This odd exercise, performed by the legendary natural bodybuilder Steve Reeves and also promoted by Vince Gironda, is the best way to isolate the central lats.
You will feel a tremendous pump as they flex and flare, engorging with blood to form humongous balloons. After performing a few working sets, you will experience the deep fatigue that accompanies great tension, a rarity for trainees trying to focus on these dramatic upper back muscles.
The protracted close-grip row’s superiority also has some support within research, with a non-retracted scapula on the seated row improving its activation as monitored by EMG.
Even a vertical pull leaves something to be desired for the lats, despite the great range of motion it allows. It just involves the central lats in too shortened of a state. Though our feelings can deceive us, and these vertical movements certainly work the upper lats, the pull-down or pull-up often leads to soreness here and for the teres major.
The protracted close-grip row, or really, a row performed with a rounded back, solves this issue by elongating the central lats. These reasons explain why it works so effectively, along with describing the proper form.
Reasons
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
– Mark Twain
- It can be performed with common gym equipment.
The easiest way to perform the protracted close-grip row is to use a seated cable row with a close parallel grip attachment.
You could also use a t-bar setup, a dumbbell, or anything else really, with interlocked fingers if necessary. This may feel awkward though. For instance, the weight plates may limit your range of motion on the t-bar row or distract you by wearing out the lower back muscles.
Regardless, ensure that you…
- Protract your shoulder blades so that you are hunched, adopting a poor posture. Imagine that you are reaching for something just a bit too far away with both arms, rounding your shoulders. To maintain this slumped position, you should also flex or round your spine.
- Use a close grip, with the neutral grip preferred to focus on the should extension function of the lats and to really stretch them. This also allows you to internally rotate the shoulder comfortably.
- It limits scapular retraction.
This also results from gripping closely while having your torso impede too much movement. It also emphasizes shoulder extension from a flexed position, which is the main function of the lats, the largest muscle for this purpose. Shoulder hyperextension is also prevented, which allows other upper back muscles to take over when occurring, limiting constant tension of the lats.
If performed haphazardly though, without concentrating, this close grip can have the brachialis play more of a role due to greater movement at the elbow. Think of your arms as hooks. You want to consciously extend at the shoulder only.
You do not need much weight, certainly not as much as a conventional row.
- It involves internal rotation.
This is another function of the lats, and external rotation at the beginning further stretches them.
This also addresses the subscapularis, a rotator cuff muscle, providing some work without performing internal rotation as a separate exercise. As long as you perform this movement carefully, you will develop a more stable shoulder.
Be careful though. This exercise can be harsh on the shoulder. Shoulder extension usually pairs with scapular retraction for a normal movement pattern, so counteract this by pulling smoothly.
- It allows direct resistance.
Pull somewhere at the ribcage, aligning with the belly of the lats. You will feel the lats spreading to contract intensely when you have mastered it.
- It is strict.
The hunched position prevents the trapezius and erector spinae from contributing much, if really at all, allowing more concentration upon the lats.
Furthermore, you can experiment with a peak contraction. You briefly hold it when the attachment or resistance meets your torso. Unlike many exercises, the conclusion of the movement could be an ideal length for active tensions with your lats.
You can further promote this pause, if wanted, by squeezing the muscle here beyond handling the weight, a technique that many professional bodybuilders suggest on all exercises.
- It feels fun.
Though subjective, this exercise can be uniquely exciting, perhaps because isolating the lats is so difficult otherwise.
Protracted Close-Grip Row: The Ultimate Lat Exercise
Is this exercise alone sufficient for the lats?
Perhaps so, though it is hard not to notice the different fiber orientations when examining the anatomy of this muscle. When a very lean elite bodybuilder like Frank Zane strikes a vacuum pose, it almost appears as if the lats divide into three sections.
Fortunately, a balanced routine would include other exercises to address the remainder of the upper back.
The one-arm row hits the inferior fibers of the lats due to the twisting.
The pull-up or pull-down works the superior fibers of the lats alongside the teres major.
Finally, the protracted close-grip row blasts the middle fibers.
The protracted row will create the appearance of poor form, and the uninformed may suspect your naivety. Just ignore them. Many great bodybuilding practices can damage the ego, which can go so far as to ignore directly training large muscle groups.
Do whatever it takes to achieve the goals important to you, to obtain extraordinary bodybuilding progress. Trust yourself and your results, doing what you know to be right despite what others think.
This exercise will improve both lat width and thickness but not because there is a distinction here. Any difference seems suspicious but not impossible, with one study showing medial versus lateral activation of the lats.
Performing the exercise by pulling slightly from above, say at a 45° angle as practiced by many old-timers, could increase the range of motion for the lats with less flexion of the spine, if this is available to you.
Try this unusual exercise, the protracted close-grip row, to activate the lats. This will ensure a rounded back to maximize tension. It will do so like no other exercise can and likely ever will.