Best Lat Exercises for Men

(Last Updated On: August 28, 2022)

Workouts Details ( Lat Exercises for Men )

Body Part: Back

Target Muscle: Lats

Equipment: with and without

Good posture requires strong lats. Not only will this improve your posture, but the correct posture will also improve your confidence! Based on this, the importance of performing the best Lat exercises for men increases.

Most people suffer from lats dystrophy, given the nature of society, and the daily habits of: long sitting, long desk work, computers, spending time on the phone and lack of movement.

By doing the best back exercises for men, strong lats muscles will support your shoulder muscles and create an overall healthy back, as well as reduce injuries in this area after strengthening it.

In Fact, the name lats (or latissimus dorsi) for this muscle derives from the Latin and literally means, “the widest muscle in the back.” Therefore, your muscles are obviously an important muscle to take care of.

Table of Contents

So, What is the Importance of Strong Lats ?

Lats, which are the largest muscles in your back, contain two major wing-shaped muscles, which extend from the middle of your back to your hips. The two flat muscles in your upper back that connect your upper limbs and arms to your spine, providing stability to your torso.

These muscles also help protect your spine and aid in arm movement. Building strong lats muscle will also improve your upper body symmetry and help you maintain the appropriate correct form.

When well developed the lats with the best lat exercises for men, the lats are more visible and look like a pair of wings on either side of your torso and contribute greatly to the “V-shaped taper”. These wings, which extend across the back of your ribs, help you lift your arms up and are essential for torso rotation and core stability.

On the other hand, weakness of the Lats muscle can lead to chronic shoulder pain, chronic back pain, or tendinitis, an inflammatory condition of the tendon. Special attention should be given if your posture is poor, you may fail to raise your arms above your head or you have back pain or a shoulder injury that limits your range of motion.

In this article, we will show you the best Lats exercises that can be done at home, ensuring that many of your dreams come true with a strong and toned body can be achieved with strong back muscles.

Benefits of Lats Workout

There are many benefits to lats exercises, which target the back body and increase your core strength. Here is a list of the main benefits:

LAT exercises are useful in strengthening your shoulders and its various muscles such as the deltoid, subscapularis, and major trochanter.
LATS strengthens the muscles in your lower and upper back. This muscle consists of the rhombus and the trapezius muscle.
By performing exercises that target your Lats muscles, you can burn calories in your body and boost your overall strength.
It keeps your body stable and balanced.
Maintain good and correct body posture with a V-shaped back.

Safety Equipment

Lats exercises strike and focus on your back, so if this area is still weak in your body, it can cause damage if there is a heavy weight or the wrong movement of the exercise.

So, before doing any LATS workout, it’s best to have a waist belt. Bend your knees and keep your back straight in any LAT exercise which is important because it can protect you from any serious injury to your back.

Do We Need to Warm-Up your Lats?

You can use a bar or light weight dumbbells to perform front and back push-ups. You can perform 3 sets of warm-ups with up to 10 reps.

For a further warm-up, you can check out the stretching of the Lats muscles to provide support for the muscles.

1: Seated Cable Rows

(Equipment: a Seated cable row machine (Pull Down))

How to Perform?

To start this back exercise at home, sit on the bench of the machine and place your feet on the provided front platform. Make sure your knees are slightly bent and not locked straight.
Grasp the V-shaped handle or the cable, depending on the type of machine, and bend forward slightly, keeping the arms fully extended, and your back is naturally aligned. This is the starting point for this exercise.
With your arms already extended, pull the V-bar toward yourself making sure your torso is at a 90-degree angle with your thighs, letting the v-bar go as far as possible. Keep your elbow close to your body, your back straight and your chest in an outward motion. The point here is to get the LATS muscle to feel some pressure and stretch.
While keeping your torso stationary, return to the original position by gently returning the v-bar and extending your arms, then pause here for a second. Make sure to keep your knees bent, your torso stationary and your back straight will be key in this step.
Then repeat the exercise.

Repetitions

Repeat with the recommended amount of repetitions. You can repeat it for 8 to 10 reps in (3) sets.

2: T Bar row with Handle

(Equipment: Bar, Couple of plates, V Handle)

How to perform T Bar Row?

