Basic anatomy is so important. Having access to info like this is so powerful when it comes to understanding movements in every exercise and what we should be looking for. Very pleased to see this will be a dedicated series. While on the subject of misunderstood and underutilized back muscles, perhaps a good next lesson would be for the lesser know scapular muscles and movements they are responsible for.
Been really excited for this series since you mentioned working on it on the podcast. I've always found it quite a bit harder to engage muscles in my posterior chain. So, lats are a great start. Hopefully glutes and hamstrings are next. Also really interested so see if you'd cover some in the lateral chain. Those often don't get the same shine as their larger cousins.
This is a very good idea. Any exercises to engage the lower part of the "gluteus maximus"? That is the first part that is affected by lack of exercise and sarcopenia. Especially isometric. Cheers
Such an amazing video. Been doing calisthenics for a good while now, still learning every day. I will certainly keep this info in the back of my head! And subbed aswell, VERY intrested in what other videos are coming in this series. Maybe as a suggestion, the pectoralis mayor and minor? They play a big role in shoulder health and the reason why a lot of young people have forward standing shoulders :)
Thanks for sharing great ideas. My request is that you please talk about how to keep the chest from closing and preventing rounding of the shoulders during exercises.
I'm certainly no Matt, but try "putting your shoulders in your back pocket" AKA Scapular Retraction and Depression. Standing up straight, pull your shoulders down and back like you're trying to put them in your back pocket, hence the term. This may be the most important stabilizer movement you can do not only for pulling exercises but for pushing movements as well. This will keep your shoulders from rounding and force your chest to rise. When I started doing Dips, I noticed my shoulders didn't like the exercise. What I did was put my shoulders in my back pocket and concentrated on that movement instead of feeling the muscles working during the Dip. After a while, it became automatic and I'm at the point where my shoulders no longer bother me during most exercises. Whenever I hear someone say "Dips can hurt your shoulders" I auotmagically think they aren't stabilizing the Scaps. Give it a try on almost every movement you can. You will quickly figure out where it makes sense to do it and you will be surprised at how this protects your shoulders but allows you to engage and feel the muscles you are actually trying to work.
Great video and an excellent idea for the series. Since the lats are the 'butt' of the upper body, how about covering the glutes next? Thank you for your great content!
So, weird question - how do you work the lats if you want to keep your physical ability progressing but do NOT want that big, wide back look?? While I work the pull chain as one of the foundational movement chains, I do not like the wide look I get when really hitting the vertical motions like chin ups. Makes me look like a brick wall. So I tend to scale back on those and focus on rowing motions but tend to be tentative about hitting the pull chain vertical to the lengthwise body plane because I actually want to avoid the "wings" of wide lats. I hate to shortchange that ability, but the pulls and chins really blow up my lats much more than rows do. As for engaging the back in movements like suspension trainer rows, I find it helps to mentally engage them by focusing on the attachment point of the ropes as the point of contact for the pull rather than my hands on the handles. So, rather than focusing on pulling my chest up with the arms, I look at the ropes or straps as an extension of my arms which must be moved by the back.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. For the most part, building a lot of size in any muscle is a pretty hard thing to do. This is because while exercise is an important part of your potential to build yourself up, it's only one piece of the puzzle. Diet, lifestyle, age, genetics, training history etc also play big roles. So I would work to make them stronger but worry about the size thing if that indeed happens, which it may not
Good vid. Due to elbow tendon pain that emerged during chinups, I discovered by accident the extent to which many push exercises work the lats, and even biceps. My upper body program was limited to a pushup with hands high above the head, which really engages them along with the shoulders and scapula, and a reverse pushup (not good for everyone's shoulders), which really rounds out the rest of the back with the muscles along the spinal column, and then incline pushups. The result has been thick lats without that dreaded v-look, and a solid back otherwise. Odd as it may sound, I haven't gone back to any pull exercises since, yet my biceps and back are nevertheless proportional to the rest.
@@feldgraufox4927 Hehe. Good catch. I was actually alluding to a comment further up thread, wherein a guy mentioned he didn't care for it. Neither do I, to be honest.A distinct V seems out of proportion to me.
Hi Matt. What exercise do you recommend to overcome non-symmetry in pulling exercises? I find my body "rotating" towards the right side towards the end of a set. Very noticeable with pull-up. but less so on chin-ups and rows. Thanks for the awesome video - as always.
Matt often recommends single arm variations for this purpose. But because most people can't do one arm pullups (myself included), he'd probably tell you to do regressed one arm rows. Notice how many you can do on my each side and work the weak side harder to even it out.
Justin is right, unilateral moves are great, but anything thing is to literally keep trying not to rotate. Sometimes, the best way to improve technique is to literally just try doing the technique better. Try working in shorter sets so it's easier to do the pull-ups without twisting so you can dial in your balanced technique and then build up the habit with that over the summer.
