Widening the back

I have a good thick back but have problem widening the back. What are exercises which specifically assists in widening the lats?

Currently i do for back session:
deadlifts
bent-over rows
lats pull down / chin-ups
one arm row
shrugs

They say that chins do it. It's as bench press - as you widen your grip, you use your arms less and the torso's muscles more. So, wide-grip chins.

I've had an increase in width from doing chins, but that was going from nothing to something - going from something to something more might be different? Probably not, though.

when doing back excerise like the lat pull down its important to make sure you dont rush into the next rep and make sure you stretch out at the top of the exercise in order to get the complete range of motion of the excercise.

another good one for lats to complement the pulldown is the seated lat row.
heres a link so you get a rough idea Cable Wide Grip Straight Back Seated Row

do this excerxise on a long row machine with an EZ bar, use a wide grip, almost straighten your legs, start the excercise by bending forward and stretching out through the back with bar as far out in front as you can,and finish by siting up and pulling the bar into your lower torso, and hold it for two seconds and repeat, the important parts to this is to make sure you get a good stretch with every rep and to make sure when you sit up to not go past 90degrees(dont lean back)

If you can access a lat pullover like Dorian Yates use's. It is one of the only lat isolation machines that doesnt involve using your arms to pull the weight. Going wide doesnt mean getting wide. Form and the muscle connection are the key. Work out where your lat tie in is whether you have a low or high lat insertion then once you have done that use the exercises that will give a width illusion the lats.
AZZA

Close grip chins or pulldowns allow for greater ROM bringing in more of the lat muscle into play thus widening the back, dont get fooled by wide grip wide back.

Shrek said:

dont get fooled by wide grip wide back.

Click to expand...

I`ve often wondered about that as the wider you grip the more it seems to
bring the shoulders into play.
One of my fav back exercises is to grip wide as if doing a chin up but instead of bending the elbows lift yourself from the shoulders.The elbows bend naturally but be careful not to let them bend too much.Try to point your chest towards the roof.