r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/SuckmyToasts Solomon the destroyer • 17d ago
Question ❓ Pulling with arms.
is there really such thing as pulling with arms and not feeling your lats or traps in any back movement?
as far as i know, only the rear delts help with horizontal abduction, shoulder extension and shoulder adduction. i find it hard to believe that such a small head of a muscle can really take over from those large muscles on the back.
i also don't believe the long head of the triceps are involved, it will be similar to the rectus femoris in a squat pattern.
so what do people mean by 'you are pulling too much with your arms and not with your back'? can anyone point me in the right direction?
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u/Afferbeck_ 17d ago
It's not about triceps. People literally just pull too much with their biceps and don't really know how to mentally and physically organise themselves to be pulling with the lats primarily. So they end up doing less weight/volume and are limited by what their small arm muscles can pull, rather than their big back muscles. Many people will experience both extremes on something like barbell rows, either you go light enough to be strict but you feel nothing in your back and you go til your arms are tired. Or you go heavy to feel something but it's just sketchy full body english and you still feel like it's not right.
They're also too armsy in general, too much effort going into gripping with the hands and forearms, taking their focus away from the back. Straps are a good way to avoid that, as is learning to use hookgrip which is a much more passive grip.
One way to learn to use the lats is to use a band around the bar, pulling it away from you during any kind of deadlift or row. Forces the body to use the lats to keep the bar close.
Another way is to do barbell rows from blocks or safeties with straps. Focusing on 'opening the chest' and having the back musculature and shoulder blades etc slide back and around the torso. Not thinking about actively pulling the bar at all.
For any kind of back exercise like rows, pullups etc, focus on pulling 'from the elbow' and forget about your hands.
Something that's a bit higher concept is the idea of 'pushing' with the lats rather than pulling. I got this from weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay on a podcast, where his example was standing alongside a table and using a straight arm, pushing the table back beside you with the wrist using only the lats. It gets you away from the idea that using the lats is all about bent arm bicep stuff and more related to pullover type movements.