This particular exercise has become one of my favorite exercises to do while at the gym for upper body. I like this exercise because it isn’t difficult, and it really works the lats very well and not to mention you can choose from wide or narrow grip and it can be done with different equipment that attache to the machine. I am not a huge machine lover, but when I do use machines, this is one the workouts I will do. Lately it seems like when I have been going to the gym (and not that it is becoming more full because of summer being around the corner) I have seen that people have taken to this machine as much as myself, but the problem lies in bad form and how some of these people don’t realize if you don’t do this exercise the correct way then it won’t benefit your lats at all or reduce the benefits (and could cause injury). Now I had to learn just the same as anybody else would because I thought nothing of it at first, just full the equipment in front of you like regular pull-down but learned quite quickly from my professor that I was doing it incorrectly and the way I was doing it was turning into a “row” verse a lat pull-down and while rows are a good form of exercise, this is a lat machine so we aren’t necessarily supposed to be doing row exercises. Point taken. Not to mention the way I was performing it, made it easier to increase my load and I was exerting more force than what was necessary to do the exercise ( I eventually had to lower the load to perform it correctly).
With this being said, the exercise seemed more difficult with a higher load because I was not used to the technique. After a while I was able to better perform the exercise and increase my load overtime and right now it is at a 140lb but I can do 120 with 10 reps pretty easily. I now see the problem in the gym that I was having that other people are having, they don’t know how to correctly perform the exercise and they are making the exercise into a row versus a lat pull-down and I am not sure they know this or not, but sometimes I want to walk over and just demonstrate the proper technique/form because it now urks me when I see it done incorrectly and people are pulling down large weight. So for anybody who is second guessing their form and technique with the lat pull-down.. I added some photos . In the meantime, I am going to go over some benefits of the lat pull-down in case someone wants to know and give some proper information about the exercise.
Lat pull-down
- multi-joint exercise – involves movement with the shoulders, scapula and elbows.
- works the largest back muscle- latissimus dorci (biceps, rear delts, rhomboids and traps are active during the exercise)
- mimics a pull-up (reap the same benefits)
- can change the grips and handles for variety
- can improve posture by strengthening these muscles
Thanks for reading, hopefully this helps with learning proper form and technique then next time you are at the gym.. you will know how to properly perform a lat pull-down
Sincerely,
Your Fitness Blogger Shay-lon
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