LAT: 5 Best Barbell Lat Exercises For Maximum Back Gains

Lat exercises are indispensable for building a strong, muscular back and are essential to improve your overall strength and fitness. Additionally, for people who want a V-tapered back that shows through their shirts, they must concentrate on compound movements and use progressive overload techniques. Fortunately, all individuals need for this exercise is a bench and a barbell to accomplish this.

The lats (latissimus dorsi) are broad, fan-shaped muscles that cover a large area of the back. The lat exercise involves the upper body's largest muscle. The lats, along with the traps, form a V shape on your back and are essential to achieving the much-desired V-taper torso shape that guys train for.

What Exactly Are Lats?

Lats are the muscles inserted from the inside into the upper part of the humerus (the upper arm bone). Their main goal is twofold - pulling and adducting objects. You might wonder what exactly is adduction. To understand this, raise your arms to the sides and form a "T" with the torso. Lower them back to the sides with force. Adduction is this forceful lowering action.

Types of Lat Exercises

Conventional rowing motions with arms by the side and pulling straight back will have an effect on the lats. When the grip on a rowing machine becomes too wide, the rear deltoid and middle traps become much more involved.

Researchers have discovered that pulling with a moderate grip width may have some minor advantages, particularly in the vertical plane. The medium grip apparently provides some minor advantages both in the upward and downward paths of the movement in terms of muscular recruitment.

5 Best Barbell Lat Exercises

1. Deadlifts

This Lat Exercise is the foundation to build a great back (Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash)

This lat exercise is the foundation to build a great back. This motion will start engaging all parts of the posterior chain and is quite possibly the most effective lat exercise. Sets of heavy deadlifts will target every muscle fiber from the latissimus dorsi to the rhomboid minor.

Here's how to execute the perfect deadlift:

Place a barbell on the floor and stand close enough to it that it nearly touches your legs.
Grasp it overhand, slightly wider than shoulder width, and push the hips back as far as possible, then bend the knee long enough to reach the bar, with feet shoulder-width apart and arms just outside of the legs.
Lift the bar from the ground by remaining tall and pulling the hips to your standing position from the bottom position with such a tall spine. It is critical to maintain a strong posture throughout the movement.
Descend to the ground while controlling the bar.

2. Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row

This Lat Exercise is fairly ignored by many people (Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash)

This lat exercise is fairly ignored by many people, but being a major fixed move, it can be performed with both arms that can increase the amount of weight that can be moved. This move is probably a mainstay in most bodybuilders' and athletes' lat exercise routines at this point.

Here's how to perform this exercise:

Place your hands on the ground next to a loaded barbell.
Bend the knees slightly and hinge forward so the torso is slightly higher than parallel to the ground, then take an overhand, shoulder-width grip on the barbell.
Look down, not ahead, and tighten your abs.
Hinge upwards, lifting the barbell and raising the torso to a 45-degree angle with the ground. This is the starting point.
Bend the elbows and pull the barbell to the lower chest while keeping the core tight and shoulder blades squeezed.
While doing this, keep the elbows at a 45-degree angle to the torso and try to touch the bar to the ribcage.
Control the descent to the start. This is one rep.

3. The Landmine Row

The landmine row is similar to the barbell row (Photo by Victor Freitas on pexel)

The landmine row is similar to the barbell row, but the tilt of the pull is slightly different. The barbell is anchored behind, allowing you to squeeze harder. Since it's anchored, there is less cheating and more effort is involved.

Here's how to execute the landmine row:

Set a barbell in a landmine and add weight to the opposite end of the barbell.
Wrap the weighted end in a V-bar handle and grasp its grips.
Hinge forward until your torso forms a 45-degree angular position with the floor - this is the beginning.
Squeeze the shoulder blades and row the barbell's weighted end towards the chest snd pause, before you repeat.

4. Pendlay/Dead Stop Row

The weight comes to a full stop at the conclusion of the movement in the Pendlay style (Photo by Leon Ardho on pexel)

Coach Glenn Pendlay popularized this row variation by combining techniques from the deadlift and the bent-over row into hybrid movements. The weight comes to a full stop at the conclusion of the movement in the Pendlay style. This forces increased lat activation for each rep and set. This movement results in increased explosiveness, making it an excellent form of lat exercise to improve other main lifts.

Here’s how to execute the perfect Dead stop Row:

As with a deadlift, the bar begins on the floor.
Position over the top of the bar so that the back is nearly horizontal to the ground.
At the peak of the movement, keep the chest tight and the spine neutral, and drive your elbows back behind the torso.
Lower the weight to the ground and allow it to come to a complete stop.

5. Meadows Row

Meadows Row requires one to approach the landmine from a different angle (Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexel)

Meadows Row requires one to approach the landmine from a different angle, resulting in a vicious single-arm row. The angle forces the resistance to move both up and away from oneself, making it difficult to pull explosively near the top.

Here's how to properly perform the Meadows Row form :

Begin by placing the bar in a corner or with a landmine attachment.
Place the hip closest to the bar higher than your other hip.
Maintain a neutral spine and push the elbows back past the torso.
Since grip strength is not a limiting factor, wrist straps may be useful on some bars that are slightly thicker at the end.
When done correctly, users will see detailed lat developments while performing these lat exercises that most amateur bodybuilders can only dream of.