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blasting the lats

BOOEY

BOOEY

Banned
My lats are definitely one of my weak points, and I need to get it up to par with the rest of my back. My normal back routine is:

Deadlift: 2-3 warmup sets, 2 working sets
T-bar Row or 1-arm DB row: 3 sets
Lat Pulldown or Wide Grip Pull ups: 2-3 sets to failure
Cable Rows: 2-3 sets

For the next few weeks, I was thinking of focusing on the lats:

Deadlift: 2-3 warmup sets, 2 working sets
Lat Pulldown: 3 sets
Behind the neck pull downs: 2 sets
Close grip or Parallel Pullups: 2 sets to failure

Will that do the trick? Suggestions? Thanks.
 
good god.. 3-4 times a week!? he wanted them to grow man..

I would hit them 1-2 max a week, it u wanna hit the lower lats , use a reverse grip for pulldowns. for upper lats and teres major a reg. pulldown or pull -up would be good for 3-4 sets
 
Yeah, I hit each bodypart once a week, so 3-4 times doesn't sound like a good idea. I'll try out your advice on the reverse-grip pulldowns and see how that goes Sweed, thanks.
 
Behind the necks won't really hit your lats better, but they can lead to shoulder injuries for some people. Stick to pullups, then maybe some pulldowns after you can't do another pullup.

Then rows and lastly deads.
 
I like wide grip chins,they have turned my back around alot from the small back it once was,paired with deads and t-bar rows and your golden
 
I've been performing the big 3 exercises in my normal routine (save the barbell rows, I use t-bar instead) for a while now and my lats, especially the lower half have been lagging behind. I'm going to switch up and hit lats first with pullups, go on to reverse grip pulldowns, and finish off with deads and see what happens.

Do most of you do deads at the end of your routine? I usually hit that first.
 
I usually do them first.. but u can shold prob do them 2nd.. latpull down, deads, then pull-ups.. or swtich 1 and 3 a round.. i think that would be better for the lats
 
BOOEY said:
I've been performing the big 3 exercises in my normal routine (save the barbell rows, I use t-bar instead) for a while now and my lats, especially the lower half have been lagging behind. I'm going to switch up and hit lats first with pullups, go on to reverse grip pulldowns, and finish off with deads and see what happens.

Do most of you do deads at the end of your routine? I usually hit that first.
Click to expand...

Booey- can you do an underhand grip on the T-bar some have them...if not go with the barbell with underhand that should help.
 
Deads won't do crap for your lats. You should do them anyway, but don't make them a chief lat movement if lats are your focus.
 
150shot said:


Booey- can you do an underhand grip on the T-bar some have them...if not go with the barbell with underhand that should help.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the handles move freely. I'll try it out. But I think lats will get more direct work from pulls in a downard motion. Am I wrong?
 
casualbb said:
Deads won't do crap for your lats. You should do them anyway, but don't make them a chief lat movement if lats are your focus.
Click to expand...

I agree. They're not really a pulling motion at all, your arms should hang down (or you could tear a bicep), right?. They will make your back bigger, though, since they build up your erectors nicely.
 
Your lats are working big time when doing deads. They may not be contracting as far as ROM but they are without a doubt contracting statically. It is your lats contracting statically that are keeping your shoulders and arms from ripping out of your torso when you are lifting the weight off the floor and the stronger you get in the deadlift the STRONGER and BIGGER your lats have to get to COMPENSATE. But don`t take my word for it. Next time your doing deads reach down and grab the bar with just one hand and try to lift the bar and with the other hand reach under and around your torso and feel the lat on the side you are trying to lift the bar with. It will be hard as a rock and a hard muscle is a muscle that is contracting.
 
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Would you do overhead presses for abs? No. Same reason you don't do deadlifts for lats: there's no load. No weight is being applied to the muscle.

A muscle contracting is NOT a sufficient condition for growth; it must lengthen under load. Lats neither lengthen nor are loaded during a deadlift.
 
casualbb said:
you don't do deadlifts for lats:
Click to expand...
I humbly and respectfully disagree bb.

For the sake of a healthy debate, let me lay a hypothetical on you.

Lets say we have a 20 year old average size male who never lifted weights in his entire life.

Lets say he is 5` 9" and weighs 160 lbs. He is put on a weight lifting routine consisting of JUST DEADLIFTS. No other exercises are done what so ever. Just deads.

His workouts are every 5th day. His workout intensities are occasionally cycled to avoid overtraining. No AAS are used (sorry guys).

It is based on progressive poundages utilizing a pyramid rep scheme. Any time he is able to increase his training poundages (load) he does so.

