In Parts 1-3 of this series, we talked about bulking up your deltoids, trapezius and rhomboids. Here in Part Four, we are now going to discuss what you can do to build up your latissimus dorsi muscles. If you train them hard enough and smart enough, it can look like you have wings flying around all the time! There is no muscle that makes you look thicker than when you have giant lats. They just give you a much bigger appearance when somebody looks at you from the front or the rear. Anyway, let’s get started on how to build some huge lats…
The Lats
Latissimus dorsi literally means the broadest muscle of the back. That should be a big enough reason along for you to focus more on your lats! In case you aren’t familiar with them, they are the muscles that attach directly under your armpits and wrap around your back to your spine. If you reach across your body to just beneath your armpit with your opposite arm you will be able to feel your lat muscle.
This exercise, if done correctly, can be the absolute best for building up your lats. It can target your lats like no other exercise out there. There are other great exercises that we will discuss later that do a great job, but this one puts the largest percentage of stress directly on your lats. I am sure you have heard of these or seen somebody doing this at the gym. You can go very heavy on this exercise with very little problems. By putting one knee on the bench, one foot on the floor, and one hand on the bench, it provides a great base of support and stability to be able to handle heavier weights.
Don’t be afraid to go up to a heavy set of 5 or 8 reps in this exercise. As long as you aren’t moving your upper body and using momentum to cheat, just grab the biggest dumbbell you can pull! Just be sure that you bring the dumbbell all the way up to your chest. If you can hold the weight at your chest for a few seconds, it probably means the weight is too light. Lifting heavier can ensure more stress on your muscles and thus a greater response.
I always recommend more sets and reps for these rows as long as you can maintain good form. Anywhere from 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps will do. A great finisher would be a set of 20 or 30 with each arm with a slightly lighter dumbbell. You can use a very small amount of momentum just to overload your lats a bit. Notice I said just a little bit of momentum! Don’t cheat too much on that final set of 20-30 reps. It is a great muscle building finisher and will leave you with a great pump!
Pull-ups/Chin-ups (Forced/Assisted Reps)
Most people believe that these are the king of all lat exercises. I would call it a “tie” between these and the Single Arm Dumbbell Rows. I have noticed that with all of my clients that they respond the best to whatever we put more focus on! Seems logical, right? I saw zero difference in most of my clients between which one produced a greater hypertrophy response. The best response was produced with whichever exercise we prioritized at the time. We have written an entire article on pull-ups and some ways to build on your pull-up strength. You can check out this article here.
The recommendation I always give for pull-ups is 3 sets of about 10 repetitions. I also want to add to that a little bit for the more advanced lifters out there. You can up those reps to 3 sets to max, or just add weight to your pull-ups and still perform 8-12 reps. You must always challenge yourself each time you step in the weight room to see results, just as with every other exercise.
One of my favorite ways to blast the lats is to do some forced, or assisted, repetitions. After you have done your set to failure you either grab a band attached to the top of the pull-up bar and put your feet in it, or you have a friend hold your feet and help by giving you a little boost. This way you can do more reps with a little bit less than your own body weight.
If all you ever do is stop when you can’t pull yourself up, then you probably aren’t getting the maximum effect out of your pull-ups. Try to add anywhere from 5-10 assisted reps after each set. Start with just one assisted set on your first workout though, as it can cause a higher level of muscle soreness.
Chained Pull-ups
You won’t need that heavy of a chain, but this can add a great amount of difficulty to what may be a very simple exercise for you. As you pull yourself higher, you will actually increase in weight (as the chain rises). Thus, it makes the exercise harder and harder the closer your chin gets to the bar. You will want to get a chain that is completely lifted off the ground by the time your chin is over the bar. Another great element that the chain adds is the lack of stability. Your lats and core will have to work extra hard to stabilize your body so you don’t shake back and forth. You can either attach the chain around your waist, to a belt, or some people have even attached smaller chains to their feet. However you want to do it is probably fine, as long as the key components stay the same. The top of the exercise (when your chin is almost to the bar) is when your lats are contracted to the max. By increasing the load during this phase it can really produce tremendous results. Another great trick is to pause at the end of each set at the top of the pull-up for as long as you can. Challenge yourself and try to beat your previous time on every set. This challenges your willpower and your mind as much as it does your lats!
Putting it all together
If you want to really see a great response from your lats, you can do a combination of what I mentioned above. Here would be a great sample routine for someone looking for a great lat workout:
Sample Lat Workout
Single Arm Dumbbell Rows – 5 sets of 12 repetitions (each arm).
Single Arm Dumbbell Rows – 1 set of 30 repetitions (each arm) . Burnout Set.
Chin-ups – 3 sets of max repetitions (or close to max). Then, 1 set of 10 assisted reps
Chained Pull-ups – 2 sets of 10 (or within 1-2 reps of failure). Pause on the last one.
Keep in mind that this is assuming you would have also worked the rest of your back (or included other exercises in this workout). Perhaps some dead-lifts, squats, or power cleans may have been added to begin the workout. This is simply an example of the portion of the workout that you could do to bulk up your lats. I can tell you that if you perform this workout, you will be very sore for a few days afterwards if done correctly.
It is not always true that soreness means you had a great workout, but if you are in decent shape you should give this workout a shot!
David Spitz – David is the founder of California Strength Academy in San Ramon. This former high school football player was also a USA Junior National Team thrower in track and field. He is currently working towards his CSCS certification. Clients he has recently trained include Chris Cooper (just resigned with the Oakland Raiders), TJ Ward (second round 2009 / 2010 NFL Draft pick) and Cameron Colvin (former Oregon Ducks and San Francisco 49ers player).