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Tips for wider lats?

paulchristian

Banned
I do a few sets of pull ups and chin ups till failure and immediately do lat pull downs after. Been doing this for 2 months now and my back has definitely gotten wider. Are there any other solid exercises that widen (not thicken) the lats?
 
My PT says straight arm pulldowns, deadlifts, and rows are great for the lat.
 
Definitely heavy deads, wide grip rows and wide grip lat pulldowns. Drop the weight and really focus on pulling through your elbows, squeezing the lats at the top of the movement. You should feel it all the way down to the top of your pelvis. I suggest going as wide as possible where you can still execute the movement properly. Sometimes I start out narrow and move an inch further out each set as I get warmed up.
 
Correction: snatch grip deadlifts. I really, really hate the notion that deadlifts are for lats as much as I hate that squats are for quads as neither one is true.
 
Rodja said:
You need more than just one movement to build wide lats. Rows build width as well.
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Ya rows are definitely needed, what worked best for me was barbell rows with a reverse grip, and super wide grip pulldowns while leaning back slightly and pulling back as well as down, not just sitting vertically and pulling straight down. Those two things gave me wings
 
choccyswag said:
My PT says straight arm pulldowns, deadlifts, and rows are great for the lat.
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I personally never did deadlifts when I built gnarly thick and wide lats, they got so wide and big that I had to stop training them for a while so I would keep my proportion. Trust me, reverse grip barbell rows and wide grip pulldowns will give you great results, gotta go big and intense though. I did cable and dumbbell rows too but I felt like they were just icing on the cake.
 
Make sure you are changing angles when you're doing your chin ups and pull-ups Same with the pulldowns
 
The whole "wide grip for a wide back" thing is completely wrong. A close grip is by far better for activating the lats. Close grip chins and dumbbell rows should be your main movements. If you're lucky enough to have a machine pullover, those are great also
 
genthoseffect said:
The whole "wide grip for a wide back" thing is completely wrong. A close grip is by far better for activating the lats. Close grip chins and dumbbell rows should be your main movements. If you're lucky enough to have a machine pullover, those are great also
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I always feel like I get better contractions with a narrower grip, especially on lat pulldowns and pull ups, but I always see the big names recommending to go as wide as possible so I tried that. Gonna feel it out again on my pull days these next couple weeks and reevaluate.
 
paulchristian said:
I do a few sets of pull ups and chin ups till failure and immediately do lat pull downs after. Been doing this for 2 months now and my back has definitely gotten wider. Are there any other solid exercises that widen (not thicken) the lats?
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bent over rows have been my favorite, paralell to the ground and controlled, dont ego lift this one. squeeze it at the top. been doing 5x10ish with 135 and noticed a difference in a few weeks
 
Vary your grip on pull downs and bent over rows for full development and Dumbbell rows go heavy but keep strict form. It is ok to use straps to push yourself and go beyond your max grip. Reverse grip bent over row are fantastic for total back growth to.
 
Work your lats from every angle, with different movements and change the rep range often. No easy way to happiness: for example I've done workouts where you start with 10x10 bent over rows or cable seated row. Gives you great pump and works especially on the muscle: you can hardly cheat on this cause if you start too heavy, you'll get only 7-8 reps or less at the end and it blows the whole idea. So start with moderate weight and work the muscle. After that you'll do snatch grip deadlifts or rack pulls. The impact goes more on your already fatigued back and you can't go so heavy which would cause that you'll ego lift and use more of the other muscles than back.

Also pullover is a great movement, not only for the isolation but also for the impact on rib cage. Bigger rib cage makes waist look smaller and your v-taper more impressive.

And work also the thickness, my examples weren't just for lats. I've seen lots of wide backs but not so many thick so keep in mind that back needs lots of punishment. Throwing in some intensity techniques wouldn't be bad at all.

It is said that competitions are won from the back. Well developed back is like ace in the pocket cause it's hard to build...

Hope your lats keep getting wider, look for the replies here and experiment: keep trying new things because body adapts fast and you gotta be faster to make the changes so you can continue growing.
 
lol at "widen the rib cage"... I didn't realize pullovers worked your bones
 
avega17 said:
I always feel like I get better contractions with a narrower grip, especially on lat pulldowns and pull ups, but I always see the big names recommending to go as wide as possible so I tried that. Gonna feel it out again on my pull days these next couple weeks and reevaluate.
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Here's a study done on the effects of different grip widths:


Invalid Link Removed
 
booneman77 said:
lol at "widen the rib cage"... I didn't realize pullovers worked your bones
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Well might sound stupid but it does work on your costal cartilages and when they get thicker it will have an little effect on your ribcage size. Of course the growth isn't massive but I just wanted to mention it. My main point was that pullover is good exercise, sorry if I made it sound like off topic.
 
Another tip that I have realized: When doing pronated pulldowns, I believe it is more effective to have your arms slightly in front of the body then completely abducted (think traps squeezed hard/the position of the upper arms during a face pull). This might be a little hard to explain in words. I feel like the lats really initiate and handle the movement when about 20-30 degrees away from complete abduction (this is called the scapular plane). It sort of looks like the position your arms are in during a pullover movement, but not to the same extent.
 
I've always found that nothing widens the lats as much as a ton a heavy, high-rep, high-intensity sets of Lat Pulldowns. Do lat pulldowns until your grip is about to give out, and then do a drop set... Barbell rows are good too.
 
I found over the years the combo of wide grip pullups , under hand chins and heavy one arm dumbell rows work best for width.
 
freakyfit64 said:
I found over the years the combo of wide grip pullups , under hand chins and heavy one arm dumbell rows work best for width.
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X2 with this ^^^.
 
I love doing heavy Tbar Rows because I know imma be hurting the next day. Heavy lat pulldowns and dumbbell/barbell rows are always a great way to add size and width as well!
 
That makes more sense. I was really confused on your original post that squats weren't for quads, because they definitely work the quads. But, I agree, they are a full body lift, just as deadlift and bench press are too when done correctly.
 
KidIcarus said:
That makes more sense. I was really confused on your original post that squats weren't for quads, because they definitely work the quads. But, I agree, they are a full body lift, just as deadlift and bench press are too when done correctly.
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that is due to the fact that [powerlifting] squats are a hamstring dominant movement. front squats and partial back squats do work the quads more than hamstrings but even then you are splitting hairs. the best quad dominant squat IMO is the belt squat.
 
genthoseffect said:
The whole "wide grip for a wide back" thing is completely wrong. A close grip is by far better for activating the lats. Close grip chins and dumbbell rows should be your main movements. If you're lucky enough to have a machine pullover, those are great also
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Close grip definitely feels better for me on pull-ups as far as activating my lats.
Chad Waterbury's HFT worked really well for me. I started at around 35 pull-ups per day and increased by 1 every day til I was at 100. I was on a calorie deficit and still added some good width
 
paulchristian said:
I do a few sets of pull ups and chin ups till failure and immediately do lat pull downs after. Been doing this for 2 months now and my back has definitely gotten wider. Are there any other solid exercises that widen (not thicken) the lats?
Click to expand...

Put on more muscle.

Pull ups and chins should be sufficient however if you want to add more...

My vote goes to cable rows. Slow and controlled. Pull to your belly button and feel the lats spread each rep. Most orgasmic feeling in the world.
 
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