After one complete year would you say there would be NO INCREASE in the size of his lats ?
 
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casualbb said:
Would you do overhead presses for abs? No. Same reason you don't do deadlifts for lats: there's no load. No weight is being applied to the muscle.

A muscle contracting is NOT a sufficient condition for growth; it must lengthen under load. Lats neither lengthen nor are loaded during a deadlift.
Click to expand...

Just for the sake of argument on your "no load" statement, try some HEAVY zercher squats and tell me how your abs feel. I think you will be surprised at how hard your abs work with "No load".

I don't always, but have occasionally have had my lats become very sore from heavy deads. (I know soreness doesn't equate to growth, but that not my point.)

Note: This is not a smart-ass post. I am dead serious. (If it WAS a smart-ass post, you would know it.)

BTW, I wouldn't do OHP's for abs, but I WOULD do them for upper and lower back. (Standing OHP, that is.)


Carry on..........
 
Dave949 said:

I humbly and respectfully disagree bb.

For the sake of a healthy debate, let me lay a hypothetical on you.

Lets say we have a 20 year old average size male who never lifted weights in his entire life.

Lets say he is 5` 9" and weighs 160 lbs. He is put on a weight lifting routine consisting of JUST DEADLIFTS. No other exercises are done what so ever. Just deads.

His workouts are every 5th day. His workout intensities are occasionally cycled to avoid overtraining. No AAS are used (sorry guys).

It is based on progressive poundages utilizing a pyramid rep scheme. Any time he is able to increase his training poundages (load) he does so.

After one complete year would you say there would be NO INCREASE in the size of his lats ?
Click to expand...

I agree, you would see some growth in his lats. But let's say he also incorporated a pulling down exercise; his lats would be a lot bigger/stronger. I think the point casualbb was trying to make was that deadlifts alone do not provide sufficient growth for the lats. Other exercises are needed.
 
BOOEY said:
II think the point casualbb was trying to make was that deadlifts alone do not provide sufficient growth for the lats.
Click to expand...
And the point I am making is the statement that deads don`t do "crap" for your lats is
(no disrespect intended) a bunch of CRAP.

Peace Bro :fro:
 
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Well that's your opinion buddy and you're entitled to it. As long as you also do some sort of pulldown it's all a moot point anyway.
 
Also one is going to have a hard time empyrically proving deadlifts for lat efficacy, since I don't know a single person who deadlifts but does no form of rowing or pullup/pulldown.

I agree with casualbb for the most part. I won't say that your lats wouldn't grow PERIOD, but their growth would be laughable compared to the direct stimulation of a pulldown. By the same token, biceps also play a stabilization role in the deadlift, but they're not going to be stressed as much as in, say, a supinated pullup or barbell curl.
 
Debaser said:
Also one is going to have a hard time empyrically proving deadlifts for lat efficacy, since I don't know a single person who deadlifts but does no form of rowing or pullup/pulldown.
Click to expand...
I totally agree and understand. I was not attempting to COMPARE pulldowns, chins or rows to deadlifts. Of course deads will not engage the lats nearly as much as chins or rows but to claim the deads will have (no) effect on the lats what so ever was my point of contention.
 
casualbb said:
Deads won't do crap for your lats. You should do them anyway, but don't make them a chief lat movement if lats are your focus.
Click to expand...

I was gonna say something along those lines.

Deadlift doesn't really work the lats all that much. You'll get some benefit to your lats with them due to the fact that you'll end up flexing your lats. It's more of a glutes/traps/erectors/hamstring/forearms exercise.


I recommend
* close-grip pulldowns,
* medium to close-grip bb rows Yates-style
* Hammer unilateral row machine performed standing up (it's meant to be done sitting)
* Wide grip pulldowns

Don't do all of them. Pick 2. Maybe a 3rd exercise just for flushing (high rep, low weight)
 
Debaser said:
Also one is going to have a hard time empyrically proving deadlifts for lat efficacy, since I don't know a single person who deadlifts but does no form of rowing or pullup/pulldown.
Click to expand...

Dorian Yates didn't really do much heavy deadlifting but he had huge lats.
 
Are there any powerlifters who don't do pulldowns of some kind? Pulldown could be considered a bench assist move (that's kind of a stretch), but does anyone know of anyone who doesn't do them? Then we could check out their physiques.
 
Not a stretch at all.

Lat pulldowns stimulate the lats but lat pulldowns are not the determining factor in lat size.

Consider: genetics, chins, rows, pullovers, shotputting, baseball.

Checking out the physiques of guys who don't do pulldowns is fine, just keep in mind that it will only provide weak evidence to suppport either argument.
 
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