You might be wondering, “Why in the world would I want to focus on my lats?”
Believe it or not, your lats are one of the largest muscle groups in your body and certainly one of the most important when it comes to building the perfect aesthetic physique.
Your lats in combination with your deltoids and a small waist are what gives you the perfect V-shaped body that we all want, and women go nuts over.
Think about your body for a second – and take a look at the top physique competitors in the world all over Instagram.
They aren’t really that big. In fact – some of them are about 170-180 lbs., yet they look like monsters. Take a look at Jeremy Buendia if you want to see someone who weighs 170 lbs. and looks huge.
What makes these dudes look so big? Its their aesthetics. The wider you can get your lats and deltoids and the smaller you can get your waist is going to give you the illusion that your way bigger than you really are. This is why fitness models have such an appealing physique.
Are you excited to develop this under worked and under appreciated muscle group? Let’s dive into how you can integrate this 3-exercise lat workout routine into your bodybuilding schedule.
How To Use This Lat Workout
First of all – we are going to use this in addition to the workouts we are already doing. We don’t need to dedicate an entire workout to our lats – but rather integrate a few crucial exercises into the routine we’re already doing.
This routine works best if you perform it about 2 times per week. This simple lat routine will only take you 15 minutes to go through, so I recommend you do it at the end of your back day, and at the start of your leg day.
If you can knock out these three exercises twice a week for the next month you’ll certainly see a big improvement in your aesthetics.
Ready to start working those lats? Let’s dive in and take a look at the actual lat workout routine you can do twice per week for a wider more muscular V shaped back.
Lat Workouts For Mass: Use These 3 Exercises
Exercise #1: Standing Lat Press-Downs (superset heavy then light)
This is a great exercise, which will emphasize time under tension directly on your upper lats.
You will be performing this exercise by standing up and placing your hands about shoulder width apart on a lateral pull-down machine.
The key to this exercise is you never come up past the height of your middle chest. This is going to break down the maximum amount of lean muscle in your upper lats – and stopping the movement right around the middle portion of your chest will directly work your upper lats.
Focus on keeping a tight core throughout this movement and you’ll reap some incredible results.
For the first portion of the superset you should pick a weight you can only do for about 8-10 repetitions. Then you will drop the weight in half and do another set in the 12-15 rep range.
To really work a muscle like your lats which are hard to focus on – you need to squeeze the muscle throughout and get a strong mind-muscle connection. This is the perfect exercise to achieve that combination.
Exercise #2: Static Hold Wide Grip Pull-Ups (superset with side-to-side pull-ups)
Time for some fun… You’re going to be performing a static hold pull-up with your hands in the wide grip position. By holding the pull-up position with your hands out wide you are focusing directly on your upper and middle lats, which will give you an incredible V-shape.
If you’re serious about your aesthetics this is the exercise you want to focus on. Your goal starting out should be about a 20-30 second hold. If this is too easy you can add a weight between your feet.
After you complete this static hold until failure you should grab a quick rest – and get ready to knock out this superset with some side to side pull – ups. This is going to really drill those lats after doing the static hold pull-ups. If you can do more than 8-10 side to side pull-ups after being fatigued, you are a full blown beast!
Exercise #3: Underhand Grip Smith Machine Barbell Row
The smith machine underhand grip barbell row is pretty straight forward and will help you develop the thickness of your V-shaped back.
I prefer doing this exercise on the smith machine because you can get constant tension and resistance on the negative portion of the repetition.
On this exercise you should really aim to go light and get somewhere in the 15-20 repetition range. Focusing on that mind-muscle connection and squeezing the lats throughout the movement.
And that’s the entire lat exercise routine! I know the idea of working your lat muscles isn’t the most exciting thing in the world – but you will be thanking me in a few months when you have the aesthetics of a Greek god!
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