00:00Okay, welcome everyone to a new episode of Technique Tuesday. This week we're going to
00:12be looking at how to perform the lat pulldown with perfect technique while correcting common
00:17errors when it comes to execution. Now before we jump into the biomechanics, let's quickly consider
00:22the pulldown versus the pullup. I think some people put pullups on a bit of a pedestal. Well,
00:27if I was forced to pick a pullup or a pulldown, I'd pick the pullup for reasons I outlined in my
00:32pullup technique Tuesday video. I think both movements can have their place in a complete
00:37training program. I like to think of the pullup as a main heavy movement geared more toward progressive
00:42overload in the say 5 to 10 rep zone, whereas the pulldown functions better as a mind muscle
00:47connection type movement. Although you certainly should aim to overload when possible, the goal is
00:52to really focus on feeling the muscles of the back contract appropriately, a concept that's
00:57gained attention and empirical support in the scientific literature in recent years. Also,
01:02if you're not able to do a bodyweight pullup, pulldowns certainly can help build some base
01:06strength. I think you're better off doing assisted pullups because they're going to have more strength
01:11carryover. Doing a pulldown to help build pullup strength would be kind of like doing pushups to
01:16build bench press strength. Yeah, pushups are great for the pecs mind muscle connection, but they
01:21aren't going to blow up your bench press like simply bench pressing will. So with a standard overhand grip
01:26lat pulldown, we're training several biomechanical actions at once. The main action involved is
01:31shoulder adduction, where the lats, along with the terrace major and minor muscles, contract to bring
01:36the arms down to the side. Because it's impossible to pull the bar straight down, there will be some
01:41degree of shoulder extension occurring as well, mainly handled by the lats and the long head of the
01:46triceps. And the biceps and brachialis muscles are going to take care of the elbow flexion component,
01:51where the elbow is forced to bend in order to bring the weight down. Now, while you can move a decent
01:54amount of weight with the lat pulldown, especially the more you lean back, I think that when loaded
01:59too heavily, the lower back and momentum will simply start to take over, which can then reduce
02:04overload on the actual lats. So in my experience, using more moderate weight, somewhere in the 8 to
02:1012 rep zone tends to be the sweet spot. Now, as I discussed in my video on back width versus back
02:14thickness, you can use different grips here to slightly emphasize different regions of the back.
02:19But in general, I tend to prefer the double overhand medium grip brought to the front of the neck
02:24since this option tends to provide the best combination of strength and biceps and lat
02:29activation. So let's cover this variation first. So first, you want to make sure the knee pads are
02:34adjusted to the right height before sitting down. If you have to go on your toes for your knees to
02:38brace against the pads, you could be losing some stability and your butt is going to try to lift
02:42up on every rep. So if you can't keep your heels planted while having your knees secure, lay down a
02:47couple of 10 or 25 pound plates to elevate your feet. You want to grab the bar with a roughly 1.5 times
02:53shoulder width grip. Many trainees find a thumbless or suicide grip to be much better at improving the
02:58mind muscle connection with the lats. And on the pull down, this really isn't a safety concern,
03:03unlike on the bench press, where if the bar slips, you're going to get crushed underneath it. With the
03:07bar in your hands, take a seat and brace your knees against the pads with your heels on the ground
03:12or on the plates. And before initiating the first rep, put your upper back into thoracic extension
03:17by lifting your chest up. While some people prefer to have a flat upper back so they can pull
03:22straight down, I think an extended upper back is going to create a more secure and powerful
03:27lifting position. Begin the first rep by depressing your scapulae or tucking your shoulder blades down
03:32as you pull your elbows in toward your sides at about a 10 to 15 degree angle when viewed from the
03:38top. So think about pulling your elbows down and in rather than just pulling with your hands by using
03:43your arms. At the bottom of the pull, the bar should make light contact with the top of your sternum
03:48on your upper chest. And from this point, you can reverse the motion by actively resisting the negative
03:53as you feel your lats stretch on the way up. Once you reach full elbow extension, lift your chest up,
03:59depress your shoulder blades again, and start another rep. So how much should you lean back on the lat pull
04:04down? Some folks insist you need to be perfectly upright, while others suggest that since you can move
04:10more weight with more lean back, that's what you should do. My opinion is somewhere in the middle.
04:15I think a moderate degree of lean back is acceptable if it makes the lift feel more natural to you,
04:20especially if it also allows you to overload better. And as a general rule, even if you lean back a bit,
04:25the cable should still travel in a pretty straight line when viewed from the side. Now as an advanced
04:30technique, I'm actually cool with using moderate momentum or cheating on the positive to help get the
04:36weight down as long as you control the negative on the way up. Now this might seem like a bit of a
04:41bro technique, but it's actually a pretty reasonable way to eccentrically overload the lats when done
04:47properly. Granted, many people take this to the extreme and just lose complete control, essentially
04:52turning the pull down into an inverted row, and then just letting the weight fall on the negative,
04:57which is something I'd never recommend. Now of course, other grips such as the neutral grip pull down
05:01can also be used. And because this grip is going to emphasize shoulder extension, many trainees just
05:06feel their lats working better here. That isn't necessarily my favorite option because you'll
05:11already most likely be training plenty of extension with any rowing in your program, but it's still a
05:15solid option. And the same principles apply to the supinated grip, except to avoid wrist pain,
05:20I generally recommend gripping the bar closer at about one times shoulder width. If you're trying to get
05:25your biceps a little more involved, this might be a more reasonable grip variation to use as well.
05:29So I would say the most common error that I see with the pull down is using too much body English. Apart from
05:35using the cheap pull down as a specific modality for eccentric overloading, I think that as a more mind
05:40muscle connection based exercise, your position should be more or less stable throughout the movement as
05:45you focus on feeling your lats contract as hard as possible, rather than just yanking the weight with your
05:51arms, lower back, and traps. Another common error when using the medium overhand grip is not adducting the
05:57shoulder enough. In other words, many people will pull their elbows down to the front too much,
06:02emphasizing shoulder extension rather than pulling the elbows more out to the side. Viewed from the top,
06:08your elbows shouldn't be coming forward by 45 degrees or so. Your elbows should only be coming
06:13forward by about 10 to 15 degrees as you do the pull down. Now another very common error when doing
06:18the underhand supinated pull down is to pull with the biceps too much. Even though biomechanical reasoning
06:23does suggest that the biceps will engage more on this lift, you still want to think of it as a back
06:29movement, merely using your arms as connectors while focusing on driving your elbows down more like
06:35you would in a pullover. Now if you're unable to do lat pull downs, lat pull ins can be a nice alternative,
06:40which only require a simple cable setup. However, I tend to reserve these more for a warm up or
06:45pre-activation type movement. And then of course the pull up is a great exercise that trains much of the
06:50same musculature. And I think that if you want to maximize your overall back development, you should
06:55probably be including some kind of pull up and some kind of horizontal row in your routine. And if you
07:01guys are looking for a complete routine to make all this stuff more actionable, I recommend checking
07:05out my back hypertrophy program. This is actually one of my most popular body part specialization
07:11programs hitting the back three days per week through a combination of different exercises and advanced
07:16training techniques. So if you're interested in checking it out, you can go to jeffnitbird.com
07:20and I'll have that as the first link in the description box down below. So thank you guys
07:24so much for watching. Don't forget to leave the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Subscribe if
07:28you haven't already, and I'll see you guys all here in the next video.
07:42All right, let's go. Okay, ready? Yep. This is serious. Damn it, this one's hard to do.
07:58He's got gloves on. Come on, come on.
08:12Come on, come on.
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