Lats

Instructions:

• Sit at a Lat. Pull-down machine (unless it does not have a seat, in which case you should kneel) while holding the lat. bar with your palms forward (facing away) and thumbs up and placed about 30 inches apart (about 8 inches beyond shoulder width).
• Allow your arms to be pulled until fully extended upward. You should feel the weight of the machine stretching your back.
• Your upper body and back should be straight, your head up and eyes forward.
• Pull the bar straight down until it touches your chest while squeezing your shoulder blades together and keeping your body in the same upright position.
• Return to the starting position in a slow, controlled manner, making sure to get a full stretch in the back without over stretching your shoulders.

Don'ts

• Don't let yourself rise up from your seat.
• Don't let the weight of the bar jerk you up into the stretch.
• Don't jerk the bar down using momentum in attempt to complete the repetition--control the weight at all times.
• Don't let your head move down or your back bend forward when pulling bar down.

BACK: Your back is characterized by three smaller muscles: latisimus dorsi, rhomboids (upper/middle back), and erector spinae (lower back). These three muscles, along with smaller supporting muscles deep beneath the skin's surface, play a huge role in almost everything you do, from swinging a golf club to sitting at the dinner table.

Click on a muscle group and view a video demonstration and written instructions for each exercise for that muscle or muscle group.

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