Maximum Lat Width
by Joe Meeko

Whether you refer to them as lats or wings the back is one of the most difficult parts of the body to train. This is due in large part to the difficulty in isolating the lats when training their back. Most people naturally pull with their arms and feel the pump in their biceps. This happens because of an indirect link between your arms and back your body utilizes in order to stimulate your lats. To better train your back you have to try and focus on isolating your lats and letting them do more of the work than your biceps. 

While some people may have center back thickness they lack the width and V-taper developed everyone strives for. In this article I will attempt to explain how to place more emphasis on your lats, not your biceps, during a back workout. Obviously you will experience some stimulation in your biceps, but I’ll tell you how to keep it to a minimum so your lats and center back get more of the benefit resulting in the V-taper everyone is after. 

When I was a teen, I admired physiques with a huge, expansive V-taper. In my opinion, this separated the men from the boys. It also gave them the look of a bodybuilder as opposed to someone who only worked their chest and arms, to look good in a short sleeved shirt, but neglected the rest of their body. A physique with broad shoulders which tapers down to a trim waist will always stand out in a crowd whether they have a shirt on or off. 

Obtaining a classic V-taper isn’t easy and takes a lot of work. However, I’m going to explain how, if you put in the time and work necessary, you’ll be sporting a v-taper in no time. 

First, you must utilize a thumb-less false grip for all back exercises. This is when you do not wrap and lock your thumbs under the bar. This results in using your hands as a hook rather than a clamp and allows the back to do as much of the work as possible. While you will lose some strength; using a thumb-less grip will result in more stimulation of the muscle compared to grasping the bar, machine, or dumbbells with your thumbs wrapped around the bar. 

 
Let’s move on the workout. I always begin my workout with the exercise I consider the hardest, and most difficult, for the body part I’m training. It’s also comes at the time in your workout when you’re both physically and mentally stronger. On the days when I’m training my back that exercise is chin-ups.

 Chin-Ups 

Chin-ups to the front of the neck are tough so, as I said before, do them at the beginning of your workout, when you’re fresh and strong. If you’re a beginner a single chin-up may be difficult. If that’s the case you may want to begin your back workout with wide-grip lat pull downs to the front of the neck. Once you build your strength over weeks and months progress from chinning your body weight to adding weight around your waist. No matter what exercise you do, train to complete failure. 

I can’t stress this next point enough. I believe if you want wide lats, and a nice V-taper, you must use a wide grip whether you’re doing chins or lat pull downs. My grip on a straight chin bar was 5 feet or more. If you are taller than me (I’m only a measly 5’8”) you should go wider. Trust me, it works. Wide grip chin-ups and lat pull downs pulls on your shoulder blade (scapula) insertions and makes them pop out, especially with a straight bar. 

You may notice there are different types of bars for pull downs. Angled down chin bars are made for ergonomically correct positioning on the wrists and hands. These bars are designed more for comfort not maximum development. Angled down bars actually pull the lats (inward) while a straight chin bar or lat pull down bar will enhance their outward appearance. If the gym you go to doesn’t have straight bars, make your own getting a piece of solid steel bar stock. Have a hook or drill welded through the center and put an eye hook through it so you can attach it to the lat pull down machine.

 

 Stretch 

After each set of back exercises you must stretch to pull on those insertions and scapula (shoulder blades)) to pull them out. For example, after a set of chins, or any other back exercise, put you right foot against the vertical pole of a squat rack, or whatever is convenient. Position that foot about 2 ft. off the ground, or whatever gives you the best hit on your lat (you’ll know when you hit the right position). Then grab the pole with the opposite hand, maybe a foot higher or so than the foot you’ve placed against the pole and stretch that lat. Reverse your position and stretch the other lat. This pulls and stretches the scapula and pops them out. It also makes your lat insertions lower to your waist by pulling on them too. Trust me, I had very high lats until I did this stretching and after a few years my lats tied right down into my waist by the hips. 

I did many wide grip chin-ups to the front of the neck because this exercise will make you wide and give you a nice v-taper. I used to start my bodyweight and got about 35 reps of chin-ups after years of doing them. Remember chins are tough and it takes time to develop the strength needed to do them.

I would then use 25 lb. plate attached to a weight belt to add more resistance. Most gyms have them as standard equipment. I would do as many reps as I could then have my training partner help me force out two or three more reps. This is how you do it. Have your training buddy grab a towel with both hands and twist it and have him put it right under your knees so you don’t swing. They’ll catch on to how this works after a few sets. Continue to work up to more weight performing forced reps every time.

 Next I would work my way down decreasing the weight used to work my way up continuing to do forced reps using my bodyweight for my last set. Total sets were nine to 10. Remember, this is my theory on lifting. A lot of sets of an exercise will produce results. It makes more sense than doing a few sets of different exercises. 

 

This might seem like a lot of sets for one body part then again I only hit one major body part each day. This is the routine that worked best for me, but as I always say, “You have to find out what works for you and do it.”

 Love in Christ,

Joe Meeko

 Website www.power-grips.com