im josh, and i am having a lot of trouble building my lats. i am getting stronger, but not bigger. i need help.
This entry was posted
on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Training.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 21, 2007 at 3:27 pm
There are many ways to increase the size of your lats but one of the best is the unassisted wide grip pull-up. You may see a lot of guys (and some of the ladies) in the gym doing a close grip reversed hand pull-up, which mainly brings into play the persons biceps but if you see someone take a very wide over-hand grip, let their arms stretch down as far as they go and then slowly pull themselves up and then continue doing this for reps, chances are this person has great lats.
Another good exercise is the wide grip pull-down. To make sure you get the most work out of your lats you need to do this exercise using very strict form Sit almost straight up with your thighs under the pad and taking a very wide overhand grip, slowly pull the bar straight down (do not lean back) until the bar reaches just below your chin or slightly lower, hold for a slow 3 count while contracting your lats and then slowly raise your arms back up to the start position and then repeat for reps. After doing 3 or 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps using this strict form you will feel a huge pump in your lats.
The last exercise I recommend is the reverse grip pull-down.
This is one of the most effective high-to-low lat exercises you can do. The most important point to remember is to your arms not only down but also far behind you and get a hard contraction while holding this position for a slow 3 count. You get a great lat stretch if you allow your arms to fully extend at the top position. If you don’t have a V-bar then use a regular lat pull-down bar and take a reverse grip with your hands about six to eight inches apart. Keep your upper torso arched as you pull the bar down but make sure you don’t arch too much and take the work off of the back and transfer it to the biceps.
Try these three exercises and I bet that you will see a change in your lats very soon.
Also, leave your ego at the door. By this I mean don’t try to impress anyone with how much weight you can use. The form and the contraction is what will give you the growth. As you become stronger and can add more weight while still maintaining strict form then you will also see the size of your lats increase.