks.

You'll also want to perform five exercises for your other large muscle groups to complete your whole-body routine. For example, the squat or leg press for your thighs, the calf raise for your lower legs, the bench press for your chest, the lateral raise for your shoulders, and the lying back extension for your lower back. I recommend that you place the five lat exercises first in the workout.

Properly performed, you'll be able to see significant muscular improvement in two weeks. Apply the routine now to widen and thicken your lau-tiss-uh-muss door-sigh!

 

Cable Rope Rear-Delt Rows

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Middle Back
Equipment: Machine
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: There are many options for stimulating the front and side delts, but it seems so many people can't bring up their rear delts at the same speed. I have found an exercise called cable, rope, rear-delt rows which does. For some reason people use bent-over laterals raises, and as they involve minimal weight, it encourages people to turn them into compound. As a result, all the tension is transferred onto the muscles of the upper back, and little rear-delt stimulation. Then others either just rely on compounds, or use upright rows, which actually target the traps, biceps and back just as much if not more so than the rear delts. So I discovered an exercise called the rear-delt cable row that stimulate this area better. Rear-delt rows also allow you to use a weight that is not possible on the only other isolation exercise for the rear-delt. To perform these rows, sit in the same position on a cable-row station as you would doing seated cable rows. Attach a rope to the pulley and grasp it with an overhand grip. Stretch your lats if you wish, stand upright and bring the weight in and upwards towards your neck. The trick is to extend your forearms upwards as you pull the weight to your neck, and at the end of the movement, your arms will finish in a bicep-pose with your lower arms parallel to the floor. By doing this, it activates the rear delts and allows for a peak contraction.

 

Close-Grip Front Lat Pulldown

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Works the lower lats. Sit at a lat pulldown machine or kneel in front of a cable pulley. Hold lat bar with hands about 8 inches apart. Start with arms extended overhead. Pull bar straight down until it is even with your upper chest. Return slowly to starting position. Do not swing or lean back!

 

Elevated Cable Rows

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Middle Back
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Get a platform of some sort that is around 4-6" in height (calf raise platform, aerobics platform etc). Place it on the seat of the cable row machine. Lean forward with a strong arch in your back. Keep this leaned forward position while pulling into your abs. This exercise hits the lower lats hard.

 

Full Range-Of-Motion Lat Pulldown

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Either standing or seated on a high bench, grasp two stirrup cables that are attached to the high pulleys. Grab with the opposing hand so your arms are crisscrossed about you and your palms are facing forward. Keeping your chest up and maintaining a slight arch in your lower back, pull the handles down as if you were doing a regular pulldown. The range of motion will be more of an arc. During the movement, rotate your hands so that in the bottom position your palms face each other rather than forward. Return slowly to the starting position and repeat.

 

Gironda Sternum Chins

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: Other
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Many have dubbed this the single best lat exercise ever invented! This involves leaning back throughout the entire movement. In this variation, the lower portion of the chest should touch the bar. Begin by grasping the pull-up bar with an underhand grip, approximately shoulder width apart. Now hang with your arms fully extended. As you pull yourself to the bar, have your head lean back as far away from the bar as possible and arch your spine throughout the movement. At the upper end of the movement, your hips and legs will be at about a 45-degree angle to the floor. You should keep pulling until your collarbone passes the bar and your lower chest or sternum area touches it. By the time you've completed the concentric portion of the movement; your head will be parallel to the floor.

 

Gorilla Chin/Crunch

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Abdominals
Equipment: BodyOnly
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Hang from a chinning bar with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle and your hands about 12 inches apart with an underhand grip. Pull yourself up with your arms and crunch your knees up at the same time. You should finish the chin and crunch at the same time. When fully contracted, your note will be at the bar and your knees will be pulled up to your chest. Slowly reverse the movement and return to the starting position. You can also do this with a dumbbell or medicine ball between your feet or with a weight attached to a dip belt around your waist. When you have mastered this, try hanging from only one arm and grasp your wrist with your free hand. This works more of your obliques.

