Building Lats Muscle

A useful guide on "Building Lats Muscle".

The back comprises of several muscles that need to be exercised in a well balanced manner. While the Latissimus Dorsi is the biggest muscle and is important, the other supporting muscles also need their share of development for a perfect shape. All in all, there are a total of 11 different muscles that together contribute towards it. If we divide the back into 4 different zones, it would mean lats, upper back, lower back and the spinal muscles. All these areas need to be exercised either directly or indirectly if stability has to be brought to the body. The combination of right balance and perfect looks does wonders for any individual.

6 Lat Muscle Building Exercises

Different instructors suggest different types of exercises to build the lat muscles. However, even though they may look distinct on the books, most of them work similarly. The 6 best exercises for building lats muscles have been enumerated below. Never concentrate only on one of these but instead, try to mix them.

• Stiff Arm Pull Down: One of the slower exercises but very effective near the armpits (upper lats). The bar needs to be bought till the eye level before being pulled down. Arms need to be straight with little or no bends in the elbows.

• Neutral Grip Pull Down: This requires grabbing the lat attachment and pulling the bar towards the chest (keep the attachments at shoulder width with the hands facing each other). With this exercise, the lats are placed in the most appropriate position which makes it the best lat stretcher.

• One Arm Dumbbell Row: This requires the individual to place one knee on the bench and pull the dumbbell while keeping the head up and the back arched. The pulling action may be replaced by sawing action for better results (dumbbell should be at the waist at the up position and below the shoulders in the down position).

• Reverse Grip Lat Pull Downs: The position requires leaning down a bit with an arched back. Pull the bar as close as possible to the nipple lines before pushing them away. Always try to get them as low as possible even if it means sacrificing on the weight. Arching action is more important than the total weights on the bar for this exercise to be effective.

• Bent Over Rows: Hold the bar in both hands at the same time keeping the upper body straight (the bar should be at knee level if correctly positioned). Pull the bar to the waist before bringing it back down. Both, reverse or prone grip are equally beneficial (one may wish to alternate between the two as they are a good variation for the hand muscles).

• Pulls Ups: Perhaps the most well known method of building the lat muscle is by performing pull ups. Grab the pull up bar with hands shoulder width apart with the palms facing away from you. Pull yourself up and squeeze your back at the top. Slowly return back to the bottom and repeat.