9 Best Exercises for Bigger Lats (V-Taper)

Your lats form a large fan-shaped muscle-that runs along your back in a v-shape-starting from your lower back all the-way up to your upper arms-on the way there it also connects to-your spine your pelvis and your lower-ribs-and it's actually considered the largest-muscle group of the back.

 So-lats are very important for your-shoulder movements all of your pulling-movements and for supporting good-posture-strengthening and developing your lats-won't only help you lift more weight-for all of your upper body exercises-including even your push movements like-the bench press but developing your lats-will also-benefit activities like swimming-shoveling and throwing etc.

So let's jump right into the nine best-exercises that you can do to build-bigger-stronger lats .

Let's start this with one-you probably-don't know about and that's the meadows-row this one you'll set up just like a-t-bar row by sliding a barbell into a-landmine or pinning it against the-corner of two walls-and then loading the other end with-weight stand in a staggered stance and-position-the front foot of your outside leg a few-inches from the bar-then bend down and grip the barbell with-an overhand grip using your hand that's-closest to the barbell-squeeze your abs and lift your chest up-to prevent your lower back from rounding-then roll the bar by pulling your elbow-back towards the ceiling and-aim to meet your lower chest squeeze the-top for a second before lowering back-down slowly and repeating for reps-next is a variation of the lat pull down-that you probably haven't tried yet but-it's really good at hitting your lats so-make sure you .

Give this one a shot-the single arm kneeling reverse lat pull-down so to begin-bring the pulley up to the top of the-cable cross and attach a d handle-then you're going to grab the d handle-with a pronated or an overhand grip-from there you're going to kneel down-and get on your knees with your arm-relaxed-straight up above your head if you're-really tall-and the stack of weights isn't elevated-after you already kneel down you'll end-up with slack in the cable-so to fix this you can slide back a-little further away from the cable cross-to create space and get rid of the slack-but ideally-you want to do your best to be as close-as possible-from there stick your chest out pack-your shoulder blades nice and tight-together-and squeeze your core then you're going-to pull the cable down by concentrating-on leading with your elbow just like-most of our other rowing movements-as you're doing this turn your hand over-in the middle of the contraction-so your hands gonna go from an overhand-grip to an-underhand grip and then complete the-movement by squeezing your back and lat-at the bottom before repeating for reps-remember to do both sides for each .

Set-another great exercise that's more so-for isolating the lats is the standing-cable pullover now this won't completely-isolate your lats you will still be-using muscles like your triceps-and the back of your shoulders but it'll-isolate a lot more than something like a-lat pull down-so here you'll want to set the pulley on-your cable cross nice and high-attach a straight bar and then take a-grip a few inches wider than shoulder-width you want to keep your arms-straight but not locked out so maintain-a slight bend in your elbows and bend-forward to get your hips out of the way-so you can create enough space for a-longer range of motion-before beginning take a step back so-that the weight is hovering above the-rest of the stack-then while keeping your shoulder blades-back and your arms straight-bring the bar down aiming for the front-of your hips then control it on the way-back up-and repeat for reps . I like keeping my-hands open throughout this entire-exercise because it helps me take the-tension out of my arms and forearms-and instead concentrate more on my lats-so you can try that but there's also-nothing wrong with closing your hands-next is one of the most common and-effective lat exercises .

 The regular lat-pull down-the lat pull down is a great alternative-to develop your lats if you can't-perform-regular pull-ups with your body weight-yet and even if you can do pull-ups lat-pull-downs are still-a great addition to your back training-routine to begin-stand in front of the lap down machine-and grab a wide overhand grip-you can wrap your thumbs around the bar-underneath or-over top whatever feels best for you-then take a seat and slide your thighs-under the pads-while your arms stay straight overhead-arc your back and stick your chest out-then pull the bar down towards your-upper chest-and as you pull down concentrate on-pulling your elbows backwards and down-towards the ground-to help activate your lats squeeze for a-second at the bottom and slowly return-the bar back to the top to repeat for-reps-keep in mind with lat pull downs .