 

Pullups

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: BodyOnly
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Reach up and grab the bar with a firm overhand grip. Your hands should be roughly twice your shoulder width apart. This helps work more of your lats, rather than your biceps. Straighten your arms and let your body hang from the bar. You can keep your legs straight or bend your knees and cross your feet. Slowly pull your body up to the bar so that the top of your chest nearly touches the bar and your chin is over the bar. Try to keep your body straight without arching or swinging. As you move upwards, focus on pulling your elbows down at an angle toward your rib cage. Once your lats have completely contracted at the top, slowly lower your body to the starting position. A spotter can lift your legs slightly if you need help on the last few reps. You can also add weight by using a special Dip Belt.

 

Seated One-arm Cable Pulley Rows

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Middle Back,Traps
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: These are a variation of the traditional seated cable row. By using a single attachment, you are able to get an incredible stretch on the lats, and additionally using one-arm allows you bring the weight in deeper and increases stress to the traps. To perform these, sit at a seated cable row station with you back erect, feet planted firmly against the pads and your knees only slightly bent. Attach a single attachment to the bottom, and grasp it in either hand. Make sure you are far away enough that you are able to feel a stretch along the outer lats. Bring the weight in towards that same side, keeping your back straight and your chest out. There is a really good opportunity to contract your lats, so bring the weight in all the way. It's an idea to twist your wrists from an underhand to an overhand grip, which you'll feel in your back.

 

Straight-Arm Pulldown

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: None
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Isolation

 

Tips: Stand in front of a lat pulldown bar with your arms outstretched towards the bar. Place your palms flat on the bar and pull it down to shoulder level. Keeping your elbows slightly bent and your wrists locked, pull the bar down towards your body in an arcing motion. Once you contracted the lats fully and the bar has touched or come close to your thighs, slowly allow the bar to come back up to the starting position. Keep your torso erect!

 

Underhand Cable Pulldowns

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Grasp a cable bar from a high pulley with an underhand grip. Sit with thighs under supports. Pull down cable bar to upper chest until elbows are to the sides. Return until arms and shoulders are fully extended. Repeat. Do not lean back!

 

Up Right Row - With Bands

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Triceps,Shoulders
Equipment: Other
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Stand on band so that the tension begins with arms at sides. Pull upwards as you would with a barbell upright row.

 

V-Bar Pulldown

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Attach a V-Bar attachment to the pulldown machine. Using a palms-in grip, grasp the V-Bar and extend your arms completely straight above your head. Keeping your back straight and your torso vertical (do not lean back) pull the V-Bar down to your upper chest. Touch the chest and slowly return to the starting position. Do not swing!

 

V-Bar Pullup

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: BodyOnly
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Place a V-Bar attachment over a pullup bar. Hold the handles with both hands with your palms in. Pull yourself up and try to touch your chin to the bar. Slowly return to the starting position with your arms completely extended. Do not swing back and forth! You can also do this on a pull-down cable machine.

 

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Start with your legs positioned snugly under the kneepads of a pulldown machine. Your feet should be flat on the floor. Grasp the wide bar firmly with an overhand grip. Your hands should be almost twice your shoulder width apart. Pull the bar down on top of your chest, arching your back slightly. Focus on keeping your elbows directly below the bar. Pause briefly with the bar in position right on top of your collarbone. Slowly raise the bar back to the starting position. Do NOT lean back too far and pull the weight down using your body weight!

 

Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind The Neck

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: Cable
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: Some experts believe this exercise should not be used because it can cause injuries. Hold lat bar with hands about 36 inches apart. Pull bar straight down until it touches the back of your neck just above shoulders. Return slowly to starting position. Can also be done with a closer grip.

 

Wide-Grip Rear Pull-Up

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Lats
Other Muscles Worked: Biceps,Middle Back
Equipment: BodyOnly
Mechanics Type: Compound

 

Tips: This is like a normal wide-grip pull-up but you finish with the bar behind your neck instead of in front. Some people believe this is a dangerous exercise that can cause injuries.