Lats Strength excercises...

FH36251

Hi chaps,

A bit of a puzzle. Any good lats strenghtening excercises that can be done without free-weights? I'll elucidate. A few of the girls I train with are lifting into pole moves using shoulders and arms, and not lats. Obv using bigger muscles are better, but there's little development of the lats. I'm looking for suggestions of how we can strengthen these without (if possible!) using free weights. of course suggestions with free weights are welcomed also - but I'd have to lug them down to the studio with me!

We have a variety of equipment at our disposal; Poles, aerial hoops/ silks/ trapeze. The Hoops are useful, as I can use them for wide-arm pull ups - but this is the only thing I can think of that will improve lats without utilising other muscles intead.

Thanks much,
A

IrishSoul

Pullups are a great overall back exercise - you can use anything that keeps you elevated and can support your weight.... if you cant do a full pullup, just keep a chair below you and use that to 'cheat'..you muscles dont know...just do a constant speed.

The Proper Pull-up (Regular Grip)

Grab the pull-up bar with your hands placed about shoulder width apart and your palms facing away from you. Pull yourself upward until your chin is over the bar and complete the exercise by slowly moving to the hanging position.

Pull-ups (Negatives)

If you cannot do any pull-ups, you should try "negatives". Negatives are half pull-ups. All you have to do is get your chin over the bar by standing on something or having spotter push you over the bar. Then, you slowly lower yourself all the way down - let your arms hang grasping the bar fully stretched. Keep your feet up and fight gravity for a count of 5 seconds. This will get your arms used to supporting your weight.

Assisted Pull-ups

This is the first step to being able to perform pullups. Using the bar that is 3-4 feet off the ground, sit under it and grab with the regular grip. Straighten your back, hips, and slightly bend your knees while your feet remain on the floor and pull yourself to the bar so that your chest touches the bar. Repeat as required. This is a great way to start out if you cannot do any pull-ups at all. You can also do this on a pair of parallel bars that are used for dips. These are also great to do after you can no longer perform anymore dead-hang pullups. This is a good replacement for the Lat Pulldown machine as well.

acpgee

Not as rigorous as pullups, but if you have resistance bands loop one around a door handle, grab one end in each hand and do rows. If you jam a resistance band into the top of the door frame (close the door) you can do lateral pull downs.