Lat Pulls or Pull ups?

[njlw226]

im trying to gain mass on my lats. im currently doing the 5x5. lat pulls is currently one of the exercises i do 2x10. should i move to doing pull ups or is it really not that big of a difference. thanks.

 

[Backlash]

IMO pullups are much harder and give greater gains for both strength and size. Go ahead and do pullups for assistance if you can get 2x8 or so. Then use a belt with chain to add weight as you need.

 

[d3track]

IMO pullups are much harder and give greater gains for both strength and size. Go ahead and do pullups for assistance if you can get 2x8 or so. Then use a belt with chain to add weight as you need.

if you can do chins, do em
the gym i'm at now only has those assited things, tried doing a set of chins on it and the handels bent down on it POS

i like chins as a finisher, at the end of back routien


my $0.02

 

[strongsmartsexy]

if you can do chins, do em
the gym i'm at now only has those assited things, tried doing a set of chins on it and the handels bent down on it POS

i like chins as a finisher, at the end of back routien


my $0.02

I do chins immediately after I catch my breath from doing heavy deadlifts. Then follow those up with heavy one armed rows and finish myself off with seated rows.

 

[Backlash]

and finish myself off with seated rows.

I only do this when my wife is out of town, generally.

 

[gretak911]

When I was 180-200lbs I would do 3 sets of 10, 8, 5 pullups after deads and before seated rows. Now at 235lbs I do lat pulldows with 285, 200, 215 ususally 10, 10 and 8.

If I could do at least 6-8 good reps for 3 sets (full hang at the bottom) of pullups I would do them over pulldowns any day!

 

[strongsmartsexy]

I only do this when my wife is out of town, generally.

Well, that isnt' what I meant, but it sure did give me a good laugh.

I prefer pullups, since I can't actually cheat on them. If I had a nickle for every rep people did improperly with pulldowns I'd make Donald Trump look like a pauper.

 

[Backlash]

Well, you can cheat at pullups - by only going halfway down, or using too much momentum or leg kick. They should always be smooth controlled movements. The point is to build muscle, not "impress" someone by struggling to jerk out an extra rep. (I'm not saying you cheat, but I see some horrible crap at my gym on the pullup bar)

 

[strongsmartsexy]

Well, you can cheat at pullups - by only going halfway down, or using too much momentum or leg kick. They should always be smooth controlled movements. The point is to build muscle, not "impress" someone by struggling to jerk out an extra rep. (I'm not saying you cheat, but I see some horrible crap at my gym on the pullup bar)

No sense cheating myself in the gym or anywhere else. I go to bottom before starting up again and make the full reps up. They have an assited pullup/dip machine that most of the folks use with weight small enough to make it laughable.

 

[envies]

If you are going all the way down, make sure you dont 'unhook' your shoulder joint. If you hang limp and try to burst up for a rep, without your shoulders being in the right alignment, you can hurt your shoulders pretty good. Its hard to explain, but if you have done it before, you know what I am talking about, it isnt a pleasant feeling.

So go all the way down, but don't let your shoulders get 'out of the groove'.

 

[JoBu]

I'll do 3 sets of pull-ups 8-10 reps each and then either move to the lat machine or do a couple sets of 8 slow negatives on the bar...basically climb into the up position and slowly lower myself down for a 5 count...burn baby burn!

 

[Backlash]

Good advice, JoBu and envies both.

 

[Moen]

VERY valuable advice from envies

 

[GoldenDelicious]

another chime for pullups. far far better overall growth for me with pullups. oh and i pull to the collarbone, not behind the head

 

[Tom Treutlein]

I love my wide grip chin-ups, and what they've done for my lats. Pretty big spread compared to the rest of me. I'm stuck on and off, though, with increasing my reps. Some days I'll get 2x8,9 and others 2x8,7. The second set fluctuates a bit, and I do nothing before the chins that could really fatigue me. For this reason, I'm thinking of adding in negatives so I can gain some strength and hopefully crank out more reps and start wearing a belt. I want my second set to be 12 solid reps before I start adding weight. Maybe I should use lower reps and just add weight now, who knows.