My Lats are Lacking

spicer · 06-29-2006, 06:37 PM

Can someone give me some good advice on building my lats. They are lacking behind the rest of my upperbody pretty good. I do t-bar rows, dead lifts, sitting rows, and pull downs on my back day but I still cant get them to grow. Any advice would be much appreciated.

ryanmalone43 · 06-29-2006, 06:59 PM

wide grip lat pulldowns and low pulley rows to the stomach or lower chest area... basically any movement that will stretch the lats out as well as allow for a good contraction, remember form is key

**tim290280** · 06-29-2006, 10:09 PM

CHeck your form. If you are having trouble I'd say that you are lacking good activation. Back off on the exercise for the first set or your warmups and actually work on contractig and lowering the weight with the lats, then do your normal sets. THis will help with activation.

Of course this assume your form is anywhere near adequate. I've only ever walked into one gym that had people using good form on all exercises. Most people wouldn't recognise good form if it dropped on their toes.

serbmarko · 06-29-2006, 10:12 PM

I found back to be a tricky part to build for a while as well.. just think of your hands as hooks.. dont let the arms do the work for you.. pull strickly from the back.. mind muscle connection

Diesel · 06-29-2006, 10:12 PM

could you post up your exact routine? workouts, sets, reps...

dieseld · 06-29-2006, 10:13 PM

wide/medium grip pullups. this is the only way to build a full sweeping thick lats imo...its important to use full range of motion, and dont use momentum..if your a powerful dude, add weight..my 276lbs frame usually provides enough weight for 8-10 good reps..if your not that great at them, dont worry about it...alot of ppl are embarrased to do the workout in front of others.....set a goal one day in the gym to get 40 reps..even if it takes you 6,7 sets..next time it might only take 5 sets to get 40 reps..then increase the payload or reps

Unholyephraim · 06-30-2006, 04:21 AM

You might wanna try using the stripping method to shock your muscles into grow. The stripping method is when you do say 4 sets of a certain weigh (usually moderate to heavy weight) and then on the last 2 sets complete your reps, then take off 30 or 40 pounds and continue doing reps to failure. Not only will this help make more of your muscle fibers to work, you get a great pump.

spicer · 06-30-2006, 02:00 PM

Thanx for al the advice. I will deff. take them into consideration for my next back day. My work out consists of
Dead lifts- 4sets of 8-10reps
Wide pull downs- 4sets of 10-12
Pull to chest 4sets of 8-10
DB dead lifts- 3sets of 12-15
Lawnmower pulls- 4sets 8-10
Cable rows- 4sets of 10-12
wide grip pull ups- 3 sets all to failure.

Here is a pic of me that someone took with my cell of my back. Is it just me or do my lats look incredibly small compared to the rest of my back?

BigBen · 06-30-2006, 02:06 PM

honestly for best results i believe in 2 days for back, mabye 3 days apart form one another. One day to focus on thickness, i suggest deadlifts, t bar rows, and bent over rows.

The next day should focus on width try like wide grip pullup, close grip pulldowns, and a pullover of some sort.

Remember your not lifting the wights bro, your contracting your muscles thats whats most important.

Good luck
AND

jornT · 06-30-2006, 04:13 PM

Think of hand of hooks? Use them as much as possible.

Stripping method doesn't shock muscles in growth. You can't shock muscles.

And days for wide and thickness is werd also imo.

And contracting muscles is gay and ineffective.

Just my 2 cents.

Diesel · 06-30-2006, 05:07 PM

your over-training. do deadlifts every other week and do no more than 12-14 sets for back depending if you train for volume or intensity. a lot of these workouts i've never heard of, just stick to the basics. variations of pull downs, pull-ups, rows, rows, rows and deadlifts.

as far as the "using hands for hooks" suggestion I think this is pretty good. A lot of times I see people pulling w/ their arms and now their back and they wonder why their backs aren't growing. When you do rowing movements and pull down movements go with a thumbless grip. You'll have to use straps but they takes the biceps out of the motion a little. good luck.

Eroc · 06-30-2006, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jornT

Think of hand of hooks? Use them as much as possible.

Stripping method doesn't shock muscles in growth. You can't shock muscles.

And days for wide and thickness is werd also imo.

And contracting muscles is gay and ineffective.

Just my 2 cents.

"you cant shock muscle" Im not even going to get into with you. damn idk what to say to that lol whatever makes you happy and tickles your pickle k ?

:) i love lats btw....when u flex your lats and they are big enough to see through your shirt is sweet lol

jornT · 06-30-2006, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eroc

"you cant shock muscle" Im not even going to get into with you. damn idk what to say to that lol whatever makes you happy and tickles your pickle k ?

:) i love lats btw....when u flex your lats and they are big enough to see through your shirt is sweet lol

Guys like make me feel smart and special.

I would almost thank you, but then again, that would be a nice thing to do.

Eroc · 06-30-2006, 05:37 PM

i always tel people when doing seated rows or bent over rows ( db or bb ) to try