First, put an appropriate amount of weight plates you can lift based on your strength, before the last quarter on one end of the bar. For safety, put the other end of the bar in the corner of the wall or put some heavy weight on top of it, to secure and lock it, so it doesn’t slip away and cause injury.
Bend forward until your torso is parallel to the floor. Make sure your knees are slightly bent and spread your feet shoulder width apart.
Place the V-shaped handle just behind the plates on the side where the weight was placed, now grab the handle with both hands. This will be your starting position for the best lats exercise.
Breathe in, then tighten your back muscles as you pull the bar and weights straight up toward your chest. Make sure the plates are touching your stomach. Hold for a second at the top of the movement.
Slowly lower the bar to the starting position by fully extending both arms, keeping your back straight and parallel to the floor. Do not let the plates touch the ground.
Then repeat the exercise steps.

Repetitions

Repeat the recommended amount of repetitions, 6-8 times, usually in 3 sets.

3: Bent over Two Dumbbell Row with a Pronated Grip

(Equipment: a Pair of Dumbbells weights)

In this with workout will demonstrate step by step of how to build lats with dumbbells row?

How to perform a Bent Over using Dumbbells?

Hold two dumbbells in each hand with pronated grip, keeping your torso parallel to the floor by bending your waist. Make sure to keep your back straight and your feet similar to shoulder width apart.
Lift your head by looking straight. The dumbbells should be kept hanging straight in front of your chest and keep your arms fully extended, this will be the starting position for the lat exercise with dumbbells.
Keeping your torso stationary, lift the dumbbells to your side close to your body, until the dumbbells reach near your stomach.
When you are on top position, contract your back muscles and hold for a moment for a few seconds.
While inhaling, slowly lower the dumbbells to the starting position, by fully extending the arms.

Repetitions

You need to repeat this exercise as recommended, for this lat exercise with dumbbells is usually 8-10 times, with 3 sets.

4: Lying T Bar Row Machine

(Equipment: a T bar machine, Weights)

How to Perform?

Load the T-bar with an appropriate amount of weight and adjust the leg height of the machine so that your upper chest is on the padding of the machine..
while lying on a pad keep face down, and grab the handles of the T-bar. Lift the bar off the rack with arms extended as far as possible. This will be your starting position.
While inhaling, slowly lift the weight and squeeze your back when you are on top.
Pause for 3 seconds, you will experience some contractions, then slowly return the weights to the starting position as you exhale.

Repetitions

You can repeat with the recommended amount of repetitions, usually 6-8 times in 3 sets.

5: Smith Machine Bent over Row

(Equipment: a Smith machine, a barbell rod, few Weights)

How to perform?

Put some weight on the barbell attached to the smith machine and adjust the height of the bar, which will be two inches below your knees, keeping your feet at shoulder width apart.
Bend your knees slightly and pull your torso forward by bending the waist. You have to keep your back straight here so that it is parallel to the ground.
Now grab the barbell about shoulder width apart and unlock it from the machine. This will be your initial position for this exercise.
While inhaling, gently lift the bar. Don’t forget to keep your torso still. Squeeze your back muscles in the upper position to feel the muscles contract for seconds.
Slowly lower the bar to the starting position as you exhale.

Repetitions

You can repeat with the recommended amount of repetitions of this back exercise at home, usually 6 to 8 times in two sets.

6: Press Lats on the Floor while Lying Down

(Equipment: without Equipment, only body weights)

How to Perform press lats on floor?

Lie with your back on the floor or on a mat.
Place the upper hand next to your body parallel to the floor, bend your lower hands, and make your forearms perpendicular to the floor.
Raise your thigh while keeping your feet flat on the floor with your knee bent at a 90-degree angle above the floor, and keeping your knees close to each other. This will be the starting position.
While looking up, push your upper arms into the floor with the help of elbows and lift your upper body up. Make sure the movement is generated by the arms.
Stabilize your body by keeping the gluteal muscles anchored to the floor.
Pause this position for a few seconds while you are at the top, then return to the starting position while lying on the floor.
Then repeat the workout.

Repetitions

You can repeat workout usually 6 to 8 times in three sets.

Conclusion

Exercising your lats has great benefits in strengthening your back muscles and generates a look great, provides core strength to your body, improves your posture, and improves your range of motion.

With the explanation of the best exercises for men above that you can perform at home with equipment or no equipment so you can build these muscles, gain the good health and toned body you need.

Challenge enough to Boost your Body to the Next Strength level!

There’s (lots) more! In the next article, you’ll tackle different Muscles workouts.

You will be pleased to see more muscle building results over time.

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So, What is the Importance of Strong Lats ?

Benefits of Lats Workout

Do We Need to Warm-Up your Lats?