There aren’t many muscle-building or strength-focused training programs that miss the normal lat pulldown. Many effective workouts include this classic, and for good reason.
Pulling in a vertical pattern strengthens your back, shoulders, and arms, while also constructing the muscles that support and stabilize your shoulder blades. This maintains healthy joint function which, in turn, keeps your entire upper body strong.
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Nonetheless, the lat pulldown isn’t enough to construct thickness in your entire back and it’s not the one option to keep the whole lot strong, healthy, and balanced. Eventually, you want to make some adjustments. Over-focusing on classic straight bar lat pulldowns with none change in angles, grip, or technique won’t be enough to for complete development.
When you know which muscles and attributes you’re looking to handle, you may properly select the correct exercises for higher results. Listed here are 12 of the very best alternatives to construct a much bigger, stronger, more complete back.
Best Lat Pulldown Alternatives
Behind-the-Neck Pulldown
“Scapular control is as cool as a extremely wide back,” said no one ever. Perhaps you don’t do standard pulldowns to focus on the muscles that control your shoulder blades, but the fundamental movement does train muscles that control and rotate them. Pulling the bar behind your neck creates an excellent more efficient path.
Why Use the Behind-the-Neck Pulldown
By barely altering the mechanics and path of this vertical pull, you train the supporting muscles of the shoulders and shoulder blades through a more complete range of motion. If you might have suitable shoulder mobility and may perform the motion without pain, pulling behind your head means that you can goal the muscles that rotate and lower the shoulder blades.
The kicker here is that when your shoulders and scapulae (shoulder blades) are well-positioned, with the behind-neck movement, your body can create higher levels of strength and develop more noticeable upper-back muscle.
How one can Do the Behind-the-Neck Pulldown
Arrange on a lat pulldown machine as you normally would. Use a protracted bar attachment and grab it with an overhand grip beyond shoulder-width. Sit together with your arms straight overhead and shoulders “shrugged” up. Keep your brow, chin, and sternum in line as you lean barely forward. Let your arms be pulled barely back, in keeping with your hips. Keep your body forward as you pull the handle down. Ideally, aim to the touch the bar to the bottom of your traps, near your neck, but pull to a snug depth based in your overall mobility.
Take into consideration attempting to shrug your shoulders “down” as you bend your arms and drive your elbows down. In the underside position, squeeze your shoulder blades down before straightening your arms and controlling the load up. Let your shoulders rise because the cable pulls you right into a controlled overhead lat stretch. Start with light weight and a full range of motion, and increase slowly without sacrificing form.
Rhomboid Pulldown
This movement may feel just a little funky at first, however it’s a straightforward and effective option to shift focus out of your big lat muscles to the smaller muscles of your upper and mid-back. To do these, you’ll use close or neutral-grip attachment and a really specific body angle.
Why Do the Rhomboid Pulldown
The rhomboids are deep muscles between the shoulder blades that pull your upper back together. If these supportive muscles don’t function well, there’s a great likelihood you’ll eventually take care of some shoulder dysfunction, pain, or injury. The rhomboid pulldown targets these muscles while also constructing muscle in the middle of your mid-back, which for a lot of, is lacking thickness and development.
How one can Do the Rhomboid Pulldown
Grab the a close-grip attachment together with your palms facing one another. Lock your legs under the pads, but lean your torso back to create a roughly 45-degree angle between your upper body and the ground. Pull your hands to your sternum and permit your elbows to flare out at a 90-degree angle to your shoulders. Keep your trunk braced and stable as throughout the exercise.
In the underside position, consider pulling your shoulder blades together and your shoulders right down to the bottom. Control the load on the way in which up, but keep your torso angled backward for the complete set.
Stiff-Arm Pulldown
This single-joint (isolation) exercise is arguably higher at constructing lat thickness than traditional pulldowns since the work it done only by the lats with minimal assistance from the shoulders and arms.
