Close-grip hand position
- Start by sitting as you would for the standard lat pulldown.
- Place your hands close to the center, where the cable attaches. Grasp the bar with a supinated grip (palms facing you).
- Pull the bar down toward your collarbone, focusing on pulling your elbows and shoulder blades down. You should notice...
How do I perform a lat pulldown?
To perform a lat pulldown you will get into seated position on the cable machine or lat pulldown machine then reach up to grab the bar with both hands using an overhand grip with hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. From there, you will pull down on the bar by adducting the lats while depressing the scapulae and flexing at the elbows.
What is the best position to do a pull down?
These fibers have the most leverage to pull the arm down when the line of pull is more vertical in nature, as in a traditional lat pulldown. They are most effective when the arm is below 90 degrees of shoulder flexion, or when the elbow is in-line with the shoulder.
What is the purpose of a lat pull down bar?
1. Eliminates excessive range of motion in the bottom-contracted position of the lat pulldown. Most lifters pull significantly past 90 degrees on lat pulldowns (mid face height), which minimizes lat activation and increases tension to the shoulder joint.
What muscles do you use when doing a lat pull down?
The biceps, brachialis and brachioradialis help to flex the elbow and grip the bar as you pull down. Now you can see how the lat pull down is an amazing compound movement that recruits multiple muscles in order to properly perform it.
Is the lat pulldown supposed to touch your chest?
This helps to engage the entire musculature of the lats rather than just the upper portion. It also ensures you're not pulling from the upper traps and shoulders. The bar should NOT touch the chest.
Is close grip or wide grip better for lat pulldown?
A wide grip lat pulldown activates your lats more fully, and while it will activate your arms and shoulders, it focuses primarily on your upper and lower back. A close grip lat pulldown does work your lats, but also activates your chest and arms more.
How far down should you go on lat pulldowns?
For low rows, you're seated and pulling a different bar, with handles, into your chest. For low rows, the pull should be positioned around the height of your waist when you're seated. To do low rows properly, maintain your lat pulldown positioning on the bench, grasp the bar meant for low rows, and do 10-15 reps.
Should thumbs go on top or bottom of lat pulldown?
If you don't believe me, do a regular set squeezing the bar as hard as you can with your thumb UNDER the bar, and you'll feel it more in your biceps. Then put those thumbs on top, focus on pulling with your elbows, and you'll feel it more in your back.
Is lat pulldown for back or shoulders?
Lat pulldowns also work the rhomboid muscles on your upper back, which draw your shoulder blades toward your spine, as well as the lower trapezius muscles, which pull your shoulder blades down. The exercise strengthens the rear deltoids on the backs of your shoulders, which help pull the arms backward.
Which mag grip is best for lats?
I highly recommend Maximum Advantage Grip products to anyone looking to attain the highest levels of fitness. I have the medium grip neutral bar and from set #1 through all of my pulldown sets my lats were fully engaged considerably more so than if I used a straight bar or even a regular neutral grip bar.
Is wide grip better for lats?
The wide grip lat pulldown is better for those aiming to train their lats more directly, be that for strength or hypertrophy. It is also better for those with goals of improving their pull-up strength or simply looking to train in a higher rep range than they can currently perform with pull-ups.
Do you squeeze shoulder blades on lat pulldown?
Before a set of lat pulldowns, grab the bar with an overhand grip and your hands slightly wider than shoulder width. Squeeze your lats to pull your shoulder blades down (it's called scapular depression), lowering the bar just a bit.
How do you do a proper pull down?
0:545:42How To: Lat Pulldown | 3 GOLDEN RULES - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipGuys is keeping your elbow slightly in front of you like this and then in line with your hips. AsMoreGuys is keeping your elbow slightly in front of you like this and then in line with your hips. As you pull down this is going to give you more pulling power. So more strength to pull more weight.
How do you properly flex your lats?
1:356:46How to Hit a Wide Lat Spread! - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipUntil your thumbs your arms are back as far as they can and your thumbs are at your side. Use yourMoreUntil your thumbs your arms are back as far as they can and your thumbs are at your side. Use your thumbs like hooks this is how I like to think about it hook your thumbs into your sides.
