Tips To Improve Your Prone Hyperextensions

Prone Hyperextensions would be another strategy I would suggest using for the lumbar region also while keeping the following commands in mind:

1. Slowly arch (non-ballistically) up to where your shoulders are level with your pelvic girdle and down to a 60� angle from a horizontal position to the floor.
2. Hold the terminal point of contraction statically for 5 to 30 seconds.
3. Lower slowly at a rate of 5 to 30 seconds.
4. Keep the back flat, especially at the beginning of this exercise and never allow it to round forward.

Some excellent exercise selections for the long fibers of the upper lats include the classic pullups and lat pulldowns. On these particular exercises, taking a shoulder width grip on the bar tends to use more of the biceps of the arms but will develop the lower fibers of the lats, while a wider than shoulder width grip will activate the upper lat fibers maximally while using less of the bicep muscles of the arms.

Pullups for many bodybuilders (especially those who weight over 175-pounds) or those who have bodyweight fluctuations from day to day) can become a complicated process because the upper torso must maneuver around the fixed bar. The opposite effect is experienced using the free floating lat bar.

The (late) Vince Gironda, "The Iron Guru", keyed in the bodybuilding world many years ago regarding maximum stimulation of new lat growth and width when he strongly suggested (Vince didn't suggest, he told us) doing pullups to the chest or sternum area. Vince's theory regarding this was and is to this day that the lower the position of the bar, be it the fixed pullup bar or floating free lat bar, relative to the chest or neck, the greater the stimulation on the lat muscles.

It takes quite a while to master the patented Gironda pullup to the sternum so while a bodybuilder is working that exercise to perfection, he (or she) can do Lat Pulldowns where the bar touches the sternum or low pec line. Remember that the upper body is inclined back at 30 degrees from vertical, high arched chest, and try to drive the elbows into the sides of the ribcage. A secret is to keep the elbows out to the sides to activate more lat and less bicep action.