Comments on: Lat Pulldown Technique

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:29:18 +0000

Thanks so much!! You’re great

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 16:18:47 +0000

Hi,
Great site. I just went through alot of articles and wow. Alot of great reading, also it was nice to understand the science behind Layne’s PHAT system as well as many other thoughts (it’s clear your a large influence).

My question is regarding bent barbell rows vs yates rows (overhand grip). Yates says that the 45 degreeish angle allows the lower back to be in a safer position and puts emphasis on the lats, while many ‘golden era’ body builders say the opposite, that pulling at parallel protects the lower back with emphasis on rhomboids, traps and lats. Could you shed any light on this?

By: Tyciol

Tyciol — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:03:06 +0000

It looks like the proper form for behind the neck has the external rotators helping to pull the weight down as opposed to improper where it is internal rotators pulling it down.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:25:41 +0000

Adrian: That’s not what I said. But the idea that pullups are INHERENTLY superior to pulldowns is the same kind of macho crap that says squats are ALWAYS better than other movemements. What movement is ‘best’ depends on context.

Julian: I disagree, I would rather teach proper technique from teh get go and that means learning to depress the scapula.

By: julian

julian — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:42:53 +0000

When teaching a beginner to do pulldowns I’d advise against letting the shoulders shrug up at the bottom. There’s a risk that being unable to feel the tension in their lats will mean they just relax and let the shoulder joint bear the load, which could cause injury.

Can the next article tell us what that model does for her legs? The sweep of her quads is beautiful!

By: Bstrong

Bstrong — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:49:49 +0000

I like supersetting the medium grip pulldown with the undergrip pulldown. Sometimes i use it as part of a giant set right after a few variations of the cable rows. The combination works great for me.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:57:10 +0000

In what case Pull downs are better than Pull ups? I’m a huge fan of avoiding machines as much as you can and doing barbell or dumbbell exercises or bodyweight exercises instead. Pull ups is considered being one of the best back builders also… Pull downs still work though…

Cheers

By: admin

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:57:06 +0000

Jack: Depends on the specifics. With beginners, it was always usually necessary for me to teach them how to use the lats or midback with shrugbacks or shrugdowns. But even with lifters who have been doing it for years, someties neural retraining along with checking the ego is relevant. The movement described in your second post is another way to train the lats, yes.

Martin: If you look at the line of pull on the lats, there are sort of two different ‘sections’ with one set of fibers running more horizontally and the other more vertical. For optimal growth, a combination of adduction and extension work is probably best. Then again, go heavy enough in good form and it probably doesn’t matter. For strength, neither is better, they are simply different and it’s a matter of training the pattern that you want or need to improve.

Adrian: That’s nice but no exercise is inherently better than another, it’s matter of using the right tool for the job.

Bolidizar: I can’t diagnose an injury over the internet.

By: Boldizar

Boldizar — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:34:58 +0000

Hi, Lyle,

I once read a quote by Arnold saying if you wanted wide lats, do 50 wide-grip pull-ups per session, doesn’t matter how many sets. So I doubled it, and did between 100 and 105 using a 1 through 7 ladder pattern three times per week.

This was working great for a month or two, my lats were visibly growing, but then I realized I could no longer fully straighten or close my right arm (at the elbow). It’s been two months now, got ART massage, etc., but I still can’t either fully extend or fully close (i.e., can’t grab my neck). I’m fairly heavy — 102kg / 225 lbs — so it added up to over 10,000 kilos per session. Perhaps stupidly, I kept doing the pull ups even while trying to get the elbow fixed with massages, etc.

Except for using a wider grip than you recommend, I was doing everything “right” (as described by you, above). Is this sort of injury common? And any ideas how to fix it?

Thanks!

By: Adrian

Adrian — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:22:18 +0000

Pull ups are better than pull downs so I prefer them!