Welcome to the ultimate list of lat exercises for helping you get a wider back! When it comes to overall aesthetics, nothing is more important than developing a wide back. The reason being is that it gives the illusion that your waist is a lot smaller the more you can increase the lats to waist ratio. Since it’s genetically impossible to make your waist smaller other than getting leaner, performing the best lat exercises for widening out your back becomes even more important.
The best way to use this list is take each back exercise for a test drive and find the one that you feel the most activation on. Notice now I said “back exercise” there? That’s because the latissimus dorsi is a wing-like muscle that takes up roughly 60% of your back, and extends all the way up and down the side of your back. Since everybody’s body structure is different, we all will have our own favorite lat exercises where we have the best mind-muscle connection on. After you try out all the lat exercises from this full list, pick out your 3-4 favorites and form a complete lat workout routine from them. I encourage you to come back to this list often so you can sprinkle in new moves and keep things fun! If you want more full back workout routines, make sure to check out our workouts section next.
This list of exercises also includes lat exercises with dumbbells, lat exercises you can do at home, and lat exercises with cables - so regardless of what pieces of equipment you have access too, you will find some great back exercises to choose from.
Let’s dive into the list, and make sure to pay close attention to the form on all these lat exercises, as widening your back takes a special combination of training with intensity and perfect activation. Watch each video closely and don’t forget to bookmark this page!
Barbell Deadlift
Barbell Row
Cable Pull Overs
Chest Supported Row
Chin Ups
Desk Pullups
Dumbbell Pullover
Dumbbell Shrugs
Floor Pull Overs
Incline Dumbbell Row
Lat Pull In
Lat Pulldown