The 13 Best Lat Exercises and 3 Lat Workouts

Here’s why many people struggle to build wide, strong lats: they do the wrong lat exercises with poor technique and lackluster effort.

Thankfully, you only need a handful of effective exercises to build the back you want:

  • One vertical pulling exercise, like a lat pulldown.
  • One horizontal rowing exercise, like a chest-supported machine row.
  • And, optionally, a lat isolation exercise like the cable pullover (straight-arm lat pulldown or lat prayer).

Well, more accurately, these are the three best movements for training the lats—a pulldown, a row, and some kind of lat isolation exercise (technically known as shoulder extension).

You have a lot of flexibility in terms of the exact exercise variations you use, and I’ll share my favorites in this article (some are better than others).

If I had to pick just one exercise for my lats, it would be a high-to-low machine row performed with a palms-up (supinated) grip or a close-grip lat pulldown. Both train the lats, biceps, and traps (if you train your traps the way I describe in this article).

1. High-to-Low Row with Supinated Grip

How to:

  1. Adjust the thigh pad so that it locks your legs in place and prevents your butt from rising off the seat when pulling the handles down.
  2. Grab the handles with your palms facing toward you (supinated), sit down, and wedge your legs underneath the thigh pad.
  3. Sit with your chest proud and a slight arch in your lower back. If the machine has a chest pad, keep your chest against it.
  4. Relax your arms and shoulders, letting the weight pull your arms straight and your shoulders as high as possible.
  5. Staring straight ahead, pull the handles down by bending your elbows and pulling your shoulder blades down and back simultaneously, ending when the handles are about level with your collarbone.
  6. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as high as they’ll go.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: This is basically a lat pulldown performed with a different grip and from a slightly different angle. It trains your lats, but also your traps and biceps. Unfortunately, many gyms don’t have one.

Mike’s tip: Focus on keeping your chest high throughout the entire rep, getting a deep stretch in your shoulders and upper back at the top of every rep, and pulling your elbows all the way down to your sides.

Alternatives:

2. Close-Grip (V-Grip) Lat Pulldown

How to:

  1. Attach a V-grip (close-grip) handle to the lat pulldown machine, and adjust the thigh pad so that it locks your legs in place and prevents your butt from rising off the seat when pulling the handle down.
  2. Grab the handle with your palms facing each other, sit down, and wedge your legs underneath the thigh pad.
  3. Relax your arms and shoulders, letting the weight pull your arms straight and your shoulders as high as possible (they should be almost touching your ears).
  4. Staring straight ahead, pull the handle down by bending your elbows and pulling your shoulder blades down and slightly back simultaneously. Keep pulling until the handle touches your torso—usually at the top of your breastbone.
  5. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as high as they’ll go.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The close-grip lat pulldown is the same as a regular lat pulldown but performed with a V-grip handle. Many people find it more comfortable, feel like it allows them to use a slightly longer range of motion, and feel a deeper stretch in their lats and traps.

Mike’s tip: Think about lifting your chest up to meet the handle when you pull it down. Don’t curl over at the bottom to try to pull the handle even lower.

Alternatives:

3. Machine Lat Pulldown

How to:

  1. Adjust the thigh pad so that it locks your legs in place and prevents your butt from rising off the seat when pulling the handles down.
  2. Grab the handles with your palms facing away from you, sit down, and wedge your legs underneath the thigh pad.
  3. Relax your arms and shoulders, letting the weight pull your arms straight and your shoulders as high as possible (they should be almost touching your ears).
  4. Staring straight ahead, pull the handles down by bending your elbows and pulling your shoulder blades down and slightly back simultaneously. Pull the handles as low as you can, usually until your hands are about level with your chin.
  5. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as high as they’ll go.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: A plate-loaded lat pulldown machine follows a fixed path, so it takes less coordination than a cable pulldown. Depending on the machine and plates available, it may also let you increase the weight in smaller jumps than the cable version.

Mike’s tip: Focus on getting a deep stretch in your shoulders and upper back at the top of every rep. If you find that your grip starts to fail before your lats, use weightlifting straps.