Where do you put your thumbs on a lat pulldown?
1:472:45Proper Hand Grip on Lat Pulldowns - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipPut your thumb over the top of the bar convert your hands into literally hooks. Now your hands areMorePut your thumb over the top of the bar convert your hands into literally hooks. Now your hands are hooks all they're doing is connecting your lats to the bar.
How do I target my lower lats?
Best Lower Lat ExercisesWide Grip Lat Pulldown.Dumbbell Row To Hips.Seated Banded Row.Straight Arm Pulldown.Underhanded Bent Over Row.
Is close grip lat pulldown good?
The close grip lat pulldown, also known as the close hammer grip lat pulldown, is one of the best exercises to strengthen your back. This compound exercise can also help improve your arm strength and posture. The close grip lat pulldown is a fantastic exercise for people of all fitness levels.
Are wide grip lat pulldown good?
The wide grip lat pulldown is one of the best exercises to strengthen your back. This compound exercise can bolster your upper body strength and improve your posture. Simply put, the wide grip lat pulldown is an effective exercise for people of all fitness levels.
Why should I train lat pulldowns?
If you want a bigger, stronger, and more developed back, lat pulldowns can be great for your training. But building a bigger back via pull-ups isn’...
Should you do lat pulldowns if you are good at pull ups?
Lat pulldowns are useful for building a bigger, more developed back. With these, your grip or overall strength and fatigue won’t be a limiting fact...
How low should you pull the bar down to you in the last pulldown?
This can vary based on grip width and the individual. However, pulling the bar down to the upper chest is often a good starting point for very new...
What Is A Lat Pulldown?
The lat pull down is a compound movement that primarily targets the lats and is considered to be a vital exercise for developing back strength and increasing overall pulling strength.
Lat Pulldown Muscles Worked
As you may have guessed, lat pulldowns are mainly targeting the latissimus dorsi but there are a number of muscles that come into play when doing lat pulldowns. For the sake of this post, we will cover the muscles worked when doing traditional lat pulldowns.
Top 10 Lat Pulldown Variations
The lat pull down is one of the most versatile back exercises that can be done. We put together 10 of the best lat pull down variations that will help you build an all-around beast of a back.
To increase the width of your back without excessive fatigue, add some lat pulldowns to your routine
To increase the width of your back without excessive fatigue, add some lat pulldowns to your routine.
How to Do the Lat Pulldown
The lat pulldown is a machine or cable-based exercise that mimics the movement patterning of a pull-up. This makes it a great isolation exercise to increase pull-up strength. Lat pulldowns also isolate your back to increase hypertrophy because your knees are held down by the pad you put your thighs under.
Benefits of the Lat Pulldown
The lat pulldown is an excellent addition to lifters’ programs at any level. Whether you’re trying to do your first pull-up or want to build a wider back, consider adding these to your repertoire.
Muscles Worked by the Lat Pulldown
The lat pulldown is a back-specific movement that allows you to isolate the lats to a very high degree. You may also find that pulldowns also train your biceps. However, if this is the case, you may not be engaging your lats properly. Instead, you might be compensating with your biceps and forearms.
Who Should Do the Lat Pulldown
Lat pulldowns can benefits all lifters, regardless of sport or training level. Whether you’re a strength athlete, CrossFitter, or casual gym-goer, you can benefit from having these cable exercises in your program.
Lat Pulldown Sets and Reps
If you are looking to increase back size and strength, the lat pulldown is one of the best exercises you can do in your training. This machine-based movement allows you to train all rep ranges, and take every set to muscle failure (no failure of the whole body or being limited by other factors).
Lat Pulldown Variations
The lat pulldown done with a regular overhand grip will make you stronger and help grow your back. But if you are looking to truly maximize back development you will want to use some of the variations below to continually progress your training.
Functional Anatomy of the Lats
The lats actually have three main divisions that all have separate roles depending on different positions of the arm and path at which it travels during an exercise:
Common Mistakes in Lat Pulldowns
The most common mistake in lat pulldowns is that people will often focus on the shoulder blade (scapula) being pulled down rather than the humerus into extension.