@@RedDeltaProject Thank you Matt and Justin. I have been reducing my sets as suggested. It actually has helped me focus more on technique rather than finishing an X number of sets. Thanks!
NEED HELP: I'm new in working out because the only sport i do is swimming (competetiv) in a club. Is it a good idea for building some muscles with inverted rows, push ups and jumping reverse lunges (TRX/sling trainer) every day? 3 x 12 for every exercise ? After that i would increase until i reach again ? Is this to much or not enough for every day and building muscles ? Thank you and keep up the great work. Greetings from Germany.
I recommend just getting in the strength stuff 2-3 times a week for now. you don't need that much work to create a stimulus so start with 2 time s a week and we can go from there.
Oh neat! Do you think Pilates back exercises are good for engaging the lats? I’ve been working on things like the breast stroke, swimming, and rocking prep/rocking. It’s always much harder than I expect to perform the movements correctly, but I’m not sure how much strength I’ll gain even if I perfect these moves. Might they be helpful though if I were to try other calisthenics exercises?
Basic anatomy is so important. Having access to info like this is so powerful when it comes to understanding movements in every exercise and what we should be looking for. Very pleased to see this will be a dedicated series.
While on the subject of misunderstood and underutilized back muscles, perhaps a good next lesson would be for the lesser know scapular muscles and movements they are responsible for.
Good call ZercR! I'll get to that for sure
dude!!!!! i was literally thinking of this exact exercise yesterday!
Been really excited for this series since you mentioned working on it on the podcast. I've always found it quite a bit harder to engage muscles in my posterior chain. So, lats are a great start. Hopefully glutes and hamstrings are next. Also really interested so see if you'd cover some in the lateral chain. Those often don't get the same shine as their larger cousins.
I started doing headstands yesterday and unexpectedly surprised on lat-engagement; awesome vid, as always. thanks
Great observation! The lats play a very big role in building up the shoulders and stabilizing for handstands.
Amazing summation!! Love this! Thank you 🙏🙏🙏
On way to the gym to workout my lats. Thank you !
Well done!
Thanks to your articles I love to do push /pull supersets with a variety of exercises..
I’ve noticed the more I sort of “lean back” when doing pull ups, the more I feel it in my lats, hopefully that’s a good thing 👍
Same
That's a well established way to activate your lats more, but it comes at the cost of less work for your arms. Everything's a trade-off.
@@Durzo1259 yes I’ve recently done some more “straight up” pull ups and certainly feel my biceps a lot more!
@@Durzo1259arms are tall easy to target with an isolation, so that is not a problem
This is a very good idea. Any exercises to engage the lower part of the "gluteus maximus"? That is the first part that is affected by lack of exercise and sarcopenia. Especially isometric. Cheers
Such an amazing video. Been doing calisthenics for a good while now, still learning every day. I will certainly keep this info in the back of my head! And subbed aswell, VERY intrested in what other videos are coming in this series. Maybe as a suggestion, the pectoralis mayor and minor? They play a big role in shoulder health and the reason why a lot of young people have forward standing shoulders :)
Welcome Ko Scherpenzeel and thanks for the suggestions. I will be sure to get to the pecs soon
Nice t-shirt! Also, excited about the series!
Great series idea. Psoas next.
Thanks for sharing great ideas. My request is that you please talk about how to keep the chest from closing and preventing rounding of the shoulders during exercises.
I'm certainly no Matt, but try "putting your shoulders in your back pocket" AKA Scapular Retraction and Depression. Standing up straight, pull your shoulders down and back like you're trying to put them in your back pocket, hence the term. This may be the most important stabilizer movement you can do not only for pulling exercises but for pushing movements as well. This will keep your shoulders from rounding and force your chest to rise.
When I started doing Dips, I noticed my shoulders didn't like the exercise. What I did was put my shoulders in my back pocket and concentrated on that movement instead of feeling the muscles working during the Dip. After a while, it became automatic and I'm at the point where my shoulders no longer bother me during most exercises. Whenever I hear someone say "Dips can hurt your shoulders" I auotmagically think they aren't stabilizing the Scaps. Give it a try on almost every movement you can. You will quickly figure out where it makes sense to do it and you will be surprised at how this protects your shoulders but allows you to engage and feel the muscles you are actually trying to work.
@@synitarthrax5618 that back pocket imagery is cool, easy to remember. thanks for sharing
make a video to correct shoulder blade pinch and imbalances
Looking forward to this series. Thank you!
Excellent, this will be a great playlist to follow and reference.
Thank you, it's awesome how information jam-packed this video is! 🤘
Thank you for watching as well, Our, hope it helps
Great video and an excellent idea for the series. Since the lats are the 'butt' of the upper body, how about covering the glutes next? Thank you for your great content!
