If you want to build bigger, wider lats you have to pull. I’m talking about exercises like bent over rows, lat pulldowns and pullups to name a few. That said, unless you learn how to pull the way I’m showing you in this video, you will be leaving a lot of lat gains on the table. Today I show you how to increase the contraction of the lats on every pulling back exercise you do.
The best part about this back and lat exercise tweak is that you can do it right away and feel the difference. It starts with a bit of anatomy however. When you look at the latissimus dorsi muscle you see that it actually isn’t in the best line of pull. It wraps around from it’s origin on the spine to the humerus and has to make a turn in order to do so. When we do exercises like rows or pulldowns, the lats never are placed in a direct line of pull since they are blocked anatomically by our own torso.
We can fix this however by using one arm to set the body up to be in a better position. All you have to do is allow one arm to stay extended without allowing the plates to rest on the stack. In other words, you want to have some tension on the arm that is technically resting. What this does is cause the torso to rotate a bit towards the side you are pulling.
Not only does this clear more room for your shoulder blade to travel (which is indirectly affected by the lats since they will affect the spine which is connected to the scapula by other muscles), but it will place the lat in a direct line of pull between it’s origin and insertion. This makes for a stronger peak contraction on the lats and allows you to lift with more strength.
Over time, the more powerful and strong contractions that you amass from workout to workout, the more capable you will be of building that muscle. The lats can often be one of those trickier muscles for people to build for this very reason. The strength of lat contraction just isn’t what it needs to be to maximally deliver gains.
