There are numerous reasons why you should be focusing on your lats when you’re working on your upper body training.
If you’re wondering where your lats are, they’re your Latissimus Dorsi, the broadest muscle in your back. They play a significant part in all pulling exercises, and they work to stabilize your back and help you move your shoulders.
While you may think you need weights to make your lats stronger and larger, that isn’t the case. So long as you train them consistently, you will be able to strengthen them.
By strengthening your lats, you’ll be able to improve your body stability and your athletic performance.
Not only this but don’t forget about posture improvement too. If you don’t use your back muscles, you end up with a slouched posture.
By exercising your lats, you’ll find that your back will become stronger, and you’ll find you’ll be standing up straighter than you ever did before.
If you want to do some all-around bodybuilding, you don’t only want to focus on your visible muscles. A balanced approach to building muscle will be safer for you, and you’ll find that you’ll look much better.
To get you your perfect physique, we’ve compiled seven of the most intense lat exercises you can do in the comfort of your home.
1. Wide Grip Pull-Ups
You’re going to need a pull-up bar to do this technique. Make sure your hands are shoulder-width apart when you grab the bar with your palms facing away from you.
Then, with your back straight and your feet slightly in front of your body, bring your shoulder blades down and contract your lats to pull yourself up until you find your chin above the bar.
Pause at this point, and return to the starting position. Repeat this until you’ve done as many repetitions as you are able to do.
2. Reverse Snow Angels
You’ll need to lie down on your stomach with your hands held above your head and your palms facing downward.
To do reverse snow angels, pick your shoulders up to lift your arms and back to your sides with your palms upwards. Then, lift your shoulders to bring your arms and palms up to the position you started.
As you do this exercise, remember to squeeze your lats hard and repeat and target 10-15 reps.
3. Belly Penguins
You’ll need to lie on your stomach with your arms and hands by your sides with your palms facing upwards.
Then, lift your chest and contract the right lat as you reach down to your right side as far as you can. Then, return to your starting position. Do the same towards your left side, and contract your left lats as you do this.
Keep doing this and repeat, shooting for 10-15 repetitions on each side. You’ll know when you’re doing this correctly because, from a certain angle, you will look like you’re a penguin moving.
4. Supinated Pull-Up Hold
You’ll need the pull-up bar once again for this exercise. With your palms facing your direction, grab the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart. Keep your back straight and ensure your feet are in front of your body when you hang from the bar.
Bring your shoulders down and contract your lats to pull yourself up so your chin is above the bar. Hold this for a minimum of three seconds and squeeze your lats and biceps.
Then, slowly return to the start and repeat for as many reps as you are able to.
5. Alternating Bring Backs
Returning to your stomach, lie down with your hands over your head, your arms bent, and your palms facing downwards.
Contract your right lat and bring your right elbow up and backward. Then, pause for a moment and squeeze your lat while your arm is at the top of your body. Then, return to the position you started.
Switch each side until you’ve reached 10-15 reps on each side. When you do this, try to keep your legs straight and your upper body should look like you’re making swimming motions.
6. Seal Push-Ups
Lower your body onto the ground with your hands placed underneath your shoulders. Plant your hips onto the floor and push your upper body to look like a seal stretching.
Keep your lats tense and slowly return to the position you started with and repeat this motion until you have reached 10-15 repetitions.
7. Pulse Row
Lie on your stomach and keep your palms faced upwards. Then, retract your shoulder blades and squeeze your lats to lift your shoulders from the ground.
Bring your arms up and back, hold your position for three seconds and return to the start. Then, repeat these movements for 10-15 reps in a slow and controlled manner.
To add in some extra challenge each time you do these exercises, consider adding some weight to your exercise. Add some dumbbells into your routine if you have them available or find something around the house that will create additional resistance.
By adding variety to your workouts, your body won’t get used to the same workouts, and you’ll have to consistently train harder. If you don’t add variety, your body won’t feel challenged and it will know what to expect.
Remember to do your workouts regularly, doing them every day for half an hour if you want to ensure you have results.
Don’t overwork your muscles, but if you feel like half an hour isn’t a challenge, you should look to increase your intensity versus adding time and doing easier moves.
You can add dumbbells or another type of weight to increase the challenge of your pull-up exercises, and you can make your pull-ups easier by assisting yourself with a resistance band.
Do this by wrapping one end over the pull-up bar and then placing your knee or foot through the other end. This will assist you in doing the exercise and make the exercise slightly easier while still allowing you to get the full benefit of a difficult exercise.
Final Thoughts
An all-around workout routine can have great benefits for your body, and focusing on all areas can lead to a far better aesthetic for you than if you chose to only work on your visible muscles.
You’ll have better posture once you utilize your lats workout into your routine. However, you won’t see as many results unless you do so regularly and consistently.
Workout routines will only give you the desired results when you make them a part of your daily life, so it’s necessary to acknowledge that workouts should be able to be done at home as well as at the gym if you belong to one.
You may need to purchase a pull-up bar if you don’t already have one or visit the nearest park that has one, but don’t let that discourage you as the majority of these exercises do not need one.
While doing these exercises regularly will have results, don’t forget to add some variety to your workout routine and challenge yourself if you find them becoming too easy.
Keep a running log of all of your routines so you can see when and what you have done each time you work out.
Hi, my name is TJ Daniels. I am a certified personal trainer dedicated to health and fitness for the past 20+ years. We have found that consistency is the key to wellness and our company is founded on this philosophy. If you would like to learn more, please see our About Us page or Contact Us with questions, feedback, suggestions for future content, or collaboration opportunities. Let’s enjoy this journey together!
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