There is nothing like firing a laser by the goalie and watching the net rip back. Among the lacrosse players that I train the most common question that arises during initial training sessions is “how can I improve my shot strength”. Obviously a great question if you are an Attack man or Middie. My guys are usually surprised to hear that one of the key components to shot velocity improvement is Lat Strength or the Latiisimus Dorsi muscle. The Latisimus muscle originates on the spine and inserts at the humerus (long arm bone) just under the shoulder and is the prime mover in shooting.

The common misconception is that shot velocity is derived only from trunk rotation and the wrist/forearm strength. Although the trunk rotators and wrist/forearm flexors and extensors do play a role in shot strength the catalyst in getting the ball out of the stick with the most force is mainly driven by the lats. Shooting much like many other athletic movements is a series of sequential muscular loading and firing. Build great lat strength in conjunction with strong legs, abdominals and low back for stability and you will see incredible improvements in shot velocity. I hear many lacrosse coaches talk about “whip” and “getting your hips around”. You can talk about “whip” all day long but without thick strong lats you will be hard pressed to improve that shot!

The mother of all exercises to help improve lat strength is the chin up/pull-up. Hands down this exercise will give you the biggest return for your efforts. The problem is many young trainees lack the upper body strength to do them and therefore rely mainly on lat pull-down and rowing variations to train the lats and back.

Here is the way to improve your chin-up/pull-up performance. With a spotter behind you hang from the bar cross your ankles and bend your knees. Pull yourself up to the top of the bar with the spotter assisting you at both ankles. When you can comfortably complete 12 reps you can move to the next progression by having the spotter assist you at only one ankle. What happens here is the muscles super compensate because of the free leg and cause overload facilitating strength improvements. When you can do 12 reps with minimal assistance you can move on to the next progression. In the next progression you will assume the same position hanging from the bar but now the spotter will assist you only from the waist. You will find that because you have become stronger you will only need assistance at certain points of motion (bottom, middle, top) during the lift. Again when you can do 12 reps with minimal assistance you have completed this progression and your goal will then be to complete the whole 12 reps without any assistance. You are now ready to add additional weight to your body and become more advanced in your chin/pull-up performance.