1. Row Your Boat
Rows increase the lats’ density. A common row variation is the seated cable row. The most common mistake people make when performing seated cable rows is rounding the back. Keep the back straight and don’t use momentum. Another row variation is the standing one-arm cable row. The standing one-arm cable row should be completed powerfully and with a slight twist. The bent-over row is popular, but it can be very stressful on the lower back. Try to avoid bent-over rows if machines are at your disposal. If you have to do them, make sure your back is straight and use light weight. An overlooked row variation is the body row. To perform the body row, place a barbell about waist-height on a squat rack. Grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder width and hang off it with your heels on the floor. Pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar. Once you improve at this exercise, you can place a box under your feet. Keep increasing the box height until you can do body rows with your body parallel to the floor. And if you can eventually do that, then you can begin completing body rows with one arm.
2. Vary Grips
The lats have more surface area than any single muscle in the body. Looking from the rear view of the body, the lats give you the desirable V-shaped torso. In order to have well-developed lats, they must have thickness and width. Combinations of multiple grips help develop wide, as well as thick, lats. Back exercises can be performed with pull-up bars, barbells and dumbbells, and can be held with wide or narrow grips. A narrow grip develops the thickness, and the wide grip develops the width. Rows, pull-downs and pull-ups can be performed with overhand, underhand and neutral (palms facing each other) grips. These variations hit the lats from different angles, allowing consistent improvements.
3. Antagonize
The body works in synergies. For every pull there is a push. These synergies can be seen in every joint from the toes to the neck. The shoulders push and pull by using, among other muscles, the lats. Everyone knows they should be doing row variations and pull-down/up variations to develop the lats. What people don’t realize is that the lats can be antagonized while working other muscle groups, as well. An example is an overhead dumbbell press. The lats are forced to contract in order to help stabilize and control the eccentric (coming down) portion of an overhead press. The slower the dumbbells come down, the harder the lats have to work.
Rows increase the lats’ density. A common row variation is the seated cable row. The most common mistake people make when performing seated cable rows is rounding the back. Keep the back straight and don’t use momentum. Another row variation is the standing one-arm cable row. The standing one-arm cable row should be completed powerfully and with a slight twist. The bent-over row is popular, but it can be very stressful on the lower back. Try to avoid bent-over rows if machines are at your disposal. If you have to do them, make sure your back is straight and use light weight. An overlooked row variation is the body row. To perform the body row, place a barbell about waist-height on a squat rack. Grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder width and hang off it with your heels on the floor. Pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar. Once you improve at this exercise, you can place a box under your feet. Keep increasing the box height until you can do body rows with your body parallel to the floor. And if you can eventually do that, then you can begin completing body rows with one arm.
2. Vary Grips
The lats have more surface area than any single muscle in the body. Looking from the rear view of the body, the lats give you the desirable V-shaped torso. In order to have well-developed lats, they must have thickness and width. Combinations of multiple grips help develop wide, as well as thick, lats. Back exercises can be performed with pull-up bars, barbells and dumbbells, and can be held with wide or narrow grips. A narrow grip develops the thickness, and the wide grip develops the width. Rows, pull-downs and pull-ups can be performed with overhand, underhand and neutral (palms facing each other) grips. These variations hit the lats from different angles, allowing consistent improvements.
3. Antagonize
The body works in synergies. For every pull there is a push. These synergies can be seen in every joint from the toes to the neck. The shoulders push and pull by using, among other muscles, the lats. Everyone knows they should be doing row variations and pull-down/up variations to develop the lats. What people don’t realize is that the lats can be antagonized while working other muscle groups, as well. An example is an overhead dumbbell press. The lats are forced to contract in order to help stabilize and control the eccentric (coming down) portion of an overhead press. The slower the dumbbells come down, the harder the lats have to work.
