The 10 Best Lower Lat Exercises for a Stronger, Bigger Back

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi muscles, trapezius, rhomboids, biceps, forearms, pectoralis major

Benefits: The wide-grip variation of the lat pulldown isolates the lats more so than the traditional close grip pulldown. With less elbow flexion, this lat pulldown variation focuses less on the biceps and forearms, rather on strengthening the upper-back muscle groups—particularly your outer and lower lats.

How to do it:

1. Sit down facing a lat pulldown machine, securing your knees underneath a pad if one is available.
2. Grip the lat bar with a wide overhand grip and lean back slightly.
3. Pull the bar down toward your chest while keeping your back straight and core tight.
4. Pause a moment once the bar is below your chin, then raise and guide the bar back to your starting position.
5. Repeat for desired repetitions.

Expert tip: Bodybuilders might use a bit of momentum, or body English, on their high-rep hypertrophy sets. However, most people should focus on controlling the movement to get the most benefit out of their working sets. Minimize excessive momentum by choosing a working weight that you can handle and control on the way down and up.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius, posterior deltoids, hamstrings, glutes, biceps, forearms, core

Benefits: Bent-over barbell rows use many more muscle groups than isolation exercises like one-arm rows or cable rows. Because it’s a full-body exercise, you can load heavier weights than typical lat exercises, making this a great exercise for muscle growth in general. Building muscle with bent-over rows is vital if your aim is a back V-taper.

How to do it:

1. Place an Olympic barbell on the ground, loaded to your desired weight.
2. Step underneath the barbell with your feet placed shoulder-width apart, and the bar over your midfoot—similar to a deadlift stance.
3. Squat down to grab the bar with an overhand grip (palms facing down to the ground), just outside of your shoulder-width stance.
4. Deadlift the bar to standing, then brace your core and shift your hips back. You should have the bar close to your knees, and your upper body should be bent over the barbell.
5. Row the barbell upward, just below your chest toward your abs. Keep your elbows close to your body as you move your arms.
6. Pause at the top before lowering the barbell back to the starting position.
7. Repeat for your desired reps.

Expert tip: Although this exercise focuses on lat contraction, the rest of the body should be in the proper position to ensure you’re getting the most out of this exercise. Keep the knees slightly bent and a neutral spine to reduce your chance of injury.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius, posterior deltoids, erector spinae, hamstrings, glutes, biceps, forearms, core

Benefits: This variation of a bent-over row makes one small adjustment by flipping your grip around. This small change emphasizes your lower lats and back rather than your upper back. You’ll feel this variation a bit more in the lower lats and erector spinae. Bent rows also place you in a hip hinge position, which will have good carryover to your deadlift.

How to do it:

1. Begin with your feet shoulder-width apart and a barbell placed in front of you.
2. Grab the bar with an underhand grip—palms facing upwards—just slightly wider than shoulder width.
3. Slightly bend your knees and shift your hips back so the barbell is resting at your knees and your upper body is over the bar.
4. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and row the barbell up toward your stomach.
5. Pause for a moment before lowering the weight back down.
6. Repeat for reps.

Expert tip: Keep your elbows and arms tucked by your side throughout the movement to keep the exercise focused on your back and not your shoulders. This can be an odd position for shoulder exercises and could lead to injury if done wrong.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius, posterior deltoids, biceps, forearms, core

Benefits: In addition to training the upper body and lats, the one-arm dumbbell row is a unilateral exercise, which can help correct muscle imbalances. Also, the neutral grip with a dumbbell may help relieve strain on the wrists compared to barbell movements.

How to do it: 

1. Place your left knee and left hand on a flat weight bench, with your right foot on the floor, with your toes pointed forward and a slight bend in your knee.
2. Pick a dumbbell up from the floor with your right hand, and straighten your left arm, supporting your bodyweight.
3. Row the dumbbell up and back, toward your hip, and pause at the top.
4. Lower the dumbbell back to a hanging position with control, and allow your arm to elongate and stretch at the bottom.
5. Repeat for your desired reps, then switch to the opposite side.

Modifications

• Dial it back: Using a resistance band instead of a dumbbell can help reduce the intensity of the exercise.
• Make it harder: Play around with pauses or eccentric (slow lowering) movements to increase the challenge. You can also incorporate your core more by doing a bent-over row variation of single-arm rows. 

RELATED: Best Resistance Bands

Expert tip: A common mistake on the row is pulling up, not up and back. Pull and row the dumbbell back toward your hips, almost like you’re trying to fit the dumbbell in your pocket. This will help focus on lat activation and prevent excessive use of the shoulders and delts.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius, erector spinae, biceps, triceps, core

Benefits: Working out on a cable machine can provide the stability that free weights don’t always have. Additionally, moving in a singular plane of motion allows for greater isolation of muscles. So, if you’re trying to focus on your back muscles, throwing some cable movements like a low-pulley seated cable row will allow you to isolate and attack specific back muscles.

