Let me show you the absolute best lat stretch ever! But that is not all, I want to show you a perfect 1-2-3 combo for unlocking the shoulders, improving the movement of the upper back, and facilitating better upper body posture.

Use the following 3 drills in a progressive sequence and add them to your current warm-up routine.

1. THE BEST LAT STRETCH!

When performing this lat stretch on a power cage, work from each arm to the double arm stretch slowly. Use a long and deliberate exhale to drive in deeper positions for the stretch.

2. THE BEST SOFT-TISSUE MASSAGE FOR LATS!

This is a MUST-TRY SMR technique for the lats and pec! Setup a barbell in the rack and anchor the far side with some weight. You’ll want to take the arm on the target side up over your head to put the soft-tissue on stretch.

Now lean into the collar end of the barbell and roll down the entire side of your body from the tricep to the lower lat as you put your body in a “C” position to maintain an active stretch on the lateral line.

After each side is done, get on the pec by laying over the barbell with the collar angled across the meat of the pec. Roll slowly from the mid-pec across to where the pec attached at the shoulder. Take a deep breath and let the bar get deep into the muscle.

I then used pullups after the shoulder / lat reset to ensure that I was strengthening the full range of motion.

A post shared by James Smith (@smittydiesel) on May 21, 2017 at 4:26pm PDT

3. THE BEST BANDED POSTURE CORRECTER!

Finally, using a cross-banded setup, you can feed forward into poor kyphotic posture. This reactive neuromuscular training (RNT) technique pulls you into the compensation so you have to drive yourself back to neutral. This is a great drill I developed years ago and still use it today. Make sure you hit this for a higher volume sets and emphasize the lockout with a 1-2 second isometric pause.

If you want to train for a lifetime, move better, AND feel better – check out the AMPED Warm-up System.