Pro tips to stimulate lat growth

[b-boy]

I watch people every day doing pulldowns and pull ups. And use very little lats doing them. They pull with their arms and upper back. End up their elbows back more then they pull their elbows down. They don't have their scapula in the right position. They crunch down and roll forward drop with their abs, drop their chest to move the weight.

 

[bbxtreme]

Thanks brother! I'll definitely give those tips a try! The weight is slowly coming up but it is definitely a fine balance with gaining more size and not getting too fluffy! I've usually been getting extra cardio during the week lately to try and help keep me on the leaner side! It may end up working out that I'll get in a solid dieting down phase and maybe just go from there!

Don’t beat yourself up too much over this as we are ALL blown away with your transformation.

I want to add to my post and from the others who have said you need more muscle- you are cutting and have been.

The fact that you have been recomping without blasting with crazy cycles is an accomplishment of its own.

Remember most muscle is accumulated in a rebound and a surplus- neither of which you are in.

Keep training hard and just really lock that form in as you’re on the right track. It wasn’t until I learned to engage my lats that they started to grow. But once you make that connection- it’s second nature.

 

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

Excellent post


Only thing I will add is to work the entire back.... pulldowns in which your elbows are wide and away from your body is working more upper back, when pulling with elbows tight against your body your working more latissimus dorsi.. so be sure to incorporate both in your routine or rotation

Thanks, Brad! Will Do!

 

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

Don’t beat yourself up too much over this as we are ALL blown away with your transformation.

I want to add to my post and from the others who have said you need more muscle- you are cutting and have been.

The fact that you have been recomping without blasting with crazy cycles is an accomplishment of its own.

Remember most muscle is accumulated in a rebound and a surplus- neither of which you are in.

Keep training hard and just really lock that form in as you’re on the right track. It wasn’t until I learned to engage my lats that they started to grow. But once you make that connection- it’s second nature.

Thank you! Sometimes it's easy forget where I was a couple of years ago and overlook the progress I've made so I really appreciate the reminder! It’s not easy to do but I guess if it were easy everyone would be 250 lbs and lean! Thanks for the tips! But I have to say it’s easier than being overweight and feeling crappy all the time!

 

[K Bomb]

Don't love dudes content that much anymore, but Mike van wycks old back training videos helped me some. He uses some really dumb terminology in my opinion, but some of the body and elbow positions and ways he has people move really helped me. Especially with dumbbell rows and machine rows.

This

 

[chadmack282]

To limit bicep involvement pretend your hands are just hooks & u r pulling with your elbows.
Pull with elbows not hands

 

[Biggerp73]

You have to find a movement that actually works for you. Lots of good suggestions in this thread. Your individual biomechanics will dictate what exercise you feel best. Take a day in the gym to just experiment with every exercise, every angle, until you find something that allows you to really flex, squeeze, and contract the lats.

 

[Biggerp73]

One thing you can start with, is learning to flex, squeeze, and contract the lats without any weight at all. No machine, no exercise. Just stand there and flex. Find the muscle. Now once youve felt it, keep them flexed and move your limbs through exercise patterns, squeezing and contracting through the motions. Once you can do that, make it your set-up before you get into a machine or pickup a weight.

Say you are going to do rows. Stand there and squeeze your lats as hard as you can, then simulate a rowing motion with your lats as contracted as you can keep them (or as "spread out" as you can make them). Now without relaxing your lats, keeping the same posture, get into the machine or pick up the weight, and do the same thing but now under tension.

 

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

A TON of great suggestions and info in this thread!! Much appreciated!!

 

[3BILLS]

I got a late start, but maybe one day I’ll get there! It’s fun trying though! I wish it didn’t take so long! lol

So you need to listen to luki If you wanna get there.

It's a boring answer and probably not what u wanted to hear but the truth

Oh and single lat pulldown machine with a phat grip using straps with a 5 second negative.. be sure to add 5 pounds every week. Lots of grunting

 

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

So you need to listen to luki If you wanna get there.

