The Best Three Latissimus Dorsi Exercises - Get a Wider Back

The lats are a group of muscles that are primarily used for three purposes: pulling the upper arm down toward the body when raised, pulling the upper arm out to the side of the body when fully extended, and moving the arms from a raised position into an extended or lowered position. With that in mind, the latissimus dorsi is almost entirely used to move the shoulder, so a lot of the exercises described in this will also be effective for bulking up your shoulders, specifically the posterior or back part of them.

The benefit of having strong or large lats is that they'll give you a ton of functional strength and will also make you appear wider. The lats are the muscles you use when doing pull ups and rows, so they'll be great for anything relating to that. They will also give you that v-shape that men are always looking for, so ensure that you work them plenty. Since the lats are a pretty big and generally underutilized muscle, I recommend that you only work them once a week. Any more and you could end up overworking them.

Now that you know how the lats work and why you want to work them, here are the three best lat workouts that you can do.

1. Pull-up: This is a great exercise that'll add a ton of width to your lats. The pull up is a bodyweight exercise, although some very strong people are able to use a dipping belt to add weight. The pull up can be done a variety of ways. A wide grip will place additional stress on your lats but will also shorten the range of motion, so I suggest a medium grip to get the most out of your workout. A close grip, on the other hand, will work your traps more and will make your back appear thicker. If you take a supinated grip (hands facing toward you), then you'll work your biceps as well as your lats. This is actually a chin-up, but it's very similar to the pull up, albeit slightly easier for people with strong biceps. If you're unable to do a pull-up on your own, you can get a buddy to hold your legs or you can use an assisted pull-up machine.

2. Bent-over Row: This is another good exercise that is fantastic for building up your lats as well as the rest of your back. On top of your lats, the posterior deltoid will be hit particularly hard during this exercise. You can do the bent-over row a variety of ways. I prefer to utilize dumbbells and a bench, although some people like using barbells or t-bars. The t-bar row is actually the best for building up your lats; I just don't prefer it because it's pretty easy to drop 135 pounds of plate on your feet.

3. Pulldown: This exercise is very similar to the pull-up, except it doesn't require as many muscles working in conjunction. While the pull-up is considered a compound exercise, this one effectively isolates the lats. This can be a benefit for people looking to just bulk up their lats, but it won't give you as much functional strength as a pull-up will. As with the pull-up, there are a variety of ways that you can alter your grip. These will yield the same results as the pull-up will, so just reference that for ideas on how to correctly utilize the pulldown. One thing to note when doing the pulldown is that you shouldn't lean back too much. If you do that, you might as well start doing rows because the range of motion is pretty identical - you won't be isolating your lats anymore. That's also why you're able to do more weight when you lean back.