Imaginary Lat Syndrome – What Is It & How to Cure It?

Your body language and your posture say a lot about you as a person. The way you carry yourself when you walk can make you seem friendly, scary, approachable, intelligent… Sometimes though, it can just make you look like a douchebag.

Imaginary lat syndrome is an unfortunate disease that effects some people. It’s often caused by overconfidence and a big ego.

This is a guide to what imaginary lat syndrome is, how you can prevent it, and why it’s important to have sympathy for anyone you see who looks like they’re permanently carrying groceries.

 

Imaginary Lat Syndrome – A Complete Guide

Imaginary lat syndrome isn’t a medically diagnosed condition or anything to worry about. It’s used to talk about a specific stance that some people take, where their arms are curled under like they’re carrying rolled-up carpets.

The name comes from what these people are trying to imitate, which is having bigger lats than they do. It draws some comparisons to phantom limb syndrome, which is an actual medical condition.

The stance of imaginary lat syndrome is just one part of the picture though. Another symptom is an intolerable attitude. For someone to walk like you see people with imaginary lat syndrome do, you’d have to think that there’s a good reason, right? Maybe they’re doing it on purpose, to be funny?

Usually, though, there’s not. People with imaginary lat syndrome think that, for whatever reason, walking like that is going to make them look powerful. If they act like they have big lats, everyone else is going to think they do.

As the saying goes, if you pretend you look like you know what you’re doing, then people will believe that you do. That doesn’t work when you’re walking around like a peacock with a peacock.

Invisible Lat Syndrome – What Is It?

Simply, invisible lat syndrome is how some people compensate for a lack of upper-body mass. Instead of being, you know, a normal person, putting in the hours, eating right to improve their upper body muscle…they instead act like they deserve to be respected for their gains. Their gains that, again, don’t exist.

The kind of people with invisible lat syndrome are the ones that will lift for 2 minutes, look like they’re about to have a heart attack, then swagger over to you and criticize your form over some minor thing.

Do they know what they’re talking about? Hell no. But they think that they do, and they expect you to think the same.

They’re the fitness equivalent of someone you work with, who says they’re always “on the grind” when you know for a fact that as soon as they clock out of their 9 – 5 they’re watching Deadliest Catch reruns for 6 hours before passing out on the couch.

 

What Is Lat Syndrome?

Urban Dictionary, which is the number 1 source for all of the latest internet epidemics, answers the question “what is lat syndrome” with this definition: “a common case of someone, typically a male, who believes they are rather muscular when in reality this isn’t the case. Those with Imaginary Lat Syndrome can typically be seen walking uncomfortably while flaring their small lat muscles and tensing their arms in an attempt to look “jacked”.

They then go on to give some metaphors of what someone afflicted with lat syndrome looks like, to help you and your friends stay safe.

Thankfully, lat syndrome isn’t contagious to the regular person. But on a more serious note, attitudes like those that cause lat syndrome can spread throughout friend circles and online spaces.

The reason lat syndrome still exists is that normal, usually chill people, usually young teens, start talking to gym bros who think leg day is “cringe” and that as long as you lift, you can eat pizza and Cheetos for every meal.

To you and me, it sounds ridiculous that anyone would believe stuff like that. But try to think back to yourself, 16 years old, and just starting to get interested in training. Especially before the days of the internet, you probably had no idea where to start.

People like this are the lat syndrome “Giga chads” favorite kind of person. They’re the ones that they can have power over, and they can use fitness newbies to make themselves feel like they’re important.

Curing the Dreaded Lat Syndrome Walk

There are two ways to go about curing the dreaded lat syndrome walk; get jacked or get a better attitude.

If someone with lat syndrome tries to build upper body muscle, then they’ll still look like a jerk…but at least they won’t be walking like their pants are 1 inch away from giving them an involuntary suppository.

Building upper body muscle, even for someone with lat syndrome, goes the same as everyone else. Strength training and weights, eating a proper diet, the usual. There are weekly exercise plans you can follow that are designed to cure lat syndrome once and for all.

Curing the attitude is a little more difficult. It’s easy to say, “don’t be a d***bag” but saying that to someone who doesn’t think they’re being a d***the bag won’t have the best results.

You have to kill these people with kindness – be patient, show them evidence of proper workout techniques, and he’ll be a friend to them. Maybe the reason they developed lat syndrome in the first place is because they want someone to be proud of them, or something.

 

Imaginary Lat Syndrome Pictures

Like spotting wild birds, it’s a beautiful moment when you can see someone with imaginary lat syndrome in their natural habitat.

A quick online search can help you find some imaginary lat syndrome pictures. Just remember these are for education purposes only.

Imaginary Lat Syndrome – Closing Thoughts

In summary, imaginary lat syndrome is more of an attitude problem than any sort of a real medical problem. Seeing strangers with it can be funny to laugh at, but it can be awkward for friends to start falling into the trap of overconfidence.

Imaginary lat syndrome can be solved by…actually building muscle and putting in the effort. For workout guides, routines, WODs to help you do that, you’re in the right place.