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Los 3 MEJORES EJERCICIOS para una ESPALDA ANCHA (y cómo hacerlos de verdad) — Transcript

by Joanma Carmona - Culturismo Natural & Motivación · 2,682 words · 409 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00If there is one muscle group I have
0:02historically struggled with in my
0:04physique, it is undoubtedly my lats. I
0:06have always been a person with a fairly
0:08narrow frame. When I started training
0:11at 17, I was a super narrow kid; I
0:12practically had no shoulders or lats, I
0:14was an absolute toothpick, and I
0:16clearly lacked that V-taper we all look
0:18for when we want to build an aesthetic
0:20physique. And for many years, this was
0:23one of my biggest physical insecurities
0:25. Precisely for that reason, over time,
0:29I have become practically obsessed with
0:31back training. I have tried so many
0:35exercises, grips, machines, cables,
0:37positions, and ways of executing
0:39movements, trying to find which ones
0:41really allowed me to stimulate and
0:43develop one of the parts of my physique
0:45that has been hardest for me to improve
0:47genetically. And after all these years,
0:50if I had to choose only three exercises
0:53to build a wider back, it would be the
0:56three we are going to see in this video
0:58. But I don’t just want to show you
1:01what they are; I also want to show you
1:03how to execute them correctly, because,
1:05in the end, you can have the best
1:07exercises in the world in your routine
1:09and end up using them to train almost
1:10everything except what you want to
1:12develop. So, let's look at what I
1:15consider to be the three best exercises
1:17to develop your lats, and especially
1:20how to execute them correctly. But not
1:23before, as always, reminding you that
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1:55Alright guys, before we talk about
1:57exercises, it is fundamental that we
1:59understand one thing: if you want a
2:01wide back, you need to develop your
2:03lats, and to develop your lats, you
2:05don't necessarily need the heaviest,
2:07most demanding back exercises or those
2:09where you can move the most weight.
2:11There is a bit of a misconception that
2:14a good back is built solely by doing
2:16deadlifts, heavy rows, and very
2:17compound exercises. And clearly, these
2:20exercises are important for the overall
2:22development of the back, of course, but
2:24building a back is one thing, and
2:26developing the lats specifically is
2:27something slightly different. Because
2:31when we talk about the back, we are
2:33grouping a huge amount of musculature:
2:35traps, rhomboids, erectors, round
2:37muscles, and, obviously, the latissimus
2:39dorsi. A deadlift, for example, is a
2:42fantastic exercise for developing
2:43specific regions of the posterior chain
2:45. Of course, a hip hinge, a heavy row,
2:48exactly the same, great. It can help
2:51you a lot, especially with that
2:53scapular musculature, etcetera, but
2:55that doesn't mean they are necessarily
2:57the best tools if our specific goal is
3:00to maximize latissimus dorsi
3:01development. In fact, it is no
3:05coincidence that athletes who base much
3:07of their training on large compound
3:09movements can develop a very strong and
3:12dense back, but without necessarily
3:14having extraordinarily developed lats.
3:18Let's say, because the lat is a muscle
3:21that, in my view, benefits much more
3:23from very analytical, very stable
3:25movements specifically directed toward
3:28the extension and abduction of the
3:30humerus. And this is where the problem
3:34arises, because even before talking
3:36about arm trajectory, we have to talk
3:38about something almost no one considers
3:40when training the lats: the position of
3:43the spine and pelvis. We have always
3:46been taught that to work the back
3:48correctly, we must always puff out our
3:50chest, arch our back, and place the
3:52pelvis in anterior tilt, right? For
3:54example, you're going to squat, and
3:55it's the same, right? Chest up, pelvic
3:57anterior tilt, puff out chest, right?
3:59You're going to do a deadlift. Exactly.
4:01Chest up, extend the spine, okay? Puff
4:03out your chest. You're going to do, for
4:05example, a pulldown too, lat pulldown,
4:06the same, okay? You have to puff out
4:08your chest, extend the spine, and so on
4:09. And in the end, what happens? Well,
4:11we end up doing absolutely every
4:13exercise—not just back ones, but
4:14every exercise in the gym—with the
4:16same posture. But in the end, we have
4:19to understand that every exercise has
4:21different needs. When we want to focus
4:24specifically on the lat, I'm not
4:25interested in exaggerating that spinal
4:27extension or that pelvic anterior tilt.
4:30I am interested in practically the
4:31opposite. I want a pelvis in slight
4:34posterior tilt, controlled ribs, and a
4:36relatively neutral spine. This doesn't
4:40mean you have to curl into a ball or
4:42flex excessively, slouching your back,
4:44but I do want to avoid that posture of
4:45puffing out your chest excessively and
4:47extending the lumbar region. And why is
4:50this? Well, because the latissimus
4:51dorsi has insertions in the pelvis and
4:53different structures of the spine, and
4:55it ends up inserting into the humerus.