Alternatives:

4. Cable Lat Pulldown

How to:

  1. Adjust the thigh pad so that it locks your legs in place and prevents your butt from rising off the seat when pulling the bar down.
  2. Grab the bar with your palms facing away from you and a few inches wider than shoulder-width apart. Sit down, letting your body weight pull the bar down with you, and then wedge your legs underneath the thigh pad.
  3. Sit slightly behind the cable rather than directly under it, with your chest proud and a slight arch in your lower back.
  4. Relax your arms and shoulders, letting the weight pull your arms straight and your shoulders as high as possible (they should be almost touching your ears).
  5. Staring straight ahead, pull the bar down by bending your elbows and pulling your shoulder blades down and back simultaneously. Keep pulling until the bar is a few inches from your collarbone (usually an inch or two below your chin).
  6. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as high as they’ll go.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: Many people aren’t strong enough to do a pull-up or chin-up, which makes the lat pulldown a better stopgap exercise until they develop more upper-body strength. The pull-up and chin-up are also very taxing, which can make the lat pulldown a better exercise to include at the end of your workout when you’re already gassed.

Mike’s tip: Avoid swinging your torso back and forth to finish your reps. Think about “pulling your elbows into the floor” and hold the bottom, contracted position for a half second before straightening your arms.

Alternatives:

5. Cable Pullover (Straight-Arm Lat Pulldown)

How to:

  1. Set the pulley to the highest position on a cable machine and attach a straight bar.
  2. Grab the bar with your palms facing away from you and a few inches wider than shoulder-width apart.
  3. Step backward until your arms are pulled straight and there’s no more slack in the cable. Lean forward at the waist until your body makes a 45-degree angle with the floor and your arms are nearly straight overhead and in line with your torso.
  4. Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, pull the bar in an arc toward your feet until the bar runs into your thighs.
  5. Pause for a brief moment, then reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 2 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 minutes rest

Why: The cable pullover, sometimes called the “straight-arm lat pulldown” or “lat prayer,” trains your lats without being limited by your biceps strength. That makes it one of the few exercises that allows you to truly isolate your lats.

Mike’s tip: Allow your torso to straighten slightly at the bottom of each rep and lean over a bit more at the top of each rep. Unlike most isolation exercises, where you want to minimize any movement except for the limbs you’re training, moving your torso slightly back-and-forth helps you get a deeper stretch and more range of motion with this exercise.

You can also do this exercise with a rope handle, but I prefer a straight bar. And if your gym has a pullover machine, that’s arguably even better, but few do.

Alternatives:

6. Pull-Up

How to:

  1. Grab a pull-up bar with your palms facing away from you and your hands about shoulder-width apart.
  2. Lift your feet off the floor and relax your arms and shoulders, letting your body weight pull your arms straight and your shoulders as high as possible (they should be almost touching your ears).
  3. Stare straight ahead and flex your glutes and hamstrings to keep your lower body from swinging (a good cue to remember is “tighter is lighter”).
  4. Pull yourself up by bending your elbows and pulling your shoulder blades down simultaneously. Keep pulling until your chest touches the bar and your elbows are tucked against your sides.
  5. Pause for a brief moment, and then lower yourself to the starting position.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The pull-up trains your lats, biceps, and lower traps without a machine, and you can add weight with a dip belt once bodyweight reps become easy.

Mike’s tip: I like to rotate between pull-ups and chin-ups in my workout routine—either I’ll do pull-ups one day and chin-ups another, or (more often), I’ll focus on one exercise for 6–8 weeks before switching to the other.

Alternatives:

7. Chin-Up

How to:

  1. Grab a pull-up bar with your palms facing toward you and your hands about shoulder-width apart.
  2. Lift your feet off the floor and relax your arms and shoulders, letting your body weight pull your arms straight and your shoulders as high as possible (they should be almost touching your ears).
  3. Stare straight ahead and flex your glutes and hamstrings to keep your lower body from swinging (a good cue to remember is “tighter is lighter”).
  4. Pull yourself up by bending your elbows and pulling your shoulder blades down simultaneously. Keep pulling until your chest touches the bar and your elbows are tucked against your sides.
  5. Pause for a brief moment, and then lower yourself to the starting position.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The chin-up trains all of the same muscles as the pull-up, but may emphasize the biceps slightly more.

