Lat Training Killing your Posture?

Latissimus Dorsi aka Lats

How should this major group be trained?

The Lats are one of the biggest muscles our back has to offer us. We all want beautiful big lats and may also strive for that ultimate “V Tapper” shape but don’t truly understand the anatomy of the lats. So to first understand any muscle and how to train, its much more important to know the anatomy and attachments.

Sorry to break it to you so early in the conversation but we need to talk about this. When training vertically eg. The famous lat pull down machine, chin-ups, or pull ups you may just be continuously digging into a future of poor posture, injuries or escalating an existing postural issue.

A major detail in which many over look is that the lats while is part of the posterior chain (which is a good part to train), when trained as described above internally rotates the shoulder.

Yes! Internal rotation which we all know if you sit at a desk all day is already an issue. So we can all thank the humeral insertion point of the lats which sits attached to medial aspect the upper third of the upper arm bone. For simplicity (see image 2), I refer to the front of the shoulder close bicep area. So now just imagine if this muscle was to become tense and trained to be in a shortened state. Your shoulder will constantly sit in internal rotation and as many of us naturally with the way we operate now in days have more than enough to tip the scales between balance of the shoulder joint between internal vs external rotation.

Now How to train the lats and maintain posture?

First, before and after every Lat Training especially if prone to internal rotation. Make sure to stretch the lat via Pull Bar at home or gym, just hang! If needed you may also use a pull up machine and stretch one side at a time for about 30 seconds each. Another option if others are not available is to put hands against the wall and push chest out and down while maintaining hands on the wall (see image 3) or if you have some Resistance Bands you can simply tie those bands to a door, kneel on the floor and allow the resistance to stretch those lats similar to image 3 but the bonus with resistance bands is that you can slightly contract and release the muscle at the same time allowing for an easier more effective stretch.

Let’s not forget there are other ways to train/develop lats such as Row machine, Deadlifts, Dumbbell rows. I understand pull up variations contribute more towards the width of the body so hopefully by the end of this article you will have a better understanding how you can counteract those vertical lat training (various lat pull down machines and pull ups) to allow your self to maintain better posture and have a stronger functional version of yourself for years to come!