Lat Prayer
The lat prayer is one of the many pullover variations. Pullover exercises primarily activate the chest muscles, latissimus dorsi and serratus muscles. It therefore fits both a back workout and a chest workout.
Lat prayer execution
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1
Place the pulley at the top of the cable rack
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2
Attach a bar to the cable with a length of at least shoulder width.
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3
Select the desired weight and make sure the pin is securely in place
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4
Grip the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart.
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5
Kneel in front of the cable rack, facing the cable rack. Keep approximately 1.5 meters of distance from the rack.
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6
Bend forward with your arms slightly bent and extended forward (as people do when worshipping something). This is your starting position.
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7
Now bring your arms down while pushing your pelvis forward.
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8
Controlled, return the bar to the starting position.
Lat Prayer
Primary muscles:
- Latissimus dorsi (the large back muscle)
- Pectoralis major and pectoralis minor (chest muscles)
- Serratus
- Deltoideus ('deltoid' shoulder muscle, especially the rear)
- Rotator cuff (stabilizing shoulder muscles: supraspinatus, subscapularis, teres major, teres minor)
Lat prayer technique
The lat prayer is a variation of the lying cable pullover, the dumbbell and barbell pullover and, of course, the standing cable pullover. All these pullover exercises activate the latissimus dorsi, chest muscles and serratus (the nicely striated muscles above your ribs). Some people do them as part of their back workout, others during their chest workout, and still others to have an even more impressive 'mid section' at a low body-fat percentage.
To avoid turning this into a triceps exercise, prevent your arms from moving from a bent to a straight position during the movement. Keep them slightly bent throughout the entire movement.
The cable provides tension throughout the entire movement. In the dumbbell version, the tension disappears when the weight is directly above you (when lying on a decline bench, you can go a little farther). With cables, you can maintain this tension almost all the way to your legs.
This cable variation (just like the machine version) is more suitable for training the back because it keeps the muscles under tension for longer, while other variations involve the chest more (according to some EMG studies).
The exercise can also be performed with a rope attached to the cable rack instead of a bar.
Alternatives
- Lying cable pullover
- Barbell pullover
- Dumbbell pullover
- Standing cable pullover
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