Exercises for the latissimus dorsi

Almost all strength exercises for the back are suitable for targeted training of the latissimus dorsi. Only one stands out from the others with its unique biomechanics and "naturalness". We are talking about pull-ups.

Pull-ups take into account all the above-described anatomical nuances. The load vectors correspond to the vectors of contraction of the back muscles. During the exercise, the elbows move strictly towards the body, and it is not difficult to put them behind the back, and this perfectly loads the latissimus dorsi muscles.

Pull-ups are easy to learn for beginners. This fact is related to the naturalness of the movement. According to Darwin's evolutionary theory, our distant ancestors were monkeys that moved well through trees using their hands. Man adopted the structure of the back muscles, and in particular - the attachment of the latissimus dorsi. Therefore, pull-ups are easy even for beginners with adequate body weight and minimal physical training.

The peculiarity of pull-ups in the context of developing "wings" is the ability to perform the exercise with a huge load factor at the final point of the trajectory. Swinging, controlled cheating, gravitron - these methods allow you to easily perform the initial movement and at the same time significantly load the widest in the final part of the pull-up trajectory.

However, pull-ups are not the only thing that matters. If you need to add exercises to train your back, or you are unable to do pull-ups, then the following list of movements will help you:

Seated lat pulldown to chest;
T-bar row in the machine;
One-arm dumbbell row, bent over.
These exercises are suitable for targeted training of the latissimus dorsi muscles, but at the same time, due to the basic factor, they also load adjacent areas, including the arms.

If your goal is to increase the width of your back by adding "wings", focus on pull-ups and mastering the correct technique. In this case, a worthy replacement would be the lat pulldown machine.