You can do this with a standard lat pulldown bar or with the handles you’d use to perform a row. Variations on the lat pulldown Close-grip hand positionĬlose grip is considered any hand position narrower than shoulder width. Lower the weight if you cannot maintain a neutral spine or good form.Keep your back straight, but try not to arch or round as you pull down.Maintain good control and try not to lean back too far as you pull down.Remember not to shrug your shoulders at the top of the movement. Slowly return to the starting position.Hold the bar at your mid to upper chest for 1–2 seconds while squeezing your shoulder blades back and down.Keep your body tall and in a slight backward lean, just past vertical at 70–80 degrees. Think of pulling your elbows and shoulder blades down and back as you bring the bar down. Pull the bar down toward your upper chest, aiming for just below your collarbone.Extend your arms as much as you can without shrugging your shoulders or lifting off the seat. Reach up and grasp the bar a little wider than shoulder width.Adjust the knee pad so your knees are bent at 90 degrees and firmly under the pad and your feet are flat on the floor. Start by sitting at a lat pull machine, facing the bar.The lat pulldown works many muscles, including the latissimus dorsi, pectoralis major, rotator cuff, and biceps brachii. Many other muscles work synergistically or simultaneously with the lats in this exercise, including the ( 3):Ĭhanging the way you grip the bar as you perform this complex exercise will emphasize different muscle groups ( 5). What’s more, the lats assist with respiration and may even contribute to lateral flexion and extension of the lumbar spine ( 4). When the arm is fixed overhead, the lats pull the body toward the arm in a climbing motion. The lats are responsible for extension, adduction, horizontal abduction, and internal rotation of the arm. The lats are expansive - they originate from the mid and lower spine, the top of the pelvis, the lower ribs, and the lower scapula and insert on the front of the humerus (upper arm bone). They’re the prime movers of this multi-joint exercise, and they’re the largest muscles in your back.

The latissimus dorsi muscles, or lats, are the wing muscles you see on someone with a defined back. One reason the lat pulldown is such a prominent and important exercise is that the overhead pulling motion recruits several important muscles of the back, shoulders, and arms.

Cable lat pullover