Why Do the Stiff-Arm Pulldown
The stiff-arm pulldown, also referred to as a straight-arm pushdown, is great at constructing lat size and general mobility since the muscle has to beat resistance through a protracted range of movement. You want to control the resistance through a protracted arc that puts your lats in a major stretch toward the highest. That is one in all the few exercises that truly strengthens shoulder extension (raising the arm) together with training your shoulder blades to slip downward right into a stable position.
How one can Do the Stiff-Arm Pulldown
Attach a straight bar or rope to a cable near the highest of your head. Stand tall, grab the bar or rope together with your elbows barely bent and your palms facing down (on a bar) or facing one another (with a rope). Maintain a bent-arm position as you “sweep” the attachment toward the highest of your legs.
At the underside, imagine pulling your shoulders behind your torso before you let the load pull your arms back up. Control the load and let your arms come all the way in which up for an lively stretch at the highest.
Lying Cable Pullover
Dumbbell or kettlebell pullovers are sometimes used as a substitute for pulldowns or, more specifically, a substitute for stiff-arm pulldowns, but expecting people to do those free weight exercises light enough to limit the contribution of the chest, arms, and shoulders is like asking them not to take a look at themselves within the mirror after a great arm pump. Lying cable pullovers are a more practical option to emphasize the contraction of the lats and other back muscles with relatively light weight and high tension.
Why Do the Lying Cable Pullover
This exercise gives you all the identical advantages of stiff arm pulldowns — increased lat recruitment with limited additional muscles — while also increasing the duration that the muscle held under tension. And the longer the muscle is contracting under tension the more muscle and strength could be built. (1)
How one can Do the Lying Cable Pullover
Lie on a flat bench with a cable set barely above head-level. Use a rope attachment to permit for more range of motion. Grab the rope together with your hands facing one another. Maintain a slight bend in your elbows and pull the rope toward your legs while keeping your lower back flat against the bench.
Keep your hands facing each other and check out to the touch your pinky fingers to the ground. In the underside position, squeeze your shoulders together and consider pushing your triceps through the ground before controlling the resistance all the way in which back. Let the resistance pull your arms way back to you may tolerate, above and behind your head.
Crossed Band Pulldown
This movement is ideal for using resistance bands fairly than a cable machine because the stress of the bands combines with the long range of motion to focus on the smaller muscles of the back. The crossed band pulldown can be called a “banded rhomboid pulldown” because it really works those smaller upper back muscles much like a rhomboid pulldown.
Why Do the Crossed Band Pulldown
By pulling the bands in a cross-body motion, you might be training the muscles that move and support the scapulae with a specialized effort you wouldn’t have the opportunity work with cables. These supportive muscles not only keep your shoulders functioning properly, but they supply the steadiness needed to construct high-level pressing and pulling strength, and so they contribute to unique thickness of the back musculature.
The resistance bands allows for more tension at the top range (peak contraction), which is where most individuals need to construct more scapular control. As you pull the band, it becomes more difficult and the muscles must create more tension, in comparison with regular resistance with cable pulleys.
How one can Do the Crossed Band Pulldown
Anchor two resistance bands to the highest of a squat rack, pull-up bar, or other high and stable structure. Space the bands to be just outside the width of your shoulders. Grab the left band together with your right hand and vice versa, and sit on the ground between them.
Keep a neutral spine, not arched or rounded, and pull the bands across the front of your body. Attempt to drive your elbows toward the ground behind you. Hold and squeeze the contacted position for one second before controlling the bands right into a stretched position with straight arms.
Supinated-Grip Pulldown
To maintain your shoulders healthy and your upper back strength balanced, you want to do vertical pulls together with your palms each facing away (pronated grip) and facing toward you (supinated grip). The supinated-grip pulldown, or “chin-down” (versus a body weight chin-up), is an amazing option to construct this supinated-position strength whether you may do chin-ups or not.
Why Do the Supinated-Grip Pulldown
This hand position doesn’t magically make it a biceps-only exercise. This grip variation trains the connections between the biceps, delts, and upper-back muscles in a different way from a pull-up or pulldown. (2) It also builds more balanced upper back stability and more shoulder mobility.