How to do it:

1. Attach a V-grip row attachment onto a low-pulley cable machine, and sit in front of it. The cable should be at chest height while seated.
2. Plant your feet on the foot plates with a slight bend in your knees. If there are no foot plates, make sure you’re seated where your feet are planted firmly on the ground, anchoring your lower body.
3. Grab the V-grip attachment with your arms fully extended, and then lower your shoulders down and back, sitting upright.
4. Pull the attachment toward your lower abs, squeezing your shoulder blades back.
5. Pause for a moment before returning your arms back to the starting position.
6. Repeat for desired reps.

Expert tip: You’ll get the most out of a seated row by maintaining an upright torso and bracing properly. Leaning forward during a row removes tension from your back muscles, possibly straining your lower back.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, teres major, pectoralis major, deltoids

Benefits: The straight-arm pulldown—aka the lat sweep—is probably the closest you’ll get to fully isolating your lats, as other muscle groups are minimized by the nature of the movement. If you don’t have a cable machine to perform this movement, you can use a resistance band to mimic the same movement.

How to do it:

1. Stand in front of a lat pulldown machine or a similar cable machine and attach a straight-bar.
2. Use an overhand grip to grab the straight bar with your arms extended.
3. Keeping your arms straight, push the bar downward by engaging your lats.
4. Pause at the bottom, before controlling the straight bar back to the starting position.
5. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Modifications

• Dial it back: To reduce the intensity, you can use a resistance band instead of a cable machine.
• Make it harder: Add more weight to increase your resistance. You can also work one arm at a time for unilateral training.

Expert tip: Lean a little forward on the eccentric part of the movement—bringing the arms back up. Doing this will stretch the lats and ensure you get the full range of motion, shown to help increase muscle growth² more than a partial range of motion focused on the concentric (or shortening) phase.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, pectoralis major, triceps, deltoids, serratus anterior

Benefits: An April 2012 study³ found that eccentric, or lengthening, contractions of muscles can produce greater muscle adaptations than concentric (shortening contractions). Dumbbell pullovers put the lats in a nice stretch on every repetition, particularly in the lats and triceps. This stretch won’t just help with building strength, but it’ll have enormous carryover in shoulder mobility—vital for overhead movements like overhead presses or squats.

How to do it:

1. Lie on a flat bench, making sure your hips, upper back and shoulder blades are supported.
2. Grasp one dumbbell with both hands and position it over your head, with your arms slightly bent.
3. Keep your body straight on the bench as you lower the dumbbell behind your head, maintaining the slight bend in your elbows and stretching your lats.
4. Return the dumbbell back to the starting position over your head.
5. Repeat for repetitions.

Expert tip: Any free weight works for a pullover. I commonly do pullovers with a heavy weight plate, but you could do it with a kettlebell, sandbag, or even a slam ball. 

For a full-body exercise that engages the core more, place your shoulders on the bench so your body is perpendicular to it. While you do the pullovers, you can engage your posterior chain by doing a glute raise and hold, which will fire up your core muscles.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, trapezius, rhomboids, erector spinae, deltoids, biceps, forearms

Benefits: The stretch of the dead hang of the pull-up to the contraction of the muscles—once your chin is over the bar—makes the pull-up one of the most effective bodyweight workouts for the upper arms and back. The movement will work the entire lat, too—upper, middle, and lower lats.

How to do it:

1. Grab onto a pull-up bar with a shoulder-width overhand grip, making sure your arms are straight.
2. Take your feet off the floor and hang from the bar. (Make sure to keep your upper back engaged, even while in a dead hang.)
3. Pull yourself toward the bar by squeezing your lats, back, and arms. Aim for your chest to touch the bar, although it may not physically touch the bar. Aim for your chin to reach over the bar, however.
4. Lower yourself down with control, keeping your upper back tight until your arms are straight.
5. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

Modifications

• Dial it back: If unable to do a full pull-up, you can scale using a resistance band or an assisted pull-up machine (if you’re at a commercial gym). Additionally, you can adjust your grip if you do a chin-up or a neutral grip pull-up, although these variations will put more emphasis on your biceps and less on your lats.
• Make it harder: Loading pull-ups with a dumbbell or a weight belt can help make pull-ups more difficult. You can also experiment with tempos and pauses to increase the challenge.

Muscles worked: Latissimus dorsi, trapezius, rhomboids, posterior deltoids, biceps, forearms

Benefits: Inverted rows can be a great scaling option for pull-ups, as this bodyweight movement is far easier, and can be further adjusted by the angle of your body. Furthermore, inverted rows force you to maintain a strong, braced core, getting a bit of core work into the exercise.

How to do it:

1. Set a barbell at about waist height on a power rack or other squat rack.
2. Hang underneath the bar facing up, gripping it with your hands shoulder-width apart. Make sure to use an overhand grip.
3. Keep your body straight by bracing your core and maintaining a neutral spine.
4. Pull your chest toward the bar by squeezing your shoulder blades back and keeping your elbows tucked in toward your body.
5. Pause for a moment before controlling yourself back down to the starting position.
6. Repeat for your desired reps, making sure to maintain good form throughout.

Modifications

• Dial it back: If the bar at waist height is proving too difficult, raise the barbell height to make reps easier.
• Make it harder: For more challenging inverted rows, lower the barbell height on the rack.