Will do!
Could you cover the shoulder muscles in a future episode?
I'd love a shoulder video too!
Will do Marco! I'll get right on it
I love doing pull ups
GOLD
So, weird question - how do you work the lats if you want to keep your physical ability progressing but do NOT want that big, wide back look?? While I work the pull chain as one of the foundational movement chains, I do not like the wide look I get when really hitting the vertical motions like chin ups. Makes me look like a brick wall. So I tend to scale back on those and focus on rowing motions but tend to be tentative about hitting the pull chain vertical to the lengthwise body plane because I actually want to avoid the "wings" of wide lats. I hate to shortchange that ability, but the pulls and chins really blow up my lats much more than rows do.
As for engaging the back in movements like suspension trainer rows, I find it helps to mentally engage them by focusing on the attachment point of the ropes as the point of contact for the pull rather than my hands on the handles. So, rather than focusing on pulling my chest up with the arms, I look at the ropes or straps as an extension of my arms which must be moved by the back.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. For the most part, building a lot of size in any muscle is a pretty hard thing to do. This is because while exercise is an important part of your potential to build yourself up, it's only one piece of the puzzle. Diet, lifestyle, age, genetics, training history etc also play big roles. So I would work to make them stronger but worry about the size thing if that indeed happens, which it may not
Good vid. Due to elbow tendon pain that emerged during chinups, I discovered by accident the extent to which many push exercises work the lats, and even biceps. My upper body program was limited to a pushup with hands high above the head, which really engages them along with the shoulders and scapula, and a reverse pushup (not good for everyone's shoulders), which really rounds out the rest of the back with the muscles along the spinal column, and then incline pushups. The result has been thick lats without that dreaded v-look, and a solid back otherwise. Odd as it may sound, I haven't gone back to any pull exercises since, yet my biceps and back are nevertheless proportional to the rest.
Dreaded v look? Isn't the V what everyone strives for that v shaped back?
@@feldgraufox4927 Hehe. Good catch. I was actually alluding to a comment further up thread, wherein a guy mentioned he didn't care for it. Neither do I, to be honest.A distinct V seems out of proportion to me.
@@dvdly ah fair play. I'm pretty skinny so I'd quite like that v shape haha my back is pretty ripped though tbf
04:15 What do you call this exercise?
It's a calesthetic version of straight arm pulldowns
I just need to find good stretches for the lats & Pecs!!
Pullovers
Dead hangs
Dips and bar hangs
Hi Matt. What exercise do you recommend to overcome non-symmetry in pulling exercises? I find my body "rotating" towards the right side towards the end of a set. Very noticeable with pull-up. but less so on chin-ups and rows. Thanks for the awesome video - as always.
Matt often recommends single arm variations for this purpose. But because most people can't do one arm pullups (myself included), he'd probably tell you to do regressed one arm rows. Notice how many you can do on my each side and work the weak side harder to even it out.
Justin is right, unilateral moves are great, but anything thing is to literally keep trying not to rotate. Sometimes, the best way to improve technique is to literally just try doing the technique better.
Try working in shorter sets so it's easier to do the pull-ups without twisting so you can dial in your balanced technique and then build up the habit with that over the summer.
@@RedDeltaProject Thank you Matt and Justin. I have been reducing my sets as suggested. It actually has helped me focus more on technique rather than finishing an X number of sets. Thanks!
NEED HELP:
I'm new in working out because the only sport i do is swimming (competetiv) in a club. Is it a good idea for building some muscles with inverted rows, push ups and jumping reverse lunges (TRX/sling trainer) every day?
3 x 12 for every exercise ?
After that i would increase until i reach again ? Is this to much or not enough for every day and building muscles ?
Thank you and keep up the great work.
Greetings from Germany.
I recommend just getting in the strength stuff 2-3 times a week for now. you don't need that much work to create a stimulus so start with 2 time s a week and we can go from there.
@@RedDeltaProject thank you so much :)
Glutes, please for future episodes; loved the series.
Great idea, and great follow up!
Oh neat! Do you think Pilates back exercises are good for engaging the lats? I’ve been working on things like the breast stroke, swimming, and rocking prep/rocking. It’s always much harder than I expect to perform the movements correctly, but I’m not sure how much strength I’ll gain even if I perfect these moves. Might they be helpful though if I were to try other calisthenics exercises?
They ma very well be. The key is the mindfulness in the exercise more than the actual exercise itself. Pilates can be very good for fostering that
LETS GOOOOO
I engage the right one better than the left.
My lats are 7 feet wide.
Obviously lower abdomen for all women in the world 😊
Bigger back bigger back!!!!!!!lalalalala more back meat!!!!!!!!