A lot of girls seem to neglect their back muscles (lats) when it comes to training. However, a more sculpted back can really balance out your proportions and create the illusion of a smaller waist.
Not only that, the lats are such a huge muscle, by improving their strength we can also improve a lot of other functional movements such as pull ups.
So here’s my top five lat-focussed exercises that anyone can do in the gym:
1. Pendlay Row
Use the olympic plates for this one. You want the bar to touch the ground each time. Bend at the hips so your upperbody is about parralell to the ground. Bend at the knees to allow this position. Keeping your lats squeezed together, shoulders down and elbows pinned back, pull the bar up towawards your abdominals. Perform the lowering of the bar with control and an even tempo.
2. Seated Row
Use either the diverging seated row machine, or the cable machine with the close grip attachment. Again, make sure the lats are squeezed back and together with the shoulders down. Draw the cable attachment towards your abdominals/diverging machine handles toward your shoulders. Make sure to feel the squeeze in the lats at the top of the movement and hold for a short count before carefully returning.
3. Delt Flyes
Can be performed on the delt/chest flyes machine or with dumbbells and a bench. For the machine, make sure the handles are adjusted to start so your arms are stretched straight infront of you. While pushing the handles back and out, look straight ahead and keep your chest lifted and engage your back.
For the dummbells, adjust the bench so that it is at an incline. Lie on your stomach on the bench and start with your arms relaxed and down, a dumbbell in each hand. To start the movement, contract the lats down and use the muscles to raise each dumbbell to the side. Keep the arms as straight as you can but allow the elbows to stay relaxed.
4. Lat Pull Down
A classic for building the lats. Vary your grip between sessions and find what you feel isolates and targets your lats the most. Tilt back slightly from the hips and pull the bar down to your chest. If using a closer/shoulder-width grip, keep the elbows tucked in. If using a wider grip, aim to place your hands on the bar just before the curve at either side.
5. Cable Straight Arm Pull Down
This is a new one for me, but I find I get better contact in my lats than the traditional pull downs. So perhaps try performing this then going into the pull down for a better mind to muscle connection. On the cable machine, use the handle attachment and position the cable at the top. Stand a couple feet away from the machine and tilt forward slightly at the hip. Keeping the arm straight, pull the cable down to your thigh and return under control.
Let me know how you get on with these exercises and you’ll soon be on your way to a nice sculpted back!