What worked for me was practicing with really low weight like 50-70 lbs and gradually working the weight up. Try pulling with your pinky and ring finger, avoid pulling with your index and middle finger. Bring the weight down and back up in a nice slow and controlled manner. Holding and squeezing the weight at the bottom also helped.
take as wide of a grip as it feels comfortable to do.
lean back slightly and bring your shoulders back (and stay steady, don't move the weight by leaning back and forth between reps).
touch the bar to your upper chest on each rep (if you can't do this, the weight is too high).
You're still thinking about using your arms to pull the bar down instead of thinking about using your elbows to do it.
With pulldowns, the hands are ONLY hooks, not to be used to move the bar, so you have to train yourself to know how to make the elbows the prime movers for such things and then, you'll figure it out.
as long as your form is fine and youre controlling the weight it doesnt matter if you cant feel some mind muscle bullshit. thats not how your body works. you cannot do a lat pulldown or pullups without your lats. they are working
I get a great conenction with a shoulder width, neutral grip bar NOT a super wide grip. I also pull the bar down to just below the sternum, at the uipper ab area. I also dont maintain an artifically strict torso. At the top, Im sort of erect, at the bottom i'm leaning back a bit. When I do this I feell a real good strecth in the lats at the top and a tight contraction at the bottom. Also, learn where the rhombiods are use them to pull the scapula back at the bottom, let them flare out at the top.
use smaller weight first and dont try to completely pull it down. imagine your arms are just hooks and focus on flexing the back muscle to lower the elbows somewhat. If your arm muscles dont have to work at their limit then its easier to practice that focus on contracting the back. Same is true with not caring about the exact movement range at first.
Stop doing them and just do pull ups. This was litcherablly made for people too weak to do pull ups and is obsoleted by the gravitron
If you're going over BW in this you're just doing pull ups anyways
That's honestly the big issue, it's light enough to not lift you off the ground then it does nothing, or it's heavy enough but you're doing this weird cheated movement >objections
Fine. Pendlay row
Don't understand why people tout this as the goat lat builder, I'm pretty sure they just think it's fun. Many such cases
> gravitron
Do you mean Gravitons(like theoretical gravity particles)? > That's honestly the big issue, it's light enough to not lift you off the ground then it does nothing
What if you are just weak or pro bodybuilder heavy? Those are only reasons I can see for not doing pull-ups instead, for example I’m 185lbs usually and relatively weak so I can only do 10-11 reps and cannot get volume I need 3x8-12 at 1RIR
rel
You getting to those reps already tells me you're over the lat pulldown
If your gym doesn't have these you can do pullups with a band assistance instead
But also there are many other exercises to hit lats if you so need, such as rows, the pulldown is really just a high row anyways
Moar volume on pulldowns that isn't activating lats, is that really better volume
It's hard to feel your back with that grip, you can go wide and with a supinated grip to feel it much more. If not just watch out your form until you get bigger
Other anons posted good advice but also consider training compound lifts like the bent over row to understand and develop lats better. Also, try to do at least one pullup if you don't.
Close your eyes
By understanding mind to muscle connection
Stop ego lifting
use a neutral grip
What really helped me was not swinging back and not relying on momentum to pull the weight down
>not ripping it (without leaning) and trying to stop the bar after it smashes into your sternum
Highly recommended.
What worked for me was practicing with really low weight like 50-70 lbs and gradually working the weight up. Try pulling with your pinky and ring finger, avoid pulling with your index and middle finger. Bring the weight down and back up in a nice slow and controlled manner. Holding and squeezing the weight at the bottom also helped.
Also this
Touch your elbows to the floor no seriously try it
Sounds like a skill issue.
Sounds like a skill issue
take as wide of a grip as it feels comfortable to do.
lean back slightly and bring your shoulders back (and stay steady, don't move the weight by leaning back and forth between reps).
touch the bar to your upper chest on each rep (if you can't do this, the weight is too high).
Oh and also don't grip the bar with your thumbs, grip it with your thumbs up like suicide grip on bench
change the handle and do them one armed with moderate weight, go full range of motion
By doing a superior (in every possible way) exercise .
Or the alternative
A normal weight adult male should not be able to do more than 10 pull ups.
You're still thinking about using your arms to pull the bar down instead of thinking about using your elbows to do it.
With pulldowns, the hands are ONLY hooks, not to be used to move the bar, so you have to train yourself to know how to make the elbows the prime movers for such things and then, you'll figure it out.
Idk and don't care. I just yank 80% of the stack for reps and my lats keep getting wider
This is the correct response
Just move the weight and don't worry about it, that's nerd shit.
Just do wide grip pullups instead 😉
just picture instead of pulling the bar to you, you to the bar
as long as your form is fine and youre controlling the weight it doesnt matter if you cant feel some mind muscle bullshit. thats not how your body works. you cannot do a lat pulldown or pullups without your lats. they are working
You have mind-muscle connection by default. Just lift.
I get a great conenction with a shoulder width, neutral grip bar NOT a super wide grip. I also pull the bar down to just below the sternum, at the uipper ab area. I also dont maintain an artifically strict torso. At the top, Im sort of erect, at the bottom i'm leaning back a bit. When I do this I feell a real good strecth in the lats at the top and a tight contraction at the bottom. Also, learn where the rhombiods are use them to pull the scapula back at the bottom, let them flare out at the top.
use smaller weight first and dont try to completely pull it down. imagine your arms are just hooks and focus on flexing the back muscle to lower the elbows somewhat. If your arm muscles dont have to work at their limit then its easier to practice that focus on contracting the back. Same is true with not caring about the exact movement range at first.
My right shoulder always hurts a lot when I do this 🙁
Do the exercise with proper form; so be as upright as possible like in a pullup
Push your shoulders down moron. And keep it that way on the way up as well
>mind muscle connection
Dead meme
Stop doing them and just do pull ups. This was litcherablly made for people too weak to do pull ups and is obsoleted by the gravitron
If you're going over BW in this you're just doing pull ups anyways
That's honestly the big issue, it's light enough to not lift you off the ground then it does nothing, or it's heavy enough but you're doing this weird cheated movement
>objections
Fine. Pendlay row
Don't understand why people tout this as the goat lat builder, I'm pretty sure they just think it's fun. Many such cases
> gravitron
Do you mean Gravitons(like theoretical gravity particles)?
> That's honestly the big issue, it's light enough to not lift you off the ground then it does nothing
What if you are just weak or pro bodybuilder heavy? Those are only reasons I can see for not doing pull-ups instead, for example I’m 185lbs usually and relatively weak so I can only do 10-11 reps and cannot get volume I need 3x8-12 at 1RIR
rel
You getting to those reps already tells me you're over the lat pulldown
If your gym doesn't have these you can do pullups with a band assistance instead
But also there are many other exercises to hit lats if you so need, such as rows, the pulldown is really just a high row anyways
Moar volume on pulldowns that isn't activating lats, is that really better volume
Nice forearm pulldowns
It's hard to feel your back with that grip, you can go wide and with a supinated grip to feel it much more. If not just watch out your form until you get bigger
Do weighted pull ups instead fatty
do suicide grip
low weight, many reps
do pull ups, same thing
Some leaning is ok, right?
Other anons posted good advice but also consider training compound lifts like the bent over row to understand and develop lats better. Also, try to do at least one pullup if you don't.
you just the pull the thingie down