Muscles Worked: Lateral Muscles, great for adding width to the Lats
Spotter Required: No (but can help you train to muscular failure).
Minimum Equipment required: lat pull down machine (weight stack or plate loaded)
The Best Equipment to Use: Same as above
Warming up: If lat pull downs are the first exercise in your back workout I strongly suggest warming up the back muscles with about 5 warm-up sets, gradually increasing the weight and lowering the reps as you go through the warm-up sets. For example:
Warm-up set 1: 20% of the weight you normally lift for 12 reps
Warm-up set 2: 60% of the weight you normally lift for 8 reps
Warm-up set 3: 75% of the weight you normally lift for 5 reps
Warm-up set 4: 85% of the weight you normally lift for 3 reps
Warm-up set 5: 95% of the weight you normally lift for 1 rep
How often should I perform this exercise: Lat pull downs are great for adding width to the back and can be performed with every back workout. Lat pull downs are perfect if you struggle with wide grip pull ups and are looking to improve them!
When should I perform this exercise: Lat pull downs use a lot of energy so it is recommended to perform them near the start of your back workout.
How to do the exercise: Firstly adjust the seat on the lat pull down machine so that when seated your feet will be flat on the floor with your legs at a 90 degree angle whilst also ensuring your legs are comfortably under the pad.
Grab the lat bar with an overhand grip (palms facing away from you), with a grip slightly wider than shoulder width. Pull the weight down keeping your arms straight and sit on the seat with your legs under the pad and feet firmly on the floor.
Keeping your back straight and neck neutral with your spine, begin to pull the bar down towards your top/mid chest, you may notice that as you pull the bar down your body moves back slightly, this is normal so don’t worry about it, just make sure you don’t swing back or lean back too far in order to bring the weight to your chest, if you are swinging or leaning back the weight is too heavy!
When the lat bar reaches your chest hold for half a second then begin to bring the bar back up to the start position, controlling the weight throughout the entire movement. Make sure when you reach the top position do not lock your elbows, keeping a slight bend in your elbows will ensure the lat muscles stay tensed throughout the movement.
Common Mistakes:
Lifting too heavy – I often see people in the gym lift far too heavy, in fact they lift so heavy that they just throw the weight up and allow gravity to bring it back down, with no strict control whatsoever. Unfortunately for these people they are only risking injury of the lower back and also not working the lat muscles efficiently.
Leaning too far back & swinging – When performing lat pull down a lot of people seem to overload the weight stack, this means they have to lean back and swing to get the weight to their chest. Unfortunately doing this will greatly increase the chances of injuring the lower back and not work the lat muscles efficiently.
Pulling the lat bar towards the stomach – I often see people pull the lat bar down to their stomach, unfortunately this will not work the lat muscles, instead the shoulder muscles are worked and this means you could risk injury to the shoulders. Always pull the lat bar to your upper/mid chest to ensure proper contraction of the lateral muscles.
Mentality: As you become tired it can be hard to bring the bar down towards your chest, if this happens half way through your set try locking your arms out at the top position for 2 seconds and then try to lower the lat bar to your chest again.
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