4:57In other words, we are talking about a
4:59huge muscle that connects our torso to
5:01our arm. Therefore, the relative
5:03position between the humerus, the
5:05thorax, and the pelvis will modify the
5:07conditions in which that muscle
5:09produces force and the ease with which
5:11we can move it to positions of greater
5:13or lesser length. If during a pulldown,
5:16for example, I puff out my chest a lot
5:18and hyperextend my spine, and I start
5:19to aggressively retract my shoulder
5:21blades, the movement starts to become
5:23something very different from lats work
5:24. I am no longer just thinking about
5:27pulling the humerus down using the lat.
5:29I am introducing a lot of scapular
5:32movement and facilitating the
5:33involvement of the traps, rhomboids,
5:36teres muscles, and the rest of the back
5:38musculature. That is why, before
5:40learning any of the three exercises
5:42coming up, you have to learn this
5:44position. Slight pelvic tilt, strong
5:48contracted abdomen, controlled ribs,
5:50neutral spine, and from there, we move
5:53the arm. Once we have this clear, let's
5:56go with the first exercise. And the
5:58first exercise is the unilateral
6:00vertical pulldown. Here, what we are
6:03going to look for is a very high pulley
6:04, a single grip, and for us to be
6:06positioned practically underneath the
6:08line of force. Why do I like this
6:10exercise so much? Well, first because
6:12it allows us to work unilaterally, and
6:14for me, that has immense value in lat
6:16training, as it is extremely common to
6:19find differences in coordination,
6:21mobility, or even development between
6:23both sides. And when we do all our
6:26exercises bilaterally, the dominant
6:28side can end up doing a slightly larger
6:30portion than the other side, and
6:32therefore it is easy for this to be a
6:34muscle group where quite a few
6:36imbalances are generated. In fact, we
6:38see it in many bodybuilders, even
6:40professionals, okay? When we work
6:42unilaterally, that possibility no
6:44longer exists because each lat has to
6:46produce its own movement and we can
6:48concentrate completely on each one. But
6:51this exercise also allows us something
6:53fundamental, which is to place the
6:54humerus in a very elevated position at
6:56the start of the movement and work with
6:58a huge amount of range of motion. At
7:01the top, I want you to let the arm
7:02travel, don't be afraid to reach a
7:04position of significant flexion; it’s
7:05what we are looking for as long as you
7:07can, of course, maintain a comfortable
7:08and relatively controlled position. of
7:11the scapula. From there, you have to
7:14think about one thing: don't pull with
7:16the hand, but pull with the elbow. The
7:18hand simply connects your body to the
7:20pulley. Think that your goal is to
7:21displace the humerus. Therefore, from
7:23that elevated position, I want the
7:25elbow to start descending following a
7:27fairly vertical trajectory and finish
7:29by moving towards the side of your
7:31torso. And this is where another very
7:33common mistake happens. You don't need
7:35to pull your elbow a mile back, okay?
7:38When the humerus reaches about the line
7:40of your torso, we're done, and that
7:41range of motion is more than enough.
7:43Okay? To me, this is probably the
7:46simplest movement for someone to learn
7:48what it really means to train the lat.
7:51And once we have this pattern, we can
7:53move on to the second exercise, which I
7:55usually group together in the routine:
7:57the single-arm row, again for the lats.
8:00And here, the position of the pulley or
8:02machine—it depends on how you do it,
8:04since it can be done in various places
8:06—is extremely important, because when
8:07people hear the word "row," they
8:09usually set the pulley completely
8:11horizontal and just pull straight back.
8:13But if we want to keep the focus on the
8:15lat, I like to place the pulley a
8:17little higher. Obviously, I don't want
8:20the load coming from directly overhead
8:22like the previous exercise, but I don't
8:24want it parallel to the floor either. I
8:26want more or less a downward diagonal.
8:28Why? Because I want the humerus to
8:32reach at least a position of about 90
8:34degrees of shoulder flexion in the
8:35starting position, or even a bit more,
8:37depending on each person's anatomy and
8:39mobility. Meaning, seen from the side,
8:42I want the arm to be able to start
8:44approximately parallel to the floor.
8:46From there, we maintain the exact same
8:49postural logic, okay? And again, I
8:51don't want you to think about
8:52retracting the scapula, I don't want
8:54you to think about sticking your chest
8:55out or extending your pelvis; no, I
8:56don't want you to think about pulling
8:58your shoulder as far back as you can,
8:59no. Think only about moving your elbow
9:03toward your iliac crest, toward your
9:06waist, okay? And that's it. In fact,
9:09one of the biggest mistakes I see in
9:11this exercise is precisely trying to
9:13artificially increase the range of
9:15motion in both the eccentric and
9:17concentric phases, okay? For example,
9:19in the concentric phase, the person
9:20gets their elbow to their body but
9:22thinks that the further back they go,
9:23the more the lat is working. So, they
9:25start rotating the torso, retracting
9:27the scapulae, sticking the chest out,
9:29and they turn a fantastic lat exercise
9:30into a completely different kind of row
9:32. Okay? We don't want that. We want a
9:35clean, controlled shoulder extension
9:37with the exact, precise, and sufficient
9:39range of motion. Okay? And I really
9:41like this exercise because it perfectly
9:43complements the previous pulldown. In
9:45the first one, we have a predominantly
9:47vertical pattern from a position of
9:49high arm elevation. And in this second
9:51one we have a slightly more diagonal
9:53pulling line that doesn't require as
9:54much mobility, right? And a shoulder
9:56extension of about 90 degrees. These
9:59are two different ways to load the lat
10:01through different paths and lines of
10:02force. And personally, I like to place
10:05them more or less together in the
10:07session, as I mentioned before, okay?