How one can Do the Supinated-Grip Pulldown
Use a straight bar attachment and arrange just as you’d for a regular pulldown. Grab the bar with palms facing you and hands placed right at or just a little wider than shoulder width apart.
Pull the attachment down by driving your elbows to the bottom and check out to the touch it right below your collarbone. Squeeze the elbows down before controlling the cable back up.
Weighted Pull-Up
Most don’t think that pulling exercises that concentrate on the upper back should ever really be loaded heavy, but that line of pondering is an enormous mistake.
When you’re seeking to construct your back as big as you may, you want to mix high-rep sets with heavy weights. The weighted pull-up is a particularly effective, if barely advanced, option to get the job done.
Why Do the Weighted Pull-Up
Pull-ups are typically done to construct muscle size using only your body weight for as many reps as possible. But they will and may sometimes be loaded as heavy as possible and performed in rep ranges as little as three to 5 per set. It will expose you to recent forms of muscular stress that results in muscle growth.
How one can Do the Weighted Pull-Up
Take an overhand grip together with your arms at, or simply just a little wider than, shoulder-width. Pull from a straight-arm hang to your chin or neck reaching bar-level. Warm-up with bodyweight-only sets after which add a weight using either a dip belt or a weighted vest. Start with a weight that you understand you may do no less than five reps with.
Perform multiple sets of three to 5 reps, adding just just a little weight after each set. Whenever you reach a really difficult weight and feel like you may only grind two or three reps, keep on with this weight and check out to do two to 4 more sets.
Mechanical Drop-Set Pull-Up
It’s essential to do vertical pulling exercises with quite a lot of hand positions – overhand, underhand, and neutral-grip. Each grip is mechanically different by way of difficulty and muscle recruitment, and this could be exploited to do more quality volume, which leads to greater strength and muscle growth. (3)
Why Do the Mechanical Drop Set Pull-Up
A pronated (palms away) hand position is most difficult and prioritizes the lat muscle and upper back. A supinated (palms toward you) hand position is barely easier and emphasizes the biceps and shoulders, and a neutral position (palms facing one another) offers the best leverage and is least difficult, recruiting the brachialis and shoulders. (4)
A “mechanical drop set” is a specialized technique that means that you can do as many reps as you may with probably the most difficult hand position. This causes the emphasized muscles to work hardest. You then proceed so as to add more tension to the identical muscle groups with a supinated grip, and eventually using neutral-grip hand position. In total, you might be capable of do more volume than you possibly can normally achieve using exclusively anybody grip.
How one can Do the Mechanical Drop Set Pull-Up
Take a shoulder-width overhand grip on a pull-up bar and lift yourself from a straight-arm hang to your chin near bar-level. As you reach muscular fatigue, let go and reset your grip to take a shoulder-width underhand grip. Proceed performing additional repetitions until you reach fatigue again. Let go and eventually take a neutral (palms facing) grip. Proceed the last phase of the set with more reps.
One effective approach with this method is to choose a pre-determined rep count for every hand position. For instance, in the event you can do five standard (overhand) pull-ups, chances are you’ll decide to do two or three reps of every grip. This increases your pull-up volume significantly because you find yourself doing a complete of six to nine repetitions as a substitute of only five.
Inverted Row
The inverted row is usually done together with your body parallel to the ground, together with your feet elevated to make it a real horizontal rowing motion. While that is an amazing variation to construct the complete mid-back and lats, doing these at a 45-degree angle together with your feet on the bottom could also be an excellent more efficient option to strengthen your back muscles much like a lat pulldown.
Why Do the Inverted Row
That is an amazing option to interchange or add more body weight movements. Strong or experienced lifters are likely to neglect body weight training, perhaps throwing in just a few push-ups here or there, but that’s short-sighted. Body weight pulling movements, particularly, demand trunk stabilization and good scapular control which carry over to strength and stability in nearly all exercises.
