lat pulldowns: what is the fucking deal?

I don't feel this shit in my lats. I don't even know what a lat is supposed to "feel" like. Why isn't there any easier exercise for lat building?

Ape Out, Gorilla Mindset Shirt $21.68

Rise, Grind, Banana Find Shirt $21.68

Ape Out, Gorilla Mindset Shirt $21.68

  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    You need to put your chest out as much as possible. Think macho man I’m the shit chest. Nice keep that through the entire workout while pulling it to your sternum with elbows only. If you feel your biceps activating you are doing it incorrectly.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >if you feel your biceps activate youre doing them incorrectly
      Fricking WRONG. Lat pulldowns builds back and lats. Shut your mouf

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        *builds biceps and lats
        Don't know how I fricked that up

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      https://i.imgur.com/CTP3x5A.png

      I don't feel this shit in my lats. I don't even know what a lat is supposed to "feel" like. Why isn't there any easier exercise for lat building?

      I do this and my posterior delt fatigues even though I've been lifting for 6 years now.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I was sharing the cable with two zoomer girls yesterday and I can bet my ass cheeks you are doing it wrong like they were and are pulling it straight down.

      This anon sort of gets it. You need to bend back a bit, puff out your chest and focus on pulling back your elbows. You should feel a major pump on your late/back.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      this 100%. used to have the same issue, never felt jack shit in lats. started protruding my chest and immediately got the most intense contraction on them.

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    You don't know how to feel the movement and are just mimicking motion.

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Try straight arm pulldowns

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I do these but only as like a rest excercise between pullups and rows. It feels like I'm not doing anything unless I put the weight so high that I start using my triceps to do the work. I like one handed cable pulldowns however and brace myself on the machine with the other hand. feels like a really good ROMwith those

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Can't use light weights on these, has to be moderate enough. I prefer the straight arm pulldowns compared to most major back exercises (rows, pull-ups, or lat pulldowns) since I can feel my lats more.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I feel it more doing a 1 armed version, letting your lat really stretch out at the top and contract at the bottom

      Dumbbell back rows are awesome. Full range of action, you can really feel it. Lay pull downs suck in comparison.

      The kid doesn't know how to pull with his back, clearly, so suggesting different shit isn't going to fix the problem. He needs to learn how to engage his fricking lats.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >doesn't know how to pull with back
        Being fair, it's tough to learn isolation unless you're specifically coached into it, or are constantly trying to be aware of it at all times.
        Since compound exercises give you results faster and tend to be more popular, I could see how anon may not understand.

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Lat pulldowns are absolute garbage tier. Pull ups are king. Just get good at doing pull ups, way better back builder in general.
    Getting an elite back just requires a bunch of weighted calisthenics.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Lat pulldowns are literally pullups but you simulate moving the ceiling down and not your body up
      Other than that youre right

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Except that you're seated which removes some of the muscles involved in stabilization

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Wtf is this logic?
      Doing a lat pull down should feel just like a pull up.
      I only agree that pull ups are superior because they are, but there's no problem with using lat pull downs to get there or isolate.

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I don't feel it either but my back has grown a lot so Idc really

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    It’s better for your upper back. The line of pull doesn’t align with the lat fibers. Try a reverse grip if you really want to get lats out of it.

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Roll your shoulders back to shift focus on to lats while using a wide grip. Shoulders forward hits traps more while narrow grip recruits biceps.

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I feel it more doing a 1 armed version, letting your lat really stretch out at the top and contract at the bottom

  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >why isn't there a better lat exercise
    There is. Egyptian lateral raises.

  10. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Dumbbell back rows are awesome. Full range of action, you can really feel it. Lay pull downs suck in comparison.

  11. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    The best excerxise for lats are pullups and weighted pullups

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah but my arms get tired before my lats can be fully worked since the arm muscles are weaker than the torso muscles.

  12. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    The best excerxise for lats are pullups and weighted pullups. Then when your balls are bigger you can do them on the rings. Rings will challenge every muscle in ways you never knew existed

  13. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    You’re welcome.

  14. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I'm tired of these moronic fricking threads. It's not our fault you don't know how to activate your own fricking muscles. FFS if you can't even figure out how to activate your lats on this, just give up.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Nah, frick that noise. Leave him be.

  15. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    This lil fricker right here will toast your lats

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I love these machines.

  16. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    when you do rows are you supposed to push your chest out and your shoulderblades together like you're benching?
    t. not a knower

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yes.

