Wed. May 1st, 2024

Wide grip chins behind the neck; widen the upper back and create a full sweep in the lats. Wide grip chins widen the lats and develop the entire shoulder girdle. This is an exercise primarily for the outer regions of the lats and spreads the scapula, making it easier to flare the lats. Wide grip chins to the front; widen the upper back and create the full sweep in the lats. Chinning so that you touch your chest to the bar, rather than the back of the neck will you a slightly longer range of motion and is less strict. Chins to the front allow you to cheat slightly, so that you can continue your reps even after you tire.

Close grip chins; widen the lower lats and widen the serratus. This exercise is great for widening and lengthening the appearance of the lats.

Lat machine pull downs to the front or the back; widen the upper lats. This exercise allows you to do chins with less than your total body weight, so that you can do a lot of extra reps for the upper back if you feel you need more work in that area. However, you should not replace chins as the standard exercise to widen the upper lats.

Close or medium grip pull downs; to the front widen the lower lats. Working with an overhead cable and weight stack allows you to do the chinning movement with less than your body weight.

Bent over barbell rows; thicken the upper back. This exercise also helps widen the upper back and to a lesser degree add density to the lower back.

Bent over dumbbell rows; to work each side of the upper back in isolation. You can still work heavy and give your back a good work out using dumbbells. By using them, you are forcing each side of the body to work up to its own capacity rather than running the risk of having the stronger side help out the weaker one. This is a good weak point exercise for anyone lacking upper back symmetry.

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