When you can’t do body weight pull-ups, you want to find other ways to coach your pulling muscles. The 45-degree inverted row uses your body weight to construct strength and muscular coordination. This moderate angle makes it a unique and effective option to strengthen the scapular muscles and still construct the lats, comparable to a conventional pull-up or pulldown.
How one can Do the Inverted Row
Set a barbell on a rack somewhere around ab-height. You may as well use a Smith machine. You will have to regulate this higher or lower once in position depending in your arm length. Grab the bar with an overhand grip, together with your arms just a little wider than shoulder-width. Slide your feet out until your body is at roughly a 45-degree angle with the ground.
Keep your legs straight and pull yourself toward the bar. Aim to the touch your chest to the bar before lowering under control and repeating for the set variety of reps.
Ultra-Wide Grip Bent Over Barbell Row
The wide-grip barbell row may be top-of-the-line exercises to extend thickness in your lats and traps while constructing strength that carries over to other big lifts. When you see someone who does this exercise often, heavy, and well, you may count on them having an enormous and powerful back.
Why Do the Ultra-Wide Grip Bent-Over Barbell Row
The ultra-wide grip row not only makes your lats wider, however it builds thickness within the mid-back higher than many other exercises. The difficult wide grip also taxes your forearm muscles, making them larger while constructing a stronger grip. The bent-over position requires your hips, trunk, and hamstrings to stabilize you body and create tension to support the load. This total-body recruitment makes you stronger for just about anything within the gym or on the sector.
How one can Do the Ultra-Wide Grip Bent-Over Barbell Row
Stand over a barbell together with your feet hip-width apart. Hinge forward on the hips, squat down, and grab the bar with a palms-down grip as far wide as your grip will allow. The bar must be difficult to carry, but make sure you may keep it in your hands for the complete set. Stand straight up with the bar in your hands and your arms straight. Barely bend your knees as you hinge out of your hips.
Keep your knees barely bent and bend forward until your back is near parallel with the bottom. Hold this position together with your elbows locked and keep your back flat and your abs braced. Row the bar toward the underside of your sternum. Control the load back right down to a straight-arm position, and repeat for repetitions.
Landmine Row
The landmine row can train the lats more without causing, or worsening, any potential shoulder problems since it places a singular demand on the body in comparison with other barbell or dumbbell exercises. The angle and leverage of the landmine create a unique stress on the muscles and joints. It allows the lifter to regulate their body position and alter the pull of the load.
Why Do the Landmine Row
This exercise is finished using a “v-bar” attachment, which requires a neutral-grip. This helps you contract your lats through a full range of motion while allowing the shoulder blades to maneuver right into a natural position. This not only helps to scale back shoulder pain but additionally reinforces and builds the shoulder-stabilizing muscles.
Because landmine row moves though an arc range of motion fairly than a straight line, it creates different leverages to your muscles. For that reason, the load typically feels heavier at the underside and lighter at the highest, which is the other of most exercises. This “reversed” strength curve implies that the landmine row can train the lats in a different way by placing them under greater tension at the underside position.
How one can Do the Landmine Row
Put one end of a barbell in a landmine unit, or within the stable corners of a squat rack. Attach a neutral-grip v-bar handle across the free end of the barbell slightly below the collar. Straddle the bar, squat right down to grab the handle, and arise supporting the bar with straight arms. Make sure that your back is nearly completely parallel with the ground and your legs are barely bent.
Row the bar up and check out to the touch your wrists somewhere between the underside of your sternum and your abs. Lower the load by straightening your arms under control. Try to not “hitch” or bounce as you lift the load. The more strict the movement, the higher it’s for constructing muscle and strength.
Single-Arm Face Pull
Standard lat pulldowns are often done in hopes of constructing wider backs, however it’s probably not nearly constructing back width. You want to construct muscle in your upper back and across the backs of your shoulders, as well. There are more focused ways to develop these key areas than simply using the straightforward pulldown.
Why Do the Single-Arm Face Pull
The one-arm face pull targets the rear delts (back of the shoulder) and the upper and inner parts of your back. These muscle groups not only have to be strong for optimal shoulder health and stability, but they have to be well-developed in the event you want your back to look as thick as possible.