Mike’s tip: To add weight to the chin-up, use a dip belt or pinch a dumbbell between your thighs. If you aren’t strong enough to do a bodyweight chin-up yet, do this on a pull-up machine (if your gym has one) or work up to it by first getting strong on a lat pulldown machine.

Alternatives:

8. Single-Arm Lat Pulldown

How to:

  1. Attach a single handle to the lat pulldown machine, and adjust the thigh pad so that it locks your legs in place and prevents your butt from rising off the seat when pulling the handle down.
  2. Grab the handle with your right hand and sit down, letting your body weight pull the handle down with you, and then wedge your legs underneath the thigh pad.
  3. Sit slightly behind the cable rather than directly under it, with your chest proud and a slight arch in your lower back.
  4. Relax your right arm and shoulder, letting the weight pull your arm straight and your shoulder as high as possible (it should be almost touching your right ear).
  5. Staring straight ahead, pull the handle down by bending your right elbow and pulling your right shoulder blade down simultaneously. Keep pulling until the handle touches your torso and your elbow is tucked against your side.
  6. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arm and let the weight pull your shoulder blade as high as it’ll go.
  7. Once you’ve completed the desired number of reps, repeat the process with your left arm.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps (per side) | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The single-arm lat pulldown trains one side at a time, making it easier to focus on your technique and get a deep stretch in your lats. That said, a regular two-arm lat pulldown done correctly is just as effective and more time-efficient.

Mike’s tip: I prefer to use a neutral grip for this exercise. This lets your shoulder blade rise and rotate upward a little more at the top, which means a deeper stretch in your traps and lats.

Alternatives:

9. Chest-Supported Seated Machine Row

How to:

  1. Adjust the seat height so the top of the chest pad is level with the top of your breastbone, and grip the handles with your arms straight. If the handles are adjustable, set them so they’re just out of reach when you extend your arms.
  2. Grab the handles and let the weight pull your arms straight and your shoulder blades as far forward as they’ll go.
  3. Staring straight ahead, pull the handles back by bending your elbows and retracting your shoulder blades simultaneously. Pull the handles as far back as you can, generally until your hands are level with your chest, and your shoulder blades are pinched together and down.
  4. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as far forward as they’ll go.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The chest pad allows you to better isolate your traps, back, and arms, since your lower back strength is no longer a limiting factor in the exercise. It’s also fast to set up, and most machines allow you to add weight in small increments.

Mike’s tip: If possible, adjust the handles so that the weight never rests on the rack between reps—you want tension on your back throughout every set.

Alternatives:

10. Chest-Supported T-Bar Row

How to:

  1. Adjust the foot or chest pad (depending on your machine) so that the top of the chest pad is level with the top of your breastbone.
  2. Grab the handles and let the weight pull your arms straight and your shoulder blades forward as far as they’ll go.
  3. Staring straight ahead, pull the handles back by bending your elbows and retracting your shoulder blades simultaneously. Pull the handles as far back as you can, generally until your hands are level with your chest, and your shoulder blades are pinched together and down.
  4. Pause briefly, then reverse the movement to return to the starting position: straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades as far forward as they’ll go.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The chest pad supports your torso, so lower-back fatigue is less likely to cut the set short. Keep your elbows close to your sides during the T-bar row to emphasize your lats.

Mike’s tip: If your T-bar row doesn’t have a chest pad, stick with the seated machine row, one-arm dumbbell row, or seated cable row.

Alternatives:

11. Yates Row

How to:

  1. Hold a barbell in front of your thighs with your palms facing forward and your hands about shoulder-width apart.
  2. Bend your knees slightly and lean forward at the hips, keeping your back straight and your torso more upright than you would during a conventional bent-over row.
  3. Let the bar hang with your arms straight, then pull it toward your abdomen by bending your elbows and retracting your shoulder blades simultaneously. Keep your elbows close to your sides and pull until the bar reaches your abdomen and your shoulder blades are pinched together and down.
  4. Reverse the movement to return to the starting position, keeping the bar off the floor between reps.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The Yates row is a kind of bent-over barbell row that uses an underhand grip (palms up) and a more upright posture. I generally prefer this over the bent-over barbell row because it doesn’t fatigue your lower back as quickly and it trains your biceps and traps more effectively.

