How to build a set of lats

My friend Dan is relatively new to lifting weights and whilst showing good newbie gains, he has been asking me how best to really hit his Lats when working back? This is an area I struggled with for a while, but is now one of my favourite body parts to train. Below is my back routine from last night that hopefully Dan and you will benefit from.

We are looking to go really heavy on some of these exercises, with a low rep range, so unless you have an iron spine and a vice grip I suggest you use some lifting straps and a belt! The main focus will be on compound movements with as little isolation as possible, hard work and minimal rest periods (30s min, 60s max) . So if you enjoy casual hi rep low weight cable fly, stop reading now!

Deadlifts – 4 sets of 6 reps:
Go heavy, use the straps and really push yourself, only you will know if you are working at your maximum. When doing my deads at their heaviest I don’t go from the floor, this allows me to add on that extra 30-40kg and really exert some power.

Bent Over Row (Palms up) – 4 sets, 10, 8, 6, 6:
Keep your grip close and stay bent over, otherwise you will be taking the attention away from your lats and onto your traps, this isn’t a shrug, keep still, only moving your elbow joints and squeeze your lats together with every rep. Whilst this will work your biceps, you should be feeling it in your wings most! Keep adding weight to the bar.

IF YOU ARENT PANTING AND SWEATING HEVAILY YET THEN YOU ARENT LIFTING HEAVY ENOUGH!!!

Pull ups (weighted if possible) – 4 sets 8 reps
Pull ups are a must, simple! Do them and if you can’t then learn to and fast! I guy whose training principles I admire once said “a man who can’t do pull ups is a woman”. His article below is a great read!
http://jasonferruggia.com/top-10-ways-to-improve-your-pull-ups/

Narrow Grip Cable Row (Standing) – 4 sets 8-10 reps
This exercise is often done whilst sitting on a bench and locking your feet in at the front for support (Arnold below), I prefer to do it standing in a squat position so as to engage my core also. Set one side of the cable machine up so it is at just below your chest height when standing. The weight should be heavy enough that you struggle to pull it out form the machine, so throw your bodyweight into it and get the cable out extended, plant your feet and get yourself in a squat position. Your hands should now be in front of you at upper ab height holding the narrow handles, palms facing each other. Row hard using full range of motion and don’t be afraid to throw your back into it. Rowing exercises are one of few that you can actually benefit from cheating (see Arnie in Pumping Iron!!).

Bodyweight Rows (wide grip) 3 sets of 8
Set a smith machine or weighted bar at about waist height, get a bench, put your feet up on it, get under the bar, take a wide grip (palms facing away from you), flex your core and hold yourself in a plan like position and row away.

Single Arm Row – 4 sets 10, 8, 6, 6
Last night I used straps during this exercise for the first time ever and it was incredible! I was pulling up to 10kg heavier than usual and for more reps, to the point where both my 6 rep sets were done for 8. Straps really allow you to focus your attention on pulling from your lats as you don’t have to worry about your grip. Jason Ferrugia’s Website (link above) also has an article on the benefits of using straps.

Chin ups (Hammer Grip) 4 sets 8 reps
Not so much of a back focused exercise I know, but it will work your back a bit and your biceps have been taking a pounding so you may as well finish them off with a few unweighted chins! If you weigh sweet FA then feel free to make these weighted, for me pulling just shy of 90kg by this point is enough!

Plate swings – 4 sets 10
Or kettlebell, same principle, this is your warm down but still go as heavy as you can, my gyms plate sonly go up to 25kg and we don’t have kettlebells. Grab the plate or bell with a narrow grip, plams facing away and hold it suspended inbetween your legs whilst you are in a squat position, explode up and swing the weight up out in front of you to your eyeline then let it come back down and swing inbetween your legs. Use your core, back and arms to control the downward swing as best as possible, when the weight has just passed between your legs power it back up again. 10 reps. This will work as a good warm down for back and gives your core a little workout too.

I guarantee if done at the right intensity and with a weight that really pushes you for every set then this routine will leave your back biceps and most importantly lats, thoroughly worked. Enjoy!

Mix up your training

It is key to mix up your training every now and then. I don't mean change your routine, rep range and exercises weekly, stick to a programme until the progress slows and then make slight alterations.

For the past 3 months I have strictly stuck to 6 reps and focusing on compound only exercises, i saw great gains in size and strength doing so, but these have started to slow.

For the next 3 month I am aiming to maintain the weight I am lifting, but up it to 8 reps whilst reducing my total training time by minimising test periods. This is often referred to as overload or progressive training.

Compounds will still be the main focus of each session, but there will be some extra isolation work included at the end of each workout to pump blood into the muscle, which has been proven to speed up the healing stage after tearing with heavy loads.

Tonight's Back and Bicep workout consisted of the following:

Pullups: 8 reps 4 sets

Deadlifts: 6 reps 4 sets
110kg
120kg
130kg
140kg

Bent over row: 8 reps 4 sets
70kg

Power Shrugs: 6 reps 4 sets
140kg
150kg
140kg
150kg

Lat Pulldown s/set Seated Hammer curls: 8 reps 4 sets (each)
55kg pull down & 16kg dumbbells

EZ Bar curls (strict form): 8 reps 3 sets
33kg

EZ Bar 21s: 21 reps 1 set
18kg

Feel free to follow my progress on instagram, hugheverydaygains.

This photo was taken after tonight's workout:

Supplements

Now unlike Captain America, we can't all use a fictional muscle building serum and gain 20kg of muscle in 10 minutes. However what we can do is aid our muscle gains by the use of legal supplements and as you can see from the pictures below, similar results can be achieved!

I will keep it very simple, the things that have worked for me are as follows:

First year - Maximuscle Cyclone before and after workouts. This product is the market leading all in 1 supplement (for which you will have to pay the price) it was the driving force behind my early gains.

Second year - as I got more seriously into gaining weight I moved to a cheaper option which was Matrix Mass, this provided me with 1,000 calories per serving including 50g of protein, during my 3 months taking 3 shakes a day ad well as a protein and calorie high diet, I gained 6-7kg and only a slight increase in body fat. I also take the Matrix Creatine and strongly believe that Creatine is one of the products out there that really does lead to visible increases in size and strength.

Current - whilst I am still looking to gain size, I am now happy to do it at a more natural pace so as to keep my abs in tact. For this reason I have switched to Matrix Anabolic Whey, which still had a high protein content of 40g amongst various amino acids, but is more in the region of 300cals per serving. I am also continuing to use Creatine.

Captain America's comic book transformation and my off the shelf version.