How to do a Lat Pulldown
Because lat pulldowns are a vertical pull, they are going to most effectively recruit the lumbar and iliac fibers because they are more diagonal/vertical in nature, meaning they are going to have more leverage to create a contraction where they pull the arm and shoulder down.
Lat Pulldown Variations
There are a few other variations of lat pulldowns we can use to efficiently target the recruitment of this muscle:
Bonus: How to Target the Lats in Horizontal Pulling
If we want maximal development of the lats, pulldowns are not enough. To effectively target the most surface area of the lats (thoracic fibers), horizontal pulls are more efficient.
Summary
The lats are actually three divisions of muscles rather than one. Not all muscle fibers will be optimally recruited in a single exercise.
What is the Lat Pulldown?
The Lat Pulldown is a cable pulling exercise that primarily builds muscle and strength for the back muscle groups.
Lat Pulldown Training Tips
Stick your chest out during the entire movement. This will help you establish good posture and help the back muscles contract.
Lat Pulldown Variations
If you love the exercise and its rewards then try adding these variations into your training to further improve your gains and keep things challenging.
Lat Pulldown Alternatives
These alternatives can be added into your training when you are unable to complete Lat Pulldowns due to a lack of equipment or any other reason.
Learn More
Learn more about different types of shoulder movements or ways to strengthen your arms.
How to do a lat pulldown?
To perform the squatting lat pulldown, position yourself under a cable pulley station (typically one that has a slight overhang and is used for tricep pressdowns) or pulldown station. From there simply grip the lat pulldown bar then pull yourself into the squat position.
What is the problem with lat pulldowns?
Reinforces a tight core while minimizing lumbar extension. A very common problem on lat pulldowns and pullups is using excessive low back arch. This is literally impossible to do while performing squatting lat pulldowns as the anterior core must be aggressively engaged throughout. 5.
Why do you do squats in lat pulldowns?
1. Eliminates excessive range of motion in the bottom-contracted position of the lat pulldown.
How many degrees of joint angle for squat?
A proper squat for any human involves approximately 90 degree joint angles at both the hip and knee joints. The squatting lat pulldown is not only conducive for learning this, the movement essentially has to be performed in that position in order to be able to handle any significant loading.
What happens if you pull your shoulders too high?
If the lifter allows the shoulders to be pulled too high, this causes the whole body to be pulled out of the squat position. 3. Eliminates momentum and jerky motions. Using excessive momentum will make it literally impossible to hold your squat position.
Is a lat pulldown better than a pullup?
In fact, when it comes to cleaning up vertical pulling mechanics, lat pulldowns are my go-to exercise, as they’re much easier to correct and improve than pullups. However, once the athlete has mastered their mechanics on pulldowns, it has tremendous carryover into their pullups and chin-ups. Besides cleaning up vertical pulling mechanics, lat ...
How to do a lat pulldown?
There is no “right” lat pulldown form. However, many lifters can mimic the following suggestions in order to achieve great lat activation: 1 Think of your hands as hooks 2 Pull down with your elbows 3 Do controlled reps 4 Hold the rep at the bottom position for at least 2 seconds; concentrate on squeezing your lats
How to feel your lats when lifting?
Many lifters claim that when leaning backward slightly, they can feel their lats being engaged. Make sure to point your chest upward and lean back slightly in order to activate your lats.
Does a pulldown help with lats?
Studies show that a wide grip lat pulldown may help you slightly in activating your lats over a supinated grip (palms facing towards you). However, the difference is small and research suggest that it may be insignificant. But for beginners who want to get a very good advantage in order to activate their lats, you should try every exercise that can help you get closer to your goal.
Does tucking your chin help your lats?
Some lifters have developed a forward head posture through their everyday environment. Some gym-goers have found that tucking in their chin while pointing their chest upward may have an effect on stimulating your lats.
Is a lat pulldown good?
The lat pulldown is a great exercise and can be used to grow huge lats when done effectively. However, many mistakes can be made when performing the lat pulldown, resulting in less lat activation. As a result, it gets a bad rep in the lifting community and other exercises are offered as alternatives to replace the lat pulldown. Do not be so quick to judge the lat pulldown; it is just a machine designed to help you achieve your training goals.
