Lets talk LAT Width

rAJJIN · Sep 20, 2004

check out this old pic of troy alves in the off season.

rAJJIN · Sep 20, 2004

whats the best way to get these "fuggers" (stole that one off massiveG)

what are you big guys doing for Lats
sets reps etc for maximum width?

I think Dc said he made great improvements in this area
with the stretching and strapping himself up and hanging as long as possable.
Im curious what the members here are doing.

Nferno · Sep 20, 2004

Lat Width

I always get my best improvements in lat width when I start doing the following movements:

Reverse grip pull-downs
Reverse grip seated cable rows
Wide grip pull-downs using a strait bar (F**K them angled ones)

Slow mo and STRICT reps, 8 reps min to make sure your lats are doing the load of the work recruiting minimal bi's and etc..really concentrate on the mind muscle link, feel, form and contraction.

TooPowerful4u · Sep 20, 2004

From my experience and knowledge in this.... i believe scalpula flexibility and mobility is responsible for lat width to the best of your genetic structure. Some of the best stretching exercises i like are settin the lat pull really heavy and getting my knees under the pads and just let the bar pull your arms up hard. You can really feel the stretch. You can also do this on the cable row if you let it stretch you foward hard. Also you can try to develope the teres to best of your ability since they are the highest outermost muscles on the back. If you really care that much and wanna learn... abcbodybuilding.com has an anatomy section with an in depth comprehensive 6 part article complete with diagrams on back anatomy, scalpula munipulation, etc . . .

JETHRO TULL · Sep 20, 2004

GOOD POST......

PICS LIKE THAT ARE PRETTY MOTIVATIONAL.

Vander_V · Sep 20, 2004

wide grip weighted chins every 3rd week increase weight by 5 lbs.

Steak Helmet · Sep 20, 2004

I would have to agree that wide grip weighted chins...do some forced reps every so often to get your body use to the heavier weights so you can increase weight on other movements....pulldowns....rows...ect.

AWN2004 · Sep 20, 2004

Chins......period!!!

TooPowerful4u · Sep 20, 2004

Everyone agrees wide grip chins? Just so happens wide grip chins are a combination of scalpula munipulation and also hit the teres hard

LATS · Sep 20, 2004

toopowerful is right.. width is determined by the development of the teres and the flexibility of the scapula.. stretching between sets will also help "pull" the scapula out for more width.. the teres can be developed many ways but, the best is anything wide grip in a pull down fashion..you will sacrifice lat mass with a wide grip, but the illusion of width will happen by the developing of the teres..

BCC · Sep 20, 2004

I'll actually disagree with wide grip chins.

I think they're more a setup for injury. I think a comfortable shoulder width or a little bit outside grip is better.

But really, I didn't develop any lats until I quit pull ups/pull downs and got myself into some heavy ass barbell rows.

Big A · Sep 21, 2004

I do all the back movements with a very powerful stretch in the extended position. I hold that for 1 second every rep. Always done my back work that way.

A50# · Sep 21, 2004

AWN2004 said:
Chins......period!!!

Well said! To develop a great back, chins are a MUST!

MikeS · Sep 21, 2004

I always felt that you could get the same or more out of HEAVY pulldowns.
You could slightly determine the 'groove' of the rep, more so than chins.
Id say my lats are my betst bodypart. And when they were at the widest I was doing really heavy (350-400lbs) lat pulls. I can still probably do 350 in loose form for low reps, but Ive sacrificed some size for quality look and leanness, so Im not quite as wide anymore.

Big A · Sep 21, 2004

MikeS said:
I always felt that you could get the same or more out of HEAVY pulldowns.
You could slightly determine the 'groove' of the rep, more so than chins.
Id say my lats are my betst bodypart. And when they were at the widest I was doing really heavy (350-400lbs) lat pulls. I can still probably do 350 in loose form for low reps, but Ive sacrificed some size for quality look and leanness, so Im not quite as wide anymore.

Agreed.

Massive G · Sep 21, 2004

rAJJIN said:
whats the best way to get these "fuggers" (stole that one off massiveG)

what are you big guys doing for Lats
sets reps etc for maximum width?

I think Dc said he made great improvements in this area
with the stretching and strapping himself up and hanging as long as possable.
Im curious what the members here are doing.

Well FUGG me!
LOL I will prolly go against the grain here..but my main man Dorian always did reverse grip pulldowns-not sure about chins-Nautilus pullovers- and reverse grip BB rows very heavy-which yes I know he tore that bi on them but.....
His excuse was you could get a more powerful contraction of the lats and recruit more fibers. I think it all boils down to genes anyway because his back would have been big and thick and wide if he were a simple street sweeper in London..lol.
I always do 2 times a month reverse grip chins after warming up with rev grip pulldowns and then Reverse Yates Rows etc but limit direct bicep work on those days..a different story..but you get the idea.
! am not big on wide grip stuff as it irritates my rotators...I'll do reverse grip DC rack chins and regular reverse grip chins in my program.