  17. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    lol look at these replies
    it's pretty difficult to get a stretch on the lats while using an overhand grip on the pulldown especially when doing any pulldown movement with both hands
    Don't call it a "lat pulldown" because it does not actually train the lats. Use a reverse grip on the pulldown and focus on pulling your elbows tightly to your sides if you want to train your lats while doing that movement
    Do db rows and focus on the mind muscle connection if you want good lats but doing a reverse grip pulldown is a bit better for the lower lat I think.

    A lot of Black folk talk about their "lat insertions" being bad because they never figure out how to train their fricking lats. Everyone's lats go down to their hips. If your lats feel like they are only big at the top it's most likely because you never train the whole thing.
    I don't understand how some people have such a bad mind muscle connection especially if they have been training for years.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >I don't understand how some people have such a bad mind muscle connection especially if they have been training for years.
      I think people train without thinking about what they are trying to train. I have done it in the past where I focus on lifting explosively.
      I will try the reverse grip pulldowns next time.
      I love doing rows and feeling it in my lats. Probably my favorite exercise behind curls.

  18. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    You are supposed to squeeze your lats yourself to get them activated think pulling down your elbows from the sides of your back.

  19. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    poor(fat) man's pull ups

  20. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I only gained the mind-muscle connection when I started one-armed lat pulldowns (obviously this takes a different machine). After doing those for a while, cable lat pulldowns vegan working for me.

  21. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Because it's not a lat dominant exercise, it's upper back. Lats is rowing with 45-120 degree of shoulder flexion with a neutral spine and not rowing past your midline.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yep. Ignore the dogshit tiktok voice over but this is a good demonstration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8_6r6olsVU&t=13s

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        damn he sound like a wiener sucking reddit tier homosexual

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Sure does. Technique is on point though

  22. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I'm a skinny DYEL guy and just joined a gym for the first time two months ago and I find this exercise incredibly easy. I'm already up to 110kg/243lbs for 4x8. According to StrengthLevel.com this is Elite level and makes me stronger than 97% of male lifters my age weighing 70kg/154lbs. This sounds like absolute bullshit to me, so should I assume I'm lifting incorrectly and not isolating my lats and that I'm doing most of the work with my shoulders and arms?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      we'd need to see your form

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      as a DYEL you should focus on muscle growth, which does involve weight, but it also involves good form to use the muscle you want to grow. pulldowns should not be a fullbody exercise.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      multiple pulleys or youre lifting with moronic form, or both.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Ah, I've been using a double pully machine. That'll be why.

  23. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Unless you can do 10+ pullups you have no business doing these. Do negative pullups and if you're too fat even for that then just hang on the bar for 1 min+

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      That's literally the opposite of correct. If you can't do pullups pulldowns will strengthen your pullups

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        If you can't do pullups, the only thing pulldowns will strengthen will be your fat coping.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          yeah because dead hangs with no ROM are definitely going to strength your pullup muscles

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          That's not how it works moron. Pulldowns can strengthen the muscles you need to do.... pull downs.
          Which are very similar to the muscles you need to do.... pull ups.

          I literally rowed my way to doing more pull-ups. Went from 0 to 8 at 220lbs.

          Ah, I've been using a double pully machine. That'll be why.

          That'll do it.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            So if I can do 110kg on a dual pulley machine wouls that be about 55kg on single pulley?

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              probably but it still "technically" depends on the machine. Honestly the weight matters in that you progress in either weight, reps, or time under tension.

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              Thanks. I'll probably stick with the dual for now and then swap to single once I've maxxed the dual one out.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        That's not how it works moron. Pulldowns can strengthen the muscles you need to do.... pull downs.
        Which are very similar to the muscles you need to do.... pull ups.

        I literally rowed my way to doing more pull-ups. Went from 0 to 8 at 220lbs.
        [...]
        That'll do it.

        Not him but I’ve seen cases of newbies able to pull down their bodyweight but cant do a pull up. Stabilizer muscles go a long way

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          I could see it. If that happened then yeah, doing pull-ups would fix their issues. My issue with his statement was "you have to do 10 pull-ups to be qualified to do pull downs, otherwise do dead hangs/eccentrics".
          Dead hangs would help grip...... eccentrics would help with the lat stretch, but what about pulling yourself back up. That's my issue with his statement.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >yeah bro if you can't do squats with 315lbs you shouldn't bother, just do bodyweight squats with a controlled eccentric
      bro....

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *