Cant Get a good work out for my lats

[koa187]

Originally Posted by peter03

today I worked my ass off trying to hit them as hard as I can but still no pain, no pump and no gain.

My gym has 3 types of lats pull down machine and I hit all 3 doing 3 sets on each 8-12 reps (failure). all I feel is a pump in my arm muscles. I even tried shocking them by pulling very heavy weight 1-3 reps and still nothing.

My question is when does lats come in to action as you are pulling the bar down on a lat pull down machine? Is it at the begining of pull down or the end? It seems my biceps are doing all the work!

ps.
I have tried the row machine, using free weight and nothing seem to work.

you answered your own question there bud. You cant feel your lats because your letting your BICEPS do all the work.

[JC480]

Originally Posted by namtrag

wear straps, and use a grip with your thumbs not wrapped around the bar.

You know...I tried a thumbless grip on DB rows and cable pulls today....wow...this hit my back NICE...I was feeling it even after the first set. I feel like an idiot for not trying this before. Really takes the arms out of the equation nicely and focuses work on the back.

[kennyken55]

Throw in some rows in your back workouts, DB or BB. Also grab hold of the sides of any strong pole, side of a machine with both hands in front of you and stretch, this will really help you feel a pump in your lats, I usually do this after every couple of sets.

[imenraged]

Pull ups......

[IronCharles]

It took me a while to realize how effective the thumbless grip is in forcing the biceps to do less of the work. I think it's something I learned by accident, and I wish someone had taught me about it long ago, lol!

One other thing I learned, and there are those who will disagree with this..... but I have learned through trial and error that wider grip on lat pull downs does not necessarily give you wider lats, in and of itself. The lats are one big muscle per side, and what gives you width is simply, more mass. In the same manner that you cannot fill your inner pecs with special exercises, you cannot build your upper lats exclusive of the lower part.

(Yes, I know...... this may be radical thinking to some, but look at some muscle diagrams and reason it out.)



If you want to test this theory, stop doing any wide grip lat pulldowns for say, 6 months. Instead, do ONLY close grip pulldowns as a replacement for any wide grip movements. I feel confident that your lat development will not suffer, in fact, it may just get better!

I was forced to abandon wide grip pulldowns a while back, because they were really hurting my shoulders. I found that the close grip pulldowns were much easier on me, and lo and behold, my lats actually started being more sore (DOMS) the next day. My current direct lat work is mostly medium grip seated rows, and close grip pulldowns, and my growth in that area is amazingly more productive!

If nothing else, try adding a few sets of close grip pulldowns, sitting fairly upright, not leaning back much, and see if you don't start feeling more sore in your whole lat area, upper and lower.

[JoeyDoyle2]

Originally Posted by SP1966

We can end this thread right here! Great post, as usual!!

I agree

[kcmoto]

It took me forever to "find" my lats. Someone showed me how to streach them a while back and bingo they they were. It helps with the mind/muscle thing and once you find them then you will be able to isolate them better by using all the good advice previously mentioned.

[bassing68]

Originally Posted by IronCharles

It took me a while to realize how effective the thumbless grip is in forcing the biceps to do less of the work. I think it's something I learned by accident, and I wish someone had taught me about it long ago, lol!

One other thing I learned, and there are those who will disagree with this..... but I have learned through trial and error that wider grip on lat pull downs does not necessarily give you wider lats, in and of itself. The lats are one big muscle per side, and what gives you width is simply, more mass. In the same manner that you cannot fill your inner pecs with special exercises, you cannot build your upper lats exclusive of the lower part.

(Yes, I know...... this may be radical thinking to some, but look at some muscle diagrams and reason it out.)



If you want to test this theory, stop doing any wide grip lat pulldowns for say, 6 months. Instead, do ONLY close grip pulldowns as a replacement for any wide grip movements. I feel confident that your lat development will not suffer, in fact, it may just get better!

I was forced to abandon wide grip pulldowns a while back, because they were really hurting my shoulders. I found that the close grip pulldowns were much easier on me, and lo and behold, my lats actually started being more sore (DOMS) the next day. My current direct lat work is mostly medium grip seated rows, and close grip pulldowns, and my growth in that area is amazingly more productive!

If nothing else, try adding a few sets of close grip pulldowns, sitting fairly upright, not leaning back much, and see if you don't start feeling more sore in your whole lat area, upper and lower.

So true. What about lower pecs?

[UncleSpam81st]

the charles glass video is right on the money. just came back from the gym and using the form he mentioned really works the lats. definitely check the video out and try it.

[jtroster]

I found that doing chin-ups and pull-ups have increased my lats. They are much better exercises than using the cable pulldown.