Do You Have Invisible Lat Syndrome?

We all know and likely made fun of ‘that’ person with Invisible Lat Syndrome (ILS). Hell, it may have even been one of us at some point in time with this disease.

All joking aside, now that I’ve got your attention let’s talk about the Latissimus Dorsi and what they are good for.

None of us here can deny that developed lats are aesthetically pleasing and help to create that killer V-shape we all aspire to have. I mean, who doesn’t want their body to be symmetrical? There is no denying working the lats are a big part of that symmetry, but also knowing the benefits of this work may encourage us to continue fighting the good fight so our bodies continue to be strong and feel good as we age. 

Not to pick on my own gender here, but a lot of women tend to shy away from excessive upper body workouts, as they are afraid to get too bulky. I’m here to tell you that unless that is your true intention you will not get bulky, but you will surely benefit from working these muscles just as the guys do. Let me tell you why…

Your Latissimus Dorsi is an essential part of your core; one that is the foundation of a balanced and aligned body. They are the large V-shaped muscle connecting your arms to your vertebral column. So, if you can envision the inside of the body, these very muscles help to protect and stabilize the spine and lend to supporting good posture. Let me say this again, they lend to supporting good posture!!!

Now, if your Latissimus Dorsi are weak, the rest of the muscles in the back will eventually overcompensate to pick up the extra work, causing a domino effect on everything else. All those other muscles in the back eventually become overstressed, inflamed, cramped, and sore.

On the flip side, if you are working your lats but not properly stretching after your back routine you can also overstress those supporting muscles which will then become tight, cramped, and throw everything off alignment in your back. So, you want to work out those supporting muscles, but you also want to make sure you are incorporating active recovery and dynamic stretching routines so that everything continues to work in perfect harmony.

For the men reading this, I have a lot of male athletes and service members that come to my weekly yoga classes. Many don’t walk around with ILS, but actually do have well developed lats because of their work out regiments and lifestyle. I’m here to tell you that the majority of these guys are extremely tight and really challenged with some of the upper body stretches that are in my programming. Tight muscles, again, lead to misalignment of the back, so don’t forget to stretch throughout the week.

I can’t stress enough that I encourage all of you to identify a yoga instructor in your area that focusses specifically on preventative injury, post injury rehabilitation, alignment-based yoga classes and/or one on one sessions. If you’re unable to identify someone with these specialties, please reach out to me to discuss your needs at alwaysinpursuitfitness@gmail.com. You can also read about me here: Let’s work out the kinks!

Remember that ‘we must have function before fitness’ but that it’s also a revolving door.

~Sarah N Burke