It's a boring answer and probably not what u wanted to hear but the truth

Oh and single lat pulldown machine with a phat grip using straps with a 5 second negative.. be sure to add 5 pounds every week. Lots of grunting

Oh no I’m all for constructive criticism, I just thought they looked smaller compared to my other body parts right now, but definitely will continue to work on gaining more size for sure!

But I definitely am lacking feeling that mind/muscle connection with my lats also, so I’m going to work on getting that perfected also!

 

[3BILLS]

Oh no I’m all for constructive criticism, I just thought they looked smaller compared to my other body parts right now, but definitely will continue to work on gaining more size for sure!

But I definitely am lacking feeling that mind/muscle connection with my lats also, so I’m going to work on getting that perfected also!

Workout 1

Deadlift
Rows
Chin ups

Workout 2

Pulldowns
Mach pulldown
Mach row
Cable row

Ronnie was on to something

 

[heavyhitter]

Are you guys usually doing pull downs at the beginning of your back workout or does it matter? Usually I do them close to the end.

End for me

 

[b-boy]

To limit bicep involvement pretend your hands are just hooks & u r pulling with your elbows.
Pull with elbows not hands

 

[specter]

Now personally i always had a great wide back, but the ppl i tried helping with getting a better back these are the advice they said helped them the most.
1.Posing, learn to activate your lats and flare them out, between sets try and active your lats and hold poses
2. Underhand bareball row, like yates used to do em, for some reason this learns alot of ppl about the whole mind to muscle connection, dont to them heavy.
3.Chinups, pullups, wide grib, closegrib, underhand, overhand all the the varations.
4.More posing, when your done training pose until you cant pose no more the better the mind to muscle connection you have while not training the better it will be while training.

 

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

Now personally i always had a great wide back, but the ppl i tried helping with getting a better back these are the advice they said helped them the most.
1.Posing, learn to activate your lats and flare them out, between sets try and active your lats and hold poses
2. Underhand bareball row, like yates used to do em, for some reason this learns alot of ppl about the whole mind to muscle connection, dont to them heavy.
3.Chinups, pullups, wide grib, closegrib, underhand, overhand all the the varations.
4.More posing, when your done training pose until you cant pose no more the better the mind to muscle connection you have while not training the better it will be while training.

Thanks brother!

 

[Mr_Squirrel]

If you’re really struggling to develop a MMC, give these guys a try



Start by decreasing the weight significantly. And when you apply the hooks to the bar/machine do not hold on with your hands at all. Let them go limp and just dangle. This will completely remove any forearm and bicep activation, allowing you to concentrate on just contracting your lats

When performing the lift, initiate all movement from the elbow. For example, if you’re doing a lat pulldown, don’t think about just bringing the bar down to your chin/clavicle. Imagine you’re trying to drive your elbows into your pockets, while squeezing your lats as aggressively as possible

Once you have a good connection with your lats, i would ditch the hooks and go back to regular straps, as the hooks will become more and more awkward as the weight really starts to climb. Just my opinion, but if you like the hooks better, then stick with them

Hope this helps

 

[cesarpaiva]

I like doing pull ups whenever i see a bar lol or i just do lat pulldowns with a underhand grip

 

[3BILLS]

Superset your lat movements starting with rope cable pullovers

 

[cm]

Im not too sure if you have thought of this persepective when going through this thread
devils advocate......

there are many threads here and other boards stating bodybuilders in general arent as good as the past
with that said, not saying I personally agree, or not, not too many people did crazy hip turning one arm cable attachement rows: or rowing up to the elbows level with the torso, but going back towards the pockets etc etc back in the era everyone romaticises about

Im sure: all you saw was the basics, over and over again. strong guys, moving heavy weights with thier straps around a dumbell or a bar of some sort.
Ive also see every high school kid in the gyms I've gone to, do these single arm body torqueing cable rows or turning sideways on every hammer stgrenght machine to change the angle for many years: and I havent seen any of them hit the stage.