You can-take all kinds of different grips like-underhanded grips-close grips and you can even use the d-handle for a close neutral grip-moving on we have pull-ups this is-definitely one of the better exercises-to build up your lats-while also helping you strengthen your-biceps the back of your shoulders and-your core-so to begin you're going to stand under-a pull-up bar and just like with the lat-pull down-you want to grab the bar with an-overhand grip a little wider than-shoulder width-then lift your feet up off the ground-and relax your arms as you hang straight-down-next you're going to pull yourself up-while concentrating on tracking those-elbows back and downward-after bringing your chin up over the bar-lower yourself back down slowly and-repeat for reps-and if you currently can't do pull-ups .

Then an easy solution-is to use the assisted pull-up machine-or if you don't have access to that-you can also use resistance bands to-assist you on the way up-just do your best to slowly but surely-lighten the amount of assistance you-need-until you can do pull-ups on your own-next-is the reverse grip barbell row and even-though the barbell row-is typically considered an exercise that's more .

 So for your rhomboids and-your traps-it's still also an excellent exercise-for your lats-especially when performed with an-underhanded grip to begin bend down and-grab a loaded barbell with that-supinated grip-make sure you maintain the natural arc-in your lower back by concentrating on-keeping your chest-out and then lift the bar up until-you're bent at about a 60 to 70 degree-angle-you can also hit the lats with high rows-where you would be-at about a 90 degree angle but for this-demonstration we'll be sticking to-regular underhanded barbell rows-so from there simply roll the barbell by-pulling your elbows straight back-towards the ceiling and aim to bring the-barbell up to around your belly button-then lower back down and repeat for reps-another great exercise is the pullover-the pullover is primarily known as a-chest exercise but it'll also-definitely target your lats as well-these can be done lying alongside a-bench or lying across the bench-the more weight you lift the more likely .

You will have to lay across the bench-and drop your hips as a counter balance-so you're going to stand a dumbbell up-on the side of a flat bench-sit perpendicular to the bench and slide-down until your shoulder blades-are on the bench and your head is-slightly hanging off-lift up the dumbbell with one hand-stacked on top of the other-in a diamond shape raise it over your-chest and bring it down-over your head in an arc-like fashion as-you're doing this keep your elbows bent-then once you get to the bottom start-bringing the dumbbell back to the-starting point over your chest-but stop about when the dumbbell is-directly over your forehead-by doing this you'll keep the tension on-your lats. 

 So from there just lower back-down-and repeat for reps within that limited-range of motion-next we have the deadlift and while this-exercise doesn't isolate your lats it's-probably by-far one of the best exercises to develop-a thicker-wider and stronger back and since your-lats are your largest back muscles-they'll definitely benefit from some-heavy deadlifts-to begin step up to a loaded barbell-with your shins close to the bar and-plant your feet a little wider than-hip-width apart-hinge your hips and bend down to grab-the bar then grip the bar-slightly wider than where your shins-meet the bar stick your chest out and-drop your hips down while squeezing your-shoulder blades together to pull-all the slack out of the bar don't lean-too far forward you want your shoulders-in line with your hands-then take a deep breath hold it and lift-the weight up-when lifting the weight don't pull with-your lower back instead lift the weight-by squeezing your abs-pushing your feet into the ground and-hinging your hips by driving them-forward-until you're standing upright then-repeat for reps .

Let's move on to one of my favorites for-the posterior deltoid and the lats the-long-angle dumbbell row to perform this-exercise start by leaning against-something lower than waist level so you-could bend down-until your back is almost parallel with-the ground grab a dumbbell with your-other hand in a neutral position and let-it hang straight down-pull your shoulder blades back and stick-your chest out to maintain-a neutral spine . Now instead of pulling-the dumbbell in towards your belly-button like you would with a regular row-aim to pull the dumbbell further back-towards your hips and then bring it back-down to the hanging position-and repeat for reps this is going to-take your biceps almost completely out-of the movement and put all the tension-on your back-your lats and the back of your shoulder-so you'll probably need to use a lighter-weight than usual . 

So those are some of my favorite lats building exercises that you can start-using right away to develop a nicer back-if you want to combine these into a-workout .

 I would select three to five of-these-exercises and perform each for three-sets of six to ten reps-with a heavy weight load that about-wraps it up . I really hope this helped-you pick up some new exercises for your-lats .