Lats Muscle Workout to Build Strong Tapered Back

Lats muscle are an important muscle group. It’s one of the bigger muscle groups, and requires a combination of isolation and compound movements to activate the larger and smaller muscle fibers.

Ideally, you should try to work on your lats muscle twice a week, but it also depends on how many times you’re going to the gym, your overall routine, and your goals. Nevertheless, it’s useful to know some of the lats muscle exercises to add to your routine.

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Lats muscle exercises to make your back stronger

Lat exercises (Photo via Unsplash/Taylor Daugherty)

The following are some exercises that you should consider for your next workout session.

Pull-up

• You will need access to a pull-up bar for the exercise.
• Grasp the pull-up bar with palms facing outwards.
• Keep your hands at shoulder-width distance or slightly wider.
• Let your body hang, and use your core muscles to stabilize yourself.
• Engage your lats muscle, and pull yourself upwards.
• Keep pulling till your chin is aligned with the bar.
• Slowly lower yourself to control the negative.

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Lat pulldown

• You will need access to the lat pull-down machine for this exercise.
• Select a suitable weight, and hold the lat pull-down bar.
• Sit on the bench provided, and keep your thighs under the padded bar for support.
• Keep your lats stretched, back straight, and hands extended.
• Use your lats muscle to pull the bar till your chest.
• Steadily release the weight as the bar moves back upwards.

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Barbell row

• Put a suitable weight plate on each side of the barbell.
• Hold the barbell at shoulder-width, with the palms facing you.
• Lift the barbell off the ground, and stand straight.
• Bend forward from your hips, and keep your back straight.
• Using your lat smuscle, pull the barbell towards yourself.
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the motion before lowering the barbell.

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Seated cable row

• You will need access to a cable pulley machine.
• Adjust the anchor at the bottom, and attach the v-bar to it.
• Select a suitable weight, hold the bar, and move backwards.
• Keep your back straight and knees slightly bent.
• Engage your back, and pull the bar towards yourself.
• Hold the position at the top of the motion for two seconds before releasing the position.

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Rear delt fly

• Take a dumbbell in each hand.
• Sit on a bench, and bend forward from your hips.
• Keep the dumbbells underneath your knees.
• Keep a strong back, and pull your arms backwards in a reverse fly motion.
• Ensure to keep your rear delts engaged during the motion.
• Steadily lower the dumbbells before starting the next rep.

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Dumbbell exercises (Photo via Unsplash/Aaron Barrera)

Almost every lats muscle exercise that you can do with a barbell is a variation of lat workouts with dumbbells. It’s better to have a combination of lat workouts with dumbbells and barbells to provide your muscles with a sense of variation. This method ensures that your muscles do not get too used to movement or exercise, and don’t hit a plateau.

In the off-chance that it does, it’s important to reduce weight and focus on a deload week. That will allow your muscles to break out of the plateau, as you will take off the extreme resistance that the muscles are used to.

Movements for stretching lats are important as well. It’s best to stretch the lats before using weights to get the blood flowing and activating the muscles. You could put yourself in harm’s way if you start with heavy weights without warming up. Warm-up shouldn’t be too rigorous that you run out of energy even before beginning the routine. It’s essential to find the right balance between every aspect of your workout routine.

Finally, nutrition is of utmost importance when you’re trying to achieve your desired physique. Regardless of whether you’re trying to become bigger or leaner, a diet consisting of all the macronutrients is key. Without that, you might be able to see changes to certain parts of your physique, but you won’t be able to reach the desired goal.