Trouble developing wider lats

[BethaneyJayne]

Hi, I have been training my back pretty hard once a week for a year now, and I have some thickness, but my lats are pretty much the same as before I even worked them. I have had a look at figure girl pics and it seems none of them have overly impressive lats either, they have some, but nothing like the development in their shoulders, legs and abs.
So my question is, have any of you ladies had success with bringing out the lats?
My back day includes...
Pull Ups
lat Pulldown
Pullovers
Barbell Rows
single dumbbell rows
any help would be appreciated!

[Better Unborn]

Wide grip weighted pull ups.

- when descending (negative portion), make the weight tear you down instead of relaxing your muscles.

[Vittorio-]

Originally Posted by BethaneyJayne

Hi, I have been on my back pretty hard once a week for a year now, and I have some thickness.

I bet you have!

[sixzebra]

i brought my lats up by doing lots of pullups, and a combo of wide/close grip pulldowns.

[BEQ one]

Originally Posted by sixzebra

i brought my lats up by doing lots of pullups, and a combo of wide/close grip pulldowns.

I'd say wide grip pull ups and wide grip pull downs should be the best in developing wide lats.

Dead lifts and barbell rows may only work the middle back.

[Fitsho]

Originally Posted by BethaneyJayne

Hi, I have been training my back pretty hard once a week for a year now, and I have some thickness, but my lats are pretty much the same as before I even worked them. I have had a look at figure girl pics and it seems none of them have overly impressive lats either, they have some, but nothing like the development in their shoulders, legs and abs.
So my question is, have any of you ladies had success with bringing out the lats?
My back day includes...
Pull Ups
lat Pulldown
Pullovers
Barbell Rows
single dumbbell rows
any help would be appreciated!

I have actually had some success in adding width to my back by working my lats twice per week. what I mean is that I have a full back day, and then on another day I have a "mini-lats" day where I only perform 2-3 exercises for lats in addition to whatever body part I am working that day. You can do this with any lagging body part. Also, I definitely use a wide variety of hand grips, not just wide.

[BethaneyJayne]

thanks guys, ill give your suggestions ago,
apart from the "Absolutely hilarious" 15 year old, I appreciate the help.

[user9438904904]

seated cable rows...arms at 90 or 45 angle to body, wide grip. good stuff. the king is of course wide grip chins. yates style rows also hit that area a bit because of the hand positioning.

[iNatalia]

x2 wide grip pull-ups...When you are able to do 12-15 strict ones...add weight. But I don't think you'll need weighted pull-ups. I had no lats a year ago. Period. And I've been working my back (or thought I was) for a year. I started getting immediate results as soon as I started doing wide grip pull-up with the correct form - elbows out, shoulders back, trying to pull my elbows to my sides. You can view a pic of my one month back development in my gallery.

Hope that helps.

[nicoledominique]

My lats aren't great by any means but along with pullups and pulldowns, I would say give deadlifting a try - it is so great for overall back development and has helped me SO much!

Also, one arm db rows are awesome!

[BethaneyJayne]

thanks iNatalia, I had a look at your pics and your lats are pretty much what I'm aiming for - so i will happily take your advice, thank you thank you.

[Donica]

A little more than a month ago, I looked in the mirror and it hit me that--for all the strength and density I have in my back--my lats were nothing. Oh no! I don't have a pullup bar at my disposal yet since I train at home, but I do have a low cable/pulley, and figured out a way to do cable rows on the floor (once I realized, duh, the option was there!). I read up on the exercise and have since tried to stress perfect form with each repetition during each workout set... my most recent back workout, two days ago, I looked in the mirror even before I was pumped, and was overjoyed to see my "wings" spreading more obviously than ever!! So that's my personal little suggestion if you want to try it out and add that exercise to your routine...

[wide lats]

Originally Posted by BethaneyJayne

Hi, I have been training my back pretty hard once a week for a year now, and I have some thickness, but my lats are pretty much the same as before I even worked them. I have had a look at figure girl pics and it seems none of them have overly impressive lats either, they have some, but nothing like the development in their shoulders, legs and abs.
So my question is, have any of you ladies had success with bringing out the lats?
My back day includes...
Pull Ups
lat Pulldown
Pullovers
Barbell Rows
single dumbbell rows
any help would be appreciated!

Too many exercises, Mr. wide lats says: hit the pullups with wider (not super wide) grip, and the the barbell rows at full stretch, try HIT training. My wisdom aint usually free, so feel free to put up some bikini pics and videos please thanks.

