Back Workout for Mass - 5 Exercises for Building Bigger Lats

If you are looking for the workout to add size and thickness to your back then you are in the right place. This article is about building the body part that is mostly neglected - back. That is because many lifters are interested only in muscles that they can see in the mirror like chest and arms, but they are not aware that they are making a big mistake.




Training upper back muscles including rear shoulders is very important for either proportional and good looking physique and also to have stronger and healthier muscle joints. Focusing only on your front muscles like chest and front deltoids can make your posture look bad and you can also end up with an injury. Also, a strong athlete physique demands developed back muscles same as chest and arms.



Now, check out these photos and think about it. Do you find having big and thick lats attractive? I am sure you do.

I don't judge anybody, I also neglected my back muscles at the beginning but I hope that I will convince anyone to focus more on training all body parts equally. Legs too, don't avoid leg day or you will end up looking like a rooster.

Okay, back to lats. The latissimus dorsi often referred as just lats, is the biggest muscle in the upper body. The most effective way to build big lats is to get stronger by performing compound movements like pull ups and rows and progressively add more weight as you get stronger. Progressive overload is the best way for natural people to build muscle. 



Pull ups are a bodyweight exercise that is probably the best option for building bigger lats alongside with bent-over rows. Contrary to popular belief, wide-grip pull ups are not that good for bigger lats because of the shorter range of motion. The pull up with a shoulder wide grip is the best pull up option and most effective for lats development. 



Did you ever see anyone that can do up to 20 bodyweight pull ups in one set and that doesn't have thick and wide lats? Yeah, me neither. Pull ups are mainly a lat exercise but they also hit biceps, especially the underhand variation called chin up.



What's with the rows?


Bent-over and T-bar rows are great mass-building back exercises. Together with Deadlifts and Pull Ups, Rows are enough to fully develop your back. As for grip width, when it comes to bent-over rows stick with the shoulder-width grip which is the most effective for full activation and stretch of the lats. 



The supinated grip (reverse grip barbell row) is shown as great for building biceps and interestingly has the better effect on lats. 

So we covered rows and pull-ups, let's see some other exercises that are great for building big lats:

Perform Reverse-Grip Lat Pull Downs to fully contract and stretch your lats. Stick with the shoulder-width grip and keep your chest high while performing the exercise. 

Seated Cable Rows are also great for building lats. To put more stress on your lats and lower the activation of biceps keep your chest high during all of your back movements. 

Add Close-grip Lat Pull Downs and you have 5 exercises that you should include in your workout for bigger lats.

How to Build Wider Lats

WORKOUT FOR BIGGER LATS

Having a mile wide lats is one very hard target for all weight lifters, it is probably one of the most important and biggest muscles next to legs and chest. One very big mistake of many lifters is that they don't focus a lot on their back muscles and just trying to build bigger chest and arms and the reason for that is that they can't see back muscles in the mirror and they don't consider having a big back as a very important thing.

That is wrong, having a big back is very important and very important among bodybuilders. Also, it is very important to build all muscles equally and have a proportional physique. 

To build bigger back you have to build biggest back muscle - LATS (latissimus dorsi). Building bigger lats you will get wider and your overall physique would look more massive. 

EXERCISES TO BUILD BIGGER LATS:

PULL UPS - Bodyweight exercise for building bigger lats. You can't underrate Pull Ups when it comes to muscle building and building bigger upper back muscles. It is a very old exercise and consist of natural movement, pulling yourself up, and it is probably the best exercise to build wide lats.

BENT-OVER BARBELL ROWS - One of the best mass building exercises and it works everything from the erector spinae up to the traps, even works your biceps too. Try underhand grip for better effect on your biceps. 

LAT PULLDOWN ON A MACHINE - Those first two exercises are compound movements and they are great to start your back workout with. Start training your lats with compound exercises like those two and also T-Bar Row and then add Lat Pulldown as a great isolation exercise for bigger lats.

So, the best exercises for bigger lats are:

• Pull Ups
• Bent-Over Rows
• T-Bar Rows
• Lat Pulldowns
• Seated Cable Rows

You don't need any other exercise for big lats, those 5 are the best ones and by performing them in every back workout your lats are going to become very wide and thick. There are some variations of all those exercises, like Bent-Over Dumbbell Rows, Chin Ups, Lat Pulldowns with narrow grip, but for your lats perform them with basic variation.

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