Now for the lats… The lats are two large muscles are either side of your mid back area. These are the muscles that are responsible for giving you that V-shape that begins at a small waist and flares outward just above your lower back. They can also be seen from the front as two large masses on either side of the rib cage.
Your lats are capable of performing several basic functions. They tighten and contract to pull your elbows downward, pull your elbows to the rear, and they also help to arch the back. So when you pull your elbows downward, your lats are basically functioning opposite to your traps. The traps work to pull your shoulders upwards towards your ears, whereas the lats work to pull your shoulders back down from this position. Think of exercises like lat pulldowns and wide grip chinups to get an idea of how this works.
When your lats pull the elbows backward, they are performing a function opposite of the chest muscles. For example, think of the narrow grip bench press with the elbows kept in close to your sides. You begin at the bottom with your elbows back and close to the sides. Your chest and triceps flex to force your elbows forward and away from your body.
Now imagine that at the top of this pressing movement, a separate force is now holding your arms straight and you must pull the weight back down to your chest. Rowing exercises (cable rows, bent over rows, etc.) essentially perform this type of movement to work opposite to the chest. They begin with your arms extended and use your back muscles (with some assistance from the biceps) to pull your elbows backward and close to the body.
When you train your lats, it’s important to get the full range of motion with each and every repetition. This means you should arch your back slightly at the peak of each movement. Doing this is important because your lats aren’t able to fully contract when your back is just straight. Go ahead and try it right now… pull your elbows back and flex your lats, then arch your back slightly and notice the extra squeeze you get. This is an important part to getting the full range of motion out of your back workouts.
You’ll be able to avoid some of the most common lat training mistakes just by not jerking your back with each rep. When you’re doing seated cable rows, avoid swaying forward and backward, but instead slowly let your shoulders extend forward as you lower the weight, and then slowly arch your back at the peak of the movement. For bent over rows, be sure to keep your back still and parallel with the ground. In either case, the jerking motion builds momentum to lift the weight instead of relying on your back muscles.
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