[MsFit]

Excerpt from Iron Dolls "For the lats to grow effectively they need to be fully stretched during training." You might want to try lat shrugs. Most people training lats don't get the full stretch.

[sbgerber]

not sure if this answer matches up exactly with the science behind how the lat muscles contract and the insertion points however... this is what is working for both myself and my wife.

we try to hit the lats from three grips and three angles. wide, medium, and close grip. above (pulldown type exercise), 45 degree angle (bent row, dumbbell row), straightout (low pully cable row, machine row or similar type exercise).

I feel it is very important to really mix up the grips and angles. with all that said and this is the part people may really disagree on but for myself and my wife it has worked ... parallel close grip lat pulldowns. I feel this exercise the most in my outer lats. The wider I go, the more I feel the exercise in the inner portion of my back. The closer I go the more I feel it isolates just the lats and cuts out the rear delts, rhomboids, traps, etc... But hey, there is no one right way, lots of ways to hit the back. You got a bunch of great comments above, ... aside from the one moron.

Charles Glass has a great back video series that is free to watch on BB.com. It is part of the "Getting Cut with Glass" series, pretty good stuff too.

Good look!

[sbgerber]

Hey, your question got me thinking and I openned another thread on Lat Width in the exercise section which you may find interesting.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4928143

[MsFit]

Originally Posted by sbgerber

not sure if this answer matches up exactly with the science behind how the lat muscles contract and the insertion points however... this is what is working for both myself and my wife.

we try to hit the lats from three grips and three angles. wide, medium, and close grip. above (pulldown type exercise), 45 degree angle (bent row, dumbbell row), straightout (low pully cable row, machine row or similar type exercise).

I feel it is very important to really mix up the grips and angles. with all that said and this is the part people may really disagree on but for myself and my wife it has worked ... parallel close grip lat pulldowns. I feel this exercise the most in my outer lats. The wider I go, the more I feel the exercise in the inner portion of my back. The closer I go the more I feel it isolates just the lats and cuts out the rear delts, rhomboids, traps, etc... But hey, there is no one right way, lots of ways to hit the back. You got a bunch of great comments above, ... aside from the one moron.

Charles Glass has a great back video series that is free to watch on BB.com. It is part of the "Getting Cut with Glass" series, pretty good stuff too.

Good look!

Great post. I cover lat training with those angles in Iron Dolls. The lats are a different muscle and needs to be targeted a little differently. Stretching, angles, and form play a huge role.

[dmd5004]

I work negatives (holding weight in feet) on wide grip pull-ups, close grip lat pull-down all the way down to my belly bottom to elongate the lats (you just don't want them balled up at the top!), one-armed row but from an angle...instead of dropping the weight straight down, I reach out in front of me then pull my elbow back keeping my elbow in and the weight close...this row actually works better on the lats! I love back days!

[Kraftydog]

Originally Posted by Better Unborn

Wide grip weighted pull ups.

- when descending (negative portion), make the weight tear you down instead of relaxing your muscles.

i agree

[Kraftydog]

when doing pull downs focus on spreading and flexing the lats, not moving the weight

[wide lats]

Originally Posted by Kraftydog

i agree

me too. At the bottom of the rep i wont rest either i will go back up while flexing, then at the top i will shift contraction to lats only. Easy, some people cant shift contraction fast they end uphanging on with just hand grip or wriggling their body up by shoulder power while kicking their legs like a captured sheep LOL spotters are helpful if you have weak arms too.

[heckbr2]

What i have been doing recently that seems to work well is having my workout partner press down on my legs on the negative portion so that i have extra resistance but can pull myself up easier that way i can do more reps. I just do as many sets as i can until i cant do anymore lol. Seems to really make my lats pop out well!

[stella summers]

Wider grip -> working upper lats more
Narrower grip -> working lower lats more

[CCCP77]

Originally Posted by stella summers

Wider grip -> working upper lats more
Narrower grip -> working lower lats more

+1. On the wider grip, once you hit 8-10 reps, start adding weight. At your bodyweight, you would not need to add more than 10lb unless you want some freakish lats. Also, barbell rows or row machine should help.

Best of luck.

[Roger999]

Originally Posted by stella summers

Wider grip -> working upper lats more
Narrower grip -> working lower lats more

X2
+ t-bar rows
+ db bench rows
+ food
= yay

[Emoore]

I hung a door-gym pullup bar in the door to my computer room and make myself do one or two super-slow negative pullups every time I want to use the computer. This is in addition to my regular workouts. So far it seems to be working.