Can't get a good lat workout...

[Shibby]

What help changed your lat developement? I do lat pulldowns and where I lay on my back, take a dumbell and drop it behind my head and pull it back forward over my chest. I will through pull up into it also to try and get a good feel. But never can get the same feeling in my lats that I do the rest of my body.

[bluedevil]

low cable rows with a v-grip. pay attention to form. get a good stretch and a peak contraction.

[gymaddict250]

Try a narrow grip pull-down with an arch mid-back instead of in the lower back. I also switched to an under-hand grip on barbell rows. It is a lot easier to tear your bicep with this grip but I feel it so much better in the belly of the lat. I'm with Bluedevil on the low cable pulley. Great exercise. One thing you can try every few workouts is lowering the weight a little and then holding the movement and squeezing the lats for a count of three or four seconds.

[hitmansb]

Some things a gym vet once told me helped me make the mind-muscle connection with my lats:

1) Use a thumbs-over grip whenever possible...think of your hands as merely being 'hooks'. You're not pulling with your hands...but rather, you're pulling your elbows back and trying to touch them together behind your back. Sounds strange, but cut the weight you use and try it, visualizing your elbows as your focus. This will help you eliminate the biceps to a great degree, and really allow you to focus on your lats.

2) Squeeze each rep at the peak for a full second, as hard as you can. It should feel like someone is pinching your back; the contraction will be that intense if done correctly.

3) Full range of motion...I mean FULL. Stretch those arms up or out, depending on the excersise, until it feels like your arms are going to nearly be pulled from your shoulders...then...and only then...do you pull back the elbows for the next rep.

Good luck making that mind-muscle connection. Drop the amount of weight, concentrate hard, and you'll get there.

[rock]

Originally posted by hitmansb
Some things a gym vet once told me helped me make the mind-muscle connection with my lats:

1) Use a thumbs-over grip whenever possible...think of your hands as merely being 'hooks'. You're not pulling with your hands...but rather, you're pulling your elbows back and trying to touch them together behind your back. Sounds strange, but cut the weight you use and try it, visualizing your elbows as your focus. This will help you eliminate the biceps to a great degree, and really allow you to focus on your lats.

2) Squeeze each rep at the peak for a full second, as hard as you can. It should feel like someone is pinching your back; the contraction will be that intense if done correctly.

3) Full range of motion...I mean FULL. Stretch those arms up or out, depending on the excersise, until it feels like your arms are going to nearly be pulled from your shoulders...then...and only then...do you pull back the elbows for the next rep.

Good luck making that mind-muscle connection. Drop the amount of weight, concentrate hard, and you'll get there.

#1 really helped me out in all pulling exercises

[alwaysgrowing]

concentrate on scapula retraction when doing back. What i mean by this is concentrate on pulling your shoulder blades towards one another when doing back exercises

[cookmic5]

I'm with alwaygrowing on this one. that concept has helped me a lot. I personally prefer vert. pull down or pull ups with focus on scapula retraction to get a good workout for lats.

cm5

[BBLB]

I have to echo hitmansb on tip 1. Alot of people pull to much with thier arms and end up failing to recruit the muscle fibers in thier back. Idealy when doing a back exercise, you want to have your back flexed even before you reach the midway part of the movement.

[JUICE]

this is what i use for back jack:


bent-over rows: 5 sets of 5-10 reps

shoulder shrugs: 5 sets of 5-10 reps

one arm rows: 3 sets of 5-10 reps

[rubberduckyo]

Originally posted by alwaysgrowing
concentrate on scapula retraction when doing back. What i mean by this is concentrate on pulling your shoulder blades towards one another when doing back exercises

Bingo! That's EXACTLY what I picture in my mind, trying to touch my shoulder blades together. Of course this can't be done. Just what I picture in my head that I'm trying to do.

[Stonecold54]

Machine pullovers, machine pullovers, machine pullovers.

no other movement is as good for the back. WHY? because it is the only movement that elimanates weak links (arm muscles). when you use pulldown movements and rowing movements (which I do) you are at the mercy of your weak link muscles. pullovers eliminate those links and go straight to the back muscles. most gyms do not invest in good pullover machines so most people will not be able to take this advice. and dumbell pullovers are not comparable because the last 20 degrees or so of the movement is horizontal force which does not achieve contraction of the muscle.

[alwaysgrowing]

pullover work, just not the best choice. great preexhauster though IMO.

P.S. if you train properly, your weaklink muslce should be gone quickly

[Puddles]

Assisted pull-ups on the Gravitron, really focussing on using the back to do the work, holding for a sec or two at the top and getting a really good stretch when down. I found that by keeping my feet out and my upper body leaning in towards the machine I could feel it better than before.

I don't know if I can describe this exercise right, but I'll try. On the roman chair face towards the ground, come up but instead of holding a plate against my chest I take dumbells and kinda do rows with them as I come up pushing my shoulder blades as close together as I can, then hold for a sec or two before going back down with arms and torso.

I've found that lowering weight and doing more reps helps me with back...otherwise I wind up using my arms too much...I'd hit failure because of my arms being wiped out instead of my back.

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by alwaysgrowing
pullover work, just not the best choice. great preexhauster though IMO.

P.S. if you train properly, your weaklink muslce should be gone quickly

could you explain that statement. I can't agree because your back muscles should always be far stronger than your bicep muscle. if it is not then you AREN'T training right.

[alwaysgrowing]

Originally posted by stonecold54
could you explain that statement. I can't agree because your back muscles should always be far stronger than your bicep muscle. if it is not then you AREN'T training right.

overall strength, yea. the back has several large muslce groups. but if your biceps are strong, they will hold up through your back workout. too often, we get obsessed with biceps and overtrain them. causing them to be weakened. Look at anyones workout who has a decent size back. there will be fewer people doing pullovers then people doing them. As well, pullovers recruit your seratus anterior, which could be considered a weaklink to your back.

If i said leg exten were the best movement for your legs because it eliminates your glutes, hamstrings, etc that are recruited with squats, wouldnt it sound a little crazy?