Training one are at a time helps you narrowly concentrate on properly moving your shoulder and shoulder blade. Single-arm exercises like this also train your trunk to withstand rotation so, as an additional advantage, you’re also training core stability.
How one can Do the Single-Arm Face Pull
Attach a single handle to a cable pulley at forehead-height. Grab the handle palm-down with one hand. Straighten your arm and step back until the cable barely pulls on the load stack to lift it up. Stand tall together with your knees barely bent and your feet about hip-width apart.
Keep your palm facing down as you pull the handle toward your ear. Think “chicken wing” to maintain your elbow high and identified. Concentrate on pulling your shoulder blade in toward your spine. Hold and squeeze at this end position for one second. Don’t let your shoulder shrug upward. Control the load back without letting it pull your shoulder too far forward as your arm straightens.
Advantages of Lat Pulldown Variations
There are three basic reasons to incorporate this vertical pulling motion in your training: muscle size, muscular strength, and musculoskeletal health. Whichever reasons are in your goal list, there are many effective movements to get the job done.
Increased Muscle Recruitment
Many individuals need to construct their lats thicker and wider. Greater lats give an athletic look many individuals want. Whether it’s on a bodybuilding stage, on the beach, or simply for your personal personal physique goal, a well-developed back includes wide lats in addition to a solid upper and mid-back.
The lat pulldown, by itself, isn’t sufficient for targeting the multiple muscles involved in constructing complete back size.
Improved Strength Development
The more overall back strength you might have, the more weight you may lift. Back strength is crucial for a robust, stable upper body. This strength and stability carries over to big lifts just like the deadlift, when maintaining proper position for efficient technique.
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A stronger back even carries over to lower body exercises just like the squat, to assist your upper body transfer power out of your legs through your core and upper body.
Joint Health
Healthy, well-functioning shoulders and shoulder blades (scapulae) are essential for any lifter. When you press weights overhead (up), you want to pull weights down. Basic muscular symmetry helps to scale back the chance of shoulder and upper body injuries. (5) Vertical pulling trains coordination and control between your shoulders and the scapulae, and it reinforces the postural muscles surrounding your scapulae and the complete middle back.
Get Down with All of the Pulldowns
The lat pulldown is one of the vital popular vertical pulling exercises for constructing muscle and strength. It’s an efficient and time-tested exercise, but you continue to need to emphasize the upper and mid-back muscles with different angles and demands to create a maximum training effect. You’ll be able to’t haphazardly add variations and hope for the very best, because that could be a counterproductive waste of time. Review the exercises above, determine which fit your specific needs, and plug them into your training plan. Soon enough, you’ll have all the range you would like for a well-rounded, and well-widened, back.
References
- Burd, N. A., Andrews, R. J., West, D. W., Little, J. P., Cochran, A. J., Hector, A. J., Cashaback, J. G., Gibala, M. J., Potvin, J. R., Baker, S. K., & Phillips, S. M. (2012). Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. The Journal of physiology, 590(2), 351–362. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200
- Lusk, S. J., Hale, B. D., & Russell, D. M. (2010). Grip width and forearm orientation effects on muscle activity through the lat pull-down. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 24(7), 1895–1900. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181ddb0ab
- Leslie, Kelly & Comfort, Paul. (2013). The Effect of Grip Width and Hand Orientation on Muscle Activity During Pull-ups and the Lat Pull-down. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 35. 75-78. 10.1519/SSC.0b013e318282120e.
- Plantz MA, Bordoni B. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Brachialis Muscle. [Updated 2022 Feb 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551630/
- Drigny, J., Gauthier, A., Reboursière, E., Guermont, H., Gremeaux, V., & Edouard, P. (2020). Shoulder Muscle Imbalance as a Risk for Shoulder Injury in Elite Adolescent Swimmers: A Prospective Study. Journal of human kinetics, 75, 103–113. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2020-0041
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