10:09First the unilateral vertical pulldown,
10:11then the unilateral cable row, okay?
10:14And with this we reach the third
10:15exercise, probably the slightly more
10:17complicated of the three, but also one
10:20of the exercises that has personally
10:22changed my lats the most once I learned
10:24to do it correctly, and that is the
10:26bilateral chest pulldown with an
10:28emphasis on the lat, okay? And here I
10:30want you to forget for a moment the
10:32image you have in your head of a
10:34typical traditional chest pulldown,
10:36right? Because most people when they do
10:38a chest pulldown do something similar
10:40to the following. They simply take a
10:43fairly wide grip, puff their chest out
10:44a lot, extend their spine, and as they
10:46pull down, they start to flare their
10:48elbows and retract their scapulae,
10:50trying to bring the bar toward the
10:51collarbone area, right? This is a
10:54perfectly valid pulldown, okay? But if
10:56our goal is the lat, not so much the
10:58scapular area, I want you to do
11:00something different. The first thing we
11:03are going to do is use a grip that is a
11:04little bit narrower, okay? Not
11:06necessarily closed, but narrow enough
11:09to allow the elbows to travel downward
11:11in a vertical trajectory, almost
11:13perpendicular to the floor. We will
11:16return to placing the pelvis in a
11:18slight posterior tilt. We will control,
11:20as always, the abdomen and ribs. We
11:21will keep the torso relatively vertical
11:24, with a neutral spine. And now comes
11:26the most important part. The elbows
11:29must go down vertically; they shouldn't
11:31go down and back to try to retract the
11:33scapulae, okay? Instead, they go down
11:35vertically. I want you to imagine that
11:38you are driving your elbows or trying
11:40to drive your elbows directly toward
11:41the floor, okay? And this difference
11:44seems silly, but it changes the
11:46execution and the feeling in the lats a
11:49lot, okay? When we use a very wide grip
11:52and let the elbows travel back, we are
11:54favoring a mechanic in which the
11:56scapular region and other humeral
11:58extensors are much more involved.
12:02However, when we manage to make the
12:03humerus follow a much more vertical
12:05path and control the scapular movement,
12:07we can direct the exercise much better
12:08toward what we are looking for in this
12:10video, which is working the lat. And
12:13there's another advantage compared to
12:15the two previous exercises, which is
12:18that now we are working bilaterally, so
12:20stability and the ability to exert
12:22force and progress is much greater,
12:24okay? When performed correctly, it
12:26actually allows you to work the lats
12:28with more external load. Okay? For me,
12:31the ideal scenario is using a specific
12:33machine that allows for a natural
12:34trajectory independent of both arms,
12:36like the one you're seeing on screen.
12:39There are converging lat pulldown
12:41machines or those with independent arms
12:43that are spectacular for this movement
12:46because the feel is absolutely insane.
12:49But obviously, not everyone is lucky
12:52enough to be signed up at gyms that
12:54have this type of equipment, okay?
12:57Therefore, we can also do it perfectly
13:00fine on a conventional pulley using a
13:02regular lat bar and grabbing it with a
13:05slightly shorter, slightly narrower
13:07grip. Okay? And speaking of this, it's
13:11important to understand that when I
13:13work with a beginner, I often don't
13:15start directly with this variation,
13:17since it can be much easier, for
13:19example, to initially teach them a
13:20conventional neutral pulldown, learn to
13:23control the pelvis, the ribs, the path
13:25of the humerus, and later introduce
13:27slightly more specific variations like
13:29the one we just discussed, okay?
13:31Because here, in the end, is another
13:32one of the big lessons I want you to
13:33take from this video. Ultimately, there
13:35aren't just three exercises to work the
13:37lats or a single selection of exercises
13:40. There are many exercises that we have
13:43to perform correctly, okay? In the end,
13:45you can copy my routine exactly, you
13:47can do the unilateral pulldown, the
13:49unilateral row, the bilateral pulldown
13:51as we just saw, but it's still better
13:53to do other exercises, as long as they
13:55are well executed, okay? With all the
13:57specifications we've discussed in this
13:59video, okay? Let's remember that, in
14:01the end, exercises, like food, are
14:03tools. What's important is which joint
14:05is moving, what trajectory our humerus
14:07follows, how we are positioning our
14:09spine, our pelvis, et cetera, et cetera
14:11, et cetera. And of course, maintaining
14:13all that structure and execution under
14:15fatigue, that is, as we get closer to
14:16muscle failure. That's all for this
14:18week, guys. I hope you really liked the
14:20video. Don't forget to hit the like
14:22button and the hype button so YouTube
14:24recommends it, which helps us a lot.
14:25And of course, I'll see you in future
14:28videos. Take good care of yourselves.
14:29Bye.

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