Lat training

[WarriorPL]

What do you think are best to do for lats?

I normally do bentover rows and rear pulldowns, but now since i have a bad rotator cuff, i do frontal pulls. Are these just as good?

 

[SofaGeorge]

In this order:

Pullups = King
Deadlifts = Queen
Bent Over Rows = Prince

Rear Pulldowns = Ugly cousin

If you only do ONE exercise for your lats - make it pullups.

 

[Griz]

Second that!

Pull-ups beat, hands down, anything out there.

When you actually pass out while your "up" and fall crashing to the floor on you ass, then you know you've hit failure!

 

[jerkbox]

Rear Pulldowns = Ugly cousin

lol....good analogy

 

[PolishHammer1977]

Sticky

 

[leatherface]

What do you think is the best grip for lat work on pull ups? Regardless, any grip will tax the hell out of them, but which do you think would work them the most? Maybe a supinated close grip?

 

[Lee]

wide grip with hands facing away from you.

 

[casualbb]

I remember reading about some giant study using EMG that basically showed that...it doesn't matter too much. There's slightly different activations of lats, traps, etc, but they all hit the lats pretty well. I personally prefer just a basic palms-out, little wider than shoulder width grip. So just do what feels best for you.

-casualbb

 

[Boss101]

What do you think is the best grip for lat work on pull ups? Regardless, any grip will tax the hell out of them, but which do you think would work them the most? Maybe a supinated close grip?

I always do two sets of weighted pullups one set with a wide grip and another with a narrow grip.

This is what I do for lat training

Deadlifts
Weighted Pullups
BB Rows

 

[louden_swain]

I think there are a number of possibilities:

Here are programs that I follow:

Workout #1
1. Reverse Grip Pull-Downs - 1 x 8-12
2. Partial Deadlifts - 1 x 4-6


Workout#2
1. Seated Cable Rows - 1 x 8-12
2. Barbell Rows - 1 x 8-12

Workout#3
1. Chins - 1 x 8-12
2. T-Bar Rows

Workout#4
1. Wide Grip Pull-Downs - 1 x 8-12
2. Dumbbell Rows - 1 x 8-12

Workout#5
1. Hammer Strength Pull-Downs - 1 x 8-12
2. Deadlifts - 1 x 4-6

 

[coolcolj]

if you have bad cuffs, do shoulder width chins instead, the hand position prevents internal rotation

 

[slobberknocker]

I do dl's, narrow rows, wide rows. variety is good.

 

[gmanlax7]

i read a post on the anabolic board by Dialtone that he did tons of close grip pullups/pulldowns, making sure he got a good stretch. And also pullovers helped them.

he's a big dude so iv'e added pullovers to my workouts

ended backday with 3 sets today

 

[slobberknocker]

I do dl's, narrow rows, wide rows. variety is good.

powershrugs help a bit too

 

[MidwestJ]

back is RAPIDLY becoming my favorite. Pullups are the best. Don't forget T-bar rows.

 

[louden_swain]

If you aren't performing barbell rows. . . . . then be prepared to be disgusted with your lat development.

 

[Curious George]

There are a lot of great exercises for the back because there are so many different muscles to hit.

Deadlifts are great for the lats if you try and go a little lighter and squeeze your lats hard on every contraction.

Chins with all different variaties of hand spacings will hit your Lats directly. Always change your grip to hit different areas.

Rows work the back thickness. Dumbell rows in my opinion are the king due to the extreme isolation. There are really hard to do with heavy weight. Make sure to use a sawing motion. Also make sure to arch your back hard when doing these, as this allows for the lats to contract maximally.

Good Mornings are another that should be done, if for nothing but overall strength. They work on your core strength muscles of glutes/hams/lowerback. Your back will come up if you you do these or deads every other workout.

 

[erickthegreat11]

Im trying to increase my pull ups for the Marines. I studied where my last rep would fail at and it was towards the top. So Im trying to hit my lats pretty hard. My modified workout for deadlift day is as follows:

Dead, seated row, upright row, dumbell curls, incline curls, bent dumbell rows.

I know you all are probably stronger than me, but I must disagree on Behind the neck pull downs. Them suckers are hard as hell for me! I can only work with 130# doing these, and my maximum pullups is 9. There's a guy I train with can do about 23 pull ups. He can also do about 12-13 behind the neck pull ups!! So they must correlate with each other.

 

[Lord_Suston]

weighted chin-ups and babrell rows are the way to go for lat developement. overall back developement I would have to go with power cleans and deadz though, they just really blast your traps and erectors

 

[Debaser]

You can't really say a pullup/pulldown is better than a row. Both are necessary, in fact the row is actually more important. It's good to have a pull in both the vertical and horizontal planes, but if your horizontal pulling strength (read: rowing) is inadequate, your shoulders will actually be pulled forward because of the imbalance with your chest and pushing strength.

 

[casualbb]

Debaser -- Couldn't agree more.

-casualbb

 

[WarriorPL]

When you guys do rows, do you bring up to your chest or right below it?

I bring the bar up to about 3 inches under my pec and my body is at about a 20 degree angle.

 

[PolishHammer1977]

When you guys do rows, do you bring up to your chest or right below it?

I bring the bar up to about 3 inches under my pec and my body is at about a 20 degree angle.

I pull them into my rib cage when I did db rows (long time ago)

I pull the barbell into my rib cage while doing bb rows.

Rib Cage = any area from the lower abs to upper abs