Lats Workout | Bodyweight
| Parts | Exercises | Sets | Reps/Duration | Rest Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up | Light Mobility - Joint # | 1 - 2 | 5 - 30 | none - 2 min |
| Warm-Up Set/s | 1 - 2 | 1 - 8 | 2 - 5 min | |
| Primary | Lats Exercise | 2 - 3 | 4 - 8 / near failure | 3 - 5 mins |
| Secondary | Lats Exercise | 1 - 2 | 4 - 8 / near failure | 3 - 5 mins |
| Parts | Exercises | Sets | Reps/Duration | Rest Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up | Light Mobility Drill | 1 | 10 - 20 | none - 2 min |
| Warm-Up Set | 1 | 1 - 8 | 2 - 5 mins | |
| Primary | Australian Pull-ups (Lats-biased) | 2 | 4 - 8 / Near Failure | 3 - 5 mins |
| Parts | Exercises | Sets | Reps/Duration | Rest Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up | Light Mobility Drill | 1 | 10 - 20 | none - 2 min |
| Warm-Up Set | 1 | 1 - 8 | 2 - 5 mins | |
| Primary | Wide Grip Pull-Ups | 2 | 4 - 8 / Near Failure | 3 - 5 mins |
| Secondary | Chin-Ups | 1 | 4 - 8 / Near Failure | 3 - 5 mins |
Workout Information:
Description:
This workout routine is designed to primarily build and strengthen the latissimus dorsi, commonly known as lats. This routine provides various ways to train the lats, providing the ability to bias a portion of the lats, as well as catering to those who cannot yet do pull-ups. Although you can bias them, fear not to only do one plane if that is what you prefer or the only one you can do.
Most importantly, this routine prioritizes stimulus and fatigue management, ensuring you can recover for the next training session while removing unnecessary work and further limiting fatigue.
Workout Sample 1: For those who cannot yet do pull-ups.
Workout Sample 1: For biasing the lower and upper lats, respectively. The primary lat exercise works the lats in the transverse plane. On the other hand, the secondary lats exercise works the lats in the sagittal plane.
Warm-Up:
To properly warm up for this routine, you simply need to warm up the muscles around the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints by moving them around with intent or doing some named mobility movements. Then, do some warm-up sets for the main exercise. For example:
Light Mobility Drill: Shoulder Circles -> Shoulder Corkscrews -> Elbow Circles -> Wrist Circles for a round or two with enough reps for you to feel them working.
Warm-Up Set/s: You can either do an easier variation or modified version of your first exercise, or do your exercise with some reps far from failure.
Just make sure that whatever you do is just enough to work and warm up your muscles, not tire them, so you can perform your best in your working sets.
Exercise Selection:
Above all, make sure that the exercise is primarily working the lats. Then, determine if you can perform the exercise and go near or until failure within the recommended rep range, while also considering the stability and other limiting aspect of the exercise like your grip. While it is okay to use an exercise where you can perform higher rep ranges, it's not advisable nor efficient if your goal is hypertrophy—a major limitation of purely bodyweight training.
If you're strong enough to go far beyond the recommended rep range and you don't have a choice at the moment to change the exercise or simply prefer not changing it, you can continue using it and go near or until failure, just like when performing it within the specified rep range. Just know that there will be some unwanted differences in terms of growth stimulus and fatigue.
Proximity to Failure:
While it is okay to go until failure, especially at the start when you don't yet know what that feels like and want to avoid undertraining, it's generally recommended to use it sparingly and instead leave 1-2 repetitions in reserve (RIR).
Training Frequency:
Depending on your recovery rate, you can perform this routine 2-3 times per week.