Mike’s tip: Avoid “whipping” the weight upward by heaving your torso back and forth.

Alternatives:

12. One-Arm Dumbbell Row

How to:

  1. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand. Plant your left knee and arm firmly on a bench, your right foot on the floor a foot or two from the bench, and let your right arm (the one holding the dumbbell) hang straight down toward the floor.
  2. Let the weight pull your shoulder blade as far forward as it can go—it helps to rotate your torso slightly to get an even deeper stretch.
  3. Keeping your back straight and staring straight ahead, pull the dumbbell toward your torso by bending your right elbow and retracting your right shoulder blade simultaneously. Keep your elbow close to your side and pull until the dumbbell touches your torso and your shoulder blade is pulled back and down.
  4. Once the dumbbell touches your torso, straighten your arm and let the weight pull your shoulder blade forward as far as it’ll go to return to the starting position.
  5. Once you’ve completed the desired number of reps, repeat the process with your left arm.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps (per side) | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The one-arm dumbbell row allows you to get a deep stretch in your lats and brace your free arm against a bench, making lower-back fatigue less likely to limit your performance.

Mike’s tip: Most people find that even after they can’t complete a full rep of this exercise, they can still grind out a few partial reps. I say go for it, provided the reps stay controlled.

Alternatives:

13. Seated Cable Row

How to:

  1. Attach the handle to the cable row machine, sit on the pad, and place your feet against the footrests.
  2. Lean forward, grab the handle, and lean backward slightly so that your back is perpendicular to the floor and your arms are straight out in front of you.
  3. Keeping your back straight and staring straight ahead, let the handle pull your shoulder blades forward as far as they’ll go (scapular protraction).
  4. Pull the handle toward your abdomen by bending your elbows and retracting your shoulder blades simultaneously. Keep your elbows close to your sides and pull until the handle touches your abdomen and your shoulder blades are pinched together and down.
  5. Once the handle touches your torso, straighten your arms and let the weight pull your shoulder blades forward as far as they’ll go to return to the starting position.

Sets, Reps, and Rest: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 minutes rest

Why: The seated cable row trains your lats, upper back, and biceps with both arms at once. If your lower back gives out before your lats and arms, use a seated machine row or chest-supported T-bar row instead.

Mike’s tip: Avoid swinging your torso back and forth to help you finish each rep. If you find yourself doing this, reduce the weight.

If your gym has an underhand grip handle (palms facing up), try it. This helps emphasize the biceps more than the V-grip handle.

Alternatives:

The 3 Best Lat Workouts

Here are three sample workouts that show how to program these lat exercises.

The Best Lat Workout

Chest-Supported T-Bar Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Machine Lat Pulldown: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Cable Pullover: 2 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest

Total Sets: 8
Total Reps: 52–68
Effective Reps: ~24–32
Estimated Duration: ~18–28 minutes
Lat Sets: 8
Lat Effective Reps: ~24–32

An effective rep is a rep performed while a muscle recruits nearly all the fibers it can. The figures above are estimates, not exact measurements; they assume sets stopped 1–2 reps shy of failure and about three seconds per rep.

Workout times include two warm-up sets before the first exercise: six reps with about half your working weight and four with about 80%, resting 1–2 minutes after each. One-arm reps are counted per side, and workout time includes both sides; extra partial reps aren’t included.

I typically wouldn’t recommend dedicating an entire workout just to lats, even if they’re lagging. Your lats fit naturally into pull and upper-body workouts, so most people should use one of the routines below instead.

Pull Workout with Lat Emphasis

Barbell Romanian Deadlift: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
One-Arm Dumbbell Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps (per side) | 2–3 min rest
Pull-Up: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Machine Rear Delt Fly: 3 sets | 8–10 reps | 1–2 min rest
EZ-Bar Curl: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 1–2 min rest

Total Sets: 15
Total Reps: 90–120
Effective Reps: ~45–60
Estimated Duration: ~31–49 minutes
Lat Sets: 6
Lat Effective Reps: ~18–24

The Romanian deadlift trains your hamstrings and glutes; it doesn’t count toward your six lat sets. The rear delt fly and curl add work for your posterior deltoids (rear delts) and biceps, which get less work than your lats from the pull-up and row.

