On the first Monday of the month for the last several months, I have previewed a muscle in the body and attempted to help us understand where it is located, how it works in the body, maybe if in works in conjunction with another muscle or works as a teamed pair with that muscle. In addition to some visuals/videos, I sometimes offer a few suggestions for possible exercises to perform if you know that this area of your body needs strengthening or in some cases it needs to be stronger just to overcome pulls from other more powerful muscle
At the bottom of the diary, I will provide quick links for past muscles that have been discussed so that if you are reader of WHEE only very recently you might learn more about your body.
Our statement of purpose:
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
I pulled this schedule from last night's diary so I believe it to be correct. please alert me if there are errors, changes or if you would like to participate at WHEE and jump into one of the "Open" slots.
Scheduled WHEE diaries
March 1
Mon PM - WHEE Open
March 2
Tue AM - WHEE Open
Tue PM - WHEE Open
March 3
Weds AM - WHEE Open
Weds PM - Edward Spurlock (Kolata, Ch. 4)
March 4
Thurs AM - WHEE Open
Thurs PM - juliewolf
March 5
Fri AM - WHEE Open
Fri PM - Wee Mama (weekly diary)
March 6
Sat AM - bloomin (weekly diary)
Sat PM - Edward Spurlock
March 7
Sun AM - louisev (weekly diary)
Sat PM - WHEE Open
March 8
Mon AM - NC Dem
Mon PM - WHEE Open
Your Latissimus Dorsi
OK, the images are not large nor clear and I still haven't learned to increase the size with clarity on the image files. You can click on the image and go to the photobucket site and see the full size picture or simply watch some of this video which helps.
Please pay close attention to the four movements that occur because of the actions of the lats.
1-Adduction of the shoulder
2-Extension of the shoulder
3-Internal rotation of the shoulder
4-Lateral trunk flexion
What Sports benefit from Strong Lats
So who have normally very well developed lats. As the site mentioned, golfers, tennis players, and baseball pitchers are usually great example. One that I think is often overlooked are swimmers. Especially, swimmers who excel at the butterfly. How many times have we seen Olympic swimmers standing on the starting blocks swinging their arms back and forth to loosen the back muscles. You will often see them rotating their arms like a windmill to warmup and lubricate the shoulder joints prior to the swim. When my daughter was a youngster, she swam year round in Raleigh for almost 6 years on the Raleigh Swim Association. The butterfly and back stroke were her two best events.
The last two years she was swimming she also began playing competitive soccer which really consumed some major time. She finally gave up swimming but was able to use her superior back strength and development in soccer with the throw ins. Her sophomore year in high school, she actually threw in a ball that grazed the top of the bar of the goal and dropped in behind the line for a score.
The Insertion of the Lats on the Humerus
If you paid attention during the video or you look closely at the second image, you notice that the insertion is actually on the front side of the humerus. Think about it. The lats run from very low on your back all the way up and under your armpit and then inserts onto the front side of your upper arm near the shoulder joint.
As we gain fat, everyone's body is different in where it makes the daily deposits. For women, it is normally around the hips and thighs with some later in the arms, legs, and glutes. For men, it primarily targets the abdomen, the chest area, and oddly enough the back. It is around the lats where some of that fat increases. Take a close look at yourself in front of a mirror as you lift your arm to the side. Many of us have excess fat in that upper lat area as it wraps the body under the arm and attaches to the upper humerus. Why? Because we don't exercise it as often as needed, the fat deposits have a sure location for expanding their colony. A man can be overweight or obese and use his arms often to lift and exercise his biceps. He may have a large abdomen that hangs over his belts but the arms can still be toned with litle additional fat.
What are the Best Exercises to Target the Lats?
1- Pullups or chinups. Do we all know the difference?
With a pullup, the palm faces away from you as you grip the bar, rings, or brackets. With a chinup, the palm faces you. Which is easier to do? For most of us the chinup is at least 25-40% easier. Why? With this movement, you are able to incorporate the biceps to a much higher degree and thus the movement has more assistance to the other muscles.
The video below is of a girl doing 19 pullups with really good form other than the last couple where she was fatigued. Look closely at the cutout of the T-shirt where you can really see the upper lats working during the pullup. She has better form (notice the legs crossed behind her body) as she performs the pullup than 99% of the men I have seen in a gym.
2-Lat pulldowns are by far the most common method for developing strength in the lats. Why? Probably because over 50% of us can't do a single pullup or chinup without band assistance or that of a machine. With the lat pulldown, you can gradually add to your back strength. As always, I recommend that you start low on weight and build up. Because all lat pulldown machines have tremendous friction built into the pulleys and cable, I have found when you can do 10-12 lat pulldowns at about 60-70% of your weight, you can begin to do 2-4 chinups. One because you can now use your biceps but mainly because of the loss of power on a machine.
In the video below, please pay close attention the technique. Although the video doesn't mention it, one of the prime reasons to avoid going below the chest is that you suddenly turn your wrists on top of the bar and not below it. With a heavy load on the bar, this can cause real problems in the wrist area where there are so many small muscles and bones.
3- Pullover Extensions and 4- Dumbbell Rows-
I have chosen to include these two together just because I had a great video showing both of these exercises plus a couple of others that we covered when we did the delts coverage. Craig Ballentyne is one of my favorites on the internet that I really trust to provide great information on diet, science of weight loss, and lifting exercises.
In watching the video, pay close attention to the hand grips and the difference it provides the muscles. In most exercises with rows, the closer you keep your elbows to your body, the more it will train your lats. If you allow your elbow to flare out, the exercise recruits others muscles to assist and you are defeating the purpose of strengthening the lats.
OK, that's enough for one day. As normal, I like to throw in one video that is beyond all of us. It just gives us something to dream about.
The moves that this girl does with her legs engages the core like crazy. Again, notice how she flares her legs to the sides and does circles with her legs. Last month, we looked at the external obliques. This movement incorporates the obliques like crazy!
External Obliques
Glutes
Pecs
Delts
Triceps