Top 5 Exercises for Growing Lats

The lats will make or break your physique and is one bodypart where your whey protein supplement will come handy.No surprises here! The wide grip pullup is the best of all lat building exercises when it comes to enlarging your lats. Now I do understand that some of you will not be able to pull yourself up completely and that’s understandable. A solution to this is to ask your gym trainer to hold your legs while you pull yourself up. Don’t focus on the postive, or going up, but do focus on coming down slowly. This in turn will help you build strength through your core, lats and forearms for you to then perform full reps.

If the pullup is the king of all lat widening exercises, then the bent over row is the top exercise for thickeing lats and it’s considered one of the best exercises for the upper body. No one only wants big lats without any definition. The definition and thickness only comes through rowing movements. While performing this exercise, bend your knees slightly and your back at a 45 degree angle while always remembering to pull from your elbows and not your arms to ensure that the lats are getting hit optimally.

The pulldown is not only one of the most effective way to build your lats but also helpis you to build strength for your wide grip pull ups. Strict form is always advised during this exercise and remember to not jerk the weight towards you. Don’t lift with your ego, as that is a common weightlifting mistake, because then that’s the only thing that’s going to improve.

This is in my opinion the best exercise for big back and wide lats as it has personally given me numerous benefits. There are two variations of this exercise, one with the handle itself and one with a v-bar handle attached. This exercise will also strain your hamstrings, lower back, core, tricep and forearms. Supplement this bang-for-your-buck exercise with best protein supplements.

The only downside to all these amazing exercises is that lats are the only muscle group that are most likely to develop muscular imbalances. Why? Because most lat movements are two handed so you don’t know which lat is doing most of the work which tends to propogate muscular imbalances. Enter the one-arm row/pulldown. While performing this movement keep your other arm on the bench and keep your back straight. Never round your back in any back exercises as that will surely result in injuries. While rowing pull the weight towards your obliques to ensure maximum results and do not yank the weight. The beauty of this is that you can attach the cable crossover handle to the pulldown machine and do the same with a pulldown motion, thus ensuring balanced lats.

Here’s hoping that all of you are on your way to develop that wicked wingspan!