Upper-Body Workout with Lat Emphasis

Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Chest-Supported T-Bar Row: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Pull-Up: 3 sets | 4–6 reps | 2–3 min rest
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press: 3 sets | 6–8 reps | 2–3 min rest
Cable Lateral Raise: 3 sets | 8–10 reps (per side) | 1–2 min rest

Total Sets: 15
Total Reps: 84–114
Effective Reps: ~45–60
Estimated Duration: ~34–52 minutes
Lat Sets: 6
Lat Effective Reps: ~18–24

This workout gives your lats six direct sets alongside pressing for your chest and shoulders. The lateral raise adds work for your lateral deltoids (side delts), which get less work from the presses than your front delts.

To progress these workouts, use double progression: use a weight that allows you to work within the given rep range, take each set 1–2 reps shy of failure, and once you hit the top of the range for your first set, add weight.

Want More Workouts Like This?

The post The 13 Best Lat Exercises and 3 Lat Workouts appeared first on Legion Athletics.

https://ift.tt/pz9QUe3 October 2, 2026 at 02:17PM Legion Athletics

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Expert Guide to Lyle McDonald’s Generic Bulking Routine

Image
Lyle McDonald’s Generic Bulking Routine is a bulking workout plan designed to boost muscle growth and strength gain. Unlike many strength training programs, the Generic Bulking Routine is for a very specific set of people. Specifically, it’s for those who are eating plenty of calories, are looking to gain lean muscle mass fast, and have at least 12 months of experience with weightlifting. In this article, you’ll learn what the routine is, why it’s one of the best bulking workout plans on the internet, and everything you need to know to get started on the program, including the workouts, schedule, exercises, rest times, progression scheme, and more. Table of Contents What Is Lyle McDonald’s Generic Bulking Routine? A Complete Guide to Lyle McDonald’s Generic Bulking Routine Schedule Exercises Bulking Workout Routine Rest Progression What Is Lyle McDonald’s Generic Bulking Routine? The Generic Bulking Routine is a 4-day strength training program created by Lyl...
Read more

The Complete Guide to Mike Mentzer’s Workout Routine

Image
Most people think building muscle requires doing more—more sets, more reps, and more hours in the gym. Mike Mentzer disagreed. His workout routine took the opposite approach: short, brutally intense workouts followed by long recovery periods. This approach worked for Mentzer and even inspired bodybuilding legends like Dorian Yates to follow his methods. But how did Mentzer train exactly? And does his workout routine hold up to modern science? In this article, you’ll get a full run down of Mentzer’s workout plan, learn what science says about his methods, and learn how to adapt his program for maximum results. Key Takeaways The Mike Mentzer workout routine emphasizes low volume, training to failure, and extended rest between workouts, but these principles don’t align with how most people like to train or what research shows drives muscle growth. Mentzer’s workout plan is a 3-day split (chest and back, legs and abs, and shoulders and arms) with just one heavy set per exercise ...
Read more

Your Next Chest Routine for Mass: 7 Must-Do Pec Exercises

Image
Many gymgoers think that the only exercise you need for a massive chest workout is the bench press. While it’s true that the bench press is one of the very best chest exercise s for gaining size and strength, it’s not enough on its own to develop truly impressive pecs. A true chest routine for mass must include exercises that allow you to train your pecs with heavy weights, through long ranges of motion, and at varying angles. What’s more, these exercises must allow you to lift progressively heavier weights over time, since this is essential for muscle growth.  From my experience training thousands of people, the exercises that work best as the basis of a chest day workout routine are: Barbell bench press Incline barbell bench press Dumbbell bench press Incline dumbbell bench press Close-grip bench press Dip High-to-low cable fly In this article, you’ll learn why these exercises should be the foundation of every good mass-building chest workout program , discov...
Read more