The Best Lat Exercises for Beginners

What Are the Lats?

The Latissimus dorsi, commonly referred to as the “lats,” is located in the upper and middle back. It is a large, flat muscle that spans the width of the back and has a broad, fan-like shape. It begins from the lower part of the spine, extending up and out towards the upper arm. To be scientific and more specific, the lats extend from the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae (T7-L5) to the humerus. So, you can imagine that this is quite a large muscle, one that should not be neglected!

Why Should I Train Lats?

The lats contribute to your everyday life more than you might think. They play a huge role in stabilizing our spine, helping us keep upright and maintain our posture, assist in breathing, and are involved in any pulling motion. Well-developed lats will make your back appear much wider, which in turn makes your waist look thinner in comparison, creating a V-taper body type. Most importantly, you should train your lats to stand proud, pull and hold your loved ones close, and to have a strong back to endure hardships.

The Best Lat Exercises For Beginners

Since this is a beginner’s guide these exercises are going to be more focused on isolation exercises. Compound exercises are fantastic but the technique is harder to grasp since there are more moving parts making the exercises a little more complex. The 2 types of exercises we will cover will essentially work out the whole lat.

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Kneeling One Arm Lat Pulldowns (Kneeling Cable Row)

The benefit of this exercise is that it not only targets a large portion of the lat but also, as a unilateral exercise, it can help correct any muscular imbalances. This exercise allows your lats to work through their full range of motion, creating maximum stretch, which is crucial for muscle building.

 Front Leg On Pulling Side VS Pulling On Opposite Side

There are actually benefits to both methods of pulling, whether using the same or opposite leg. With the opposite leg forward, you increase your stability, meaning you can add more weight or load to your lats, creating more resistance and, theoretically, more muscle growth (keeping good technique in mind). With the same side leg forward, you will increase oblique activation (oblique sling), which is great depending on your training purposes. However, since we are focused on the lats, the examples will be with the opposite leg and hand.

Hand Position

Palm facing toward you, away from you, or sideways? These are all valid positions that make subtle changes to your exercise, but the primary focus of this exercise is the lats. Since we’re just starting out, do what feels most comfortable but be mindful of which muscle is being worked. Don’t turn this into a bicep exercise by just pulling with your arms; instead, focus on pulling down by trying to bring your elbow down to your hips.

Single Hand Lat Pull Down Variation

Chest Supported Rows

The technique for a row can be difficult to understand at first but with a few reps, you should be able to feel your lats being worked. Doing a chest support row provides more stability and isolates your lats helping you focus more on technique rather than using your effort to stabilize yourself. Your back will thank you for this later! 

Chest Supported Row Dumbbell Variation

If you don’t have a machine specially for chest-supported rows, fear not! You can make your own at almost any commercial gym. You can set a bench to 45 degrees. You want to use the bench to lean the weights and slowly position yourself in the starting position. You can use your legs to help support you or if you want to try to isolate your back you can rest your knees on the bench,. From here the technique is all the same.