Repeatedly you have heard me make a recommendation to your form in order to engage your lats. Right? Ok, so maybe you hear it every day! They’re THAT important to connecting your upper and lower body. So why is THAT important? Ooh, I’m going to tell you!
Your lats (or latissimus dorsi to be proper) are the biggest muscles in your back. They literally cover your entire back. These are the muscles that give a bodybuilder that “V-shape”. These muscles attach at five different points on the body; the spine, pelvis, ribs, shoulder blade, and upper arm. Visualize that for a moment. All those points of attachment for the lats. Can you see how they might be kinda important to engage? Keep reading.
The span of the lats connects from the sacrum area (thoracolumbar fascia) to your upper arm (humerus). That means it connects your hips all the way up to your upper arm. Yup, they’re that big! Because of their size, connections on the body, and shape of the muscle fibers, the lats movement is complex and multi-faceted. They can rotate your arm inward, move your arm closer to your body, assist with breathing, pull your shoulder blades down (similar to when I say “shoulders down”), arch your spine, and help you bend sideways (lateral flexion). Working together, they make your core super stable and solid!
You’ve heard me talk about “anti-rotation” before. The lats help you to not rotate. Simply, they keep your middle stable and tight. This means you have greater movement of your arms and legs, while protecting your back. Because we move in 3-D, we need to learn to engage the lats. Learning how to engage them improves our movement and decreases risk of injury. So how do we engage this huge muscle?
There are a few ways you can engage your lats – all involve creating tension. To start, you want to make sure your shoulders are down. This can help put your shoulder blades in proper position for the lats to effectively work. This means you want space between the tops of your shoulders and your ears. Try it now – drop those shoulders. Aaah, feels better, right? Ok so now you want to get those lats to engage! Movements that will engage the lats include: pressing your arms into the ground while lying flat on your back (think hip bridge with palms up), corkscrewing your hands into the ground in a push up position or plank bag drag, with arms straight down in front pulling something apart (to create tension – think deadlift), or lying on your back with arms straight up over your chest and pulling something apart (think leg lowers). Of course, there’s the traditional pull up to work the lats. Oh yes, that gets your lats fired up! Once you engage the lats, your middle is rock solid. Even if you can’t see a 6-pack, I promise you’re strong!
Learning how to engage your lats makes your CORE strong and your movement so much better! Consciously try to engage them and feel how much better your balance is because the lats keep you more stable. Go ahead, try it out!