The lat pulldown and the pull-up are staples across many training programs — sometimes even coexisting inside the same workout. Each exercises train the “vertical pulling” movement pattern and could be highly effective for targeting your back muscles, which is why some lifters regard them as nearly interchangeable. Despite how visually similar the movements could appear, they will actually offer pretty significant and distinct advantages.
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Whether it is best to concentrate on pulldowns or pull-ups can rely upon a number of aspects, including your experience and your goals. From technique, programming, and step-by-step execution, here is every little thing you have to find out about these foundational back-building exercises.
Lat Pulldown and Pull-Up
Exercise Differences
Recognising the differences between the lat pulldown and the pull-up can put you on the fast track for higher results. Some key differences involve the equipment used, or lack thereof. Some relatively subtle, but significant, differences in programming will also be found.
Human Body vs. Machine
The key visual difference between the lat pulldown and pull-up is the proven fact that one is a body weight exercise and the opposite requires a full cable station. This brings with it two major considerations.
The lat pulldown uses a specialized cable stack pulley system to anchor your body in place whilst you move an adjustable weight stack, whereas the pull-up simply requires a set overhead bar that may support your body weight.
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This will affect the relative ease of implementing each exercise into your program based upon availability of apparatus, in addition to your individual capabilities — body weight pull-ups could also be too difficult for beginners, while pulldowns can accommodate lifters of any experience or strength level.
As a calisthenics exercise, the pull-up places a greater stabilization challenge in your entire body, out of your back and shoulders through your core to your lower body. The stable machine and stuck anchor points provided by the pads on a lat pulldown machine make it tremendously easier to sit and get to work. The machine itself provides stabilization, so you’ll be able to focus targeting your back muscles.
Loading
Considered one of the biggest differences between the lat pulldown and pull-up is the range of resistance you need to use. The lat pulldown is a highly adjustable machine that simply requires you so as to add more plates or lower the pin on the burden stack further and further — sometimes exceeding a comparable pull-up load.
The lat pulldown is more scalable than a pull-up — the resistance could be quickly and simply reduced to permit relatively weaker lifters to perform the exercise. Except for getting creative using resistance bands to help a pull-up or getting access to a dedicated assisted pull-up machine, it could possibly be quite difficult to beat the baseline level (your body weight) needed to perform a pull-up. This is particularly true if you need to perform multiple repetitions per set.
Sets and Repetitions
Much like the differences in loading, the lat pulldown and pull-up are sometimes paired with distinct set and repetition schemes. For many individuals, the pull-up is an upper body strength movement that lives in a lower repetition range. Whereas, the lat pulldown typically exists as an efficient muscle-building tool that thrives with more moderate repetitions.
You’ll often see pull-ups performed for 2 to 3 sets of anywhere from one to 10 repetitions. While the pulldown might be performed with much heavier weights for low-rep sets, it’s nearly inconceivable to take care of strict form with such programming as a result of poor leverage. Having your lower body and core locked into position becomes a limiting factor.
In contrast, a lat pulldown is often done for 2 to 4 sets of eight to 12 repetitions. Reaching that sort of volume with pull-ups is often reserved for knowledgeable lifters of a major strength level, either performed with added weight or with body weight alone.
Exercise Similarities
While there could be several key differences, the lat pulldown and pull-up do share some significant overlaps to think about, as well. They’ll hit lots of the same primary muscle groups, each require a point of overhead mobility, and the exercises share many basic variations.
Muscles Worked
The lat pulldown and pull-up primarily goal your latissimus dorsi — a big swath of muscle positioned on either lateral side of your back. While the latissimus dorsi (lats) are the prime mover, each exercises may also heavily involve your upper back, biceps, and ranging degrees of core musculature to remain in an efficient pulling position.
Mobility Requirements
The vertical pulling pattern utilized in each exercises requires you to find a way to successfully, comfortably, and safely get your arms fully prolonged overhead. While which will sound easy enough, shoulder mobility and joint health is an important component of avoiding training-related aches or pains within the long-term.
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For those who can achieve the overhead position effectively, each the lat pulldown and pull-up could be effective at maintaining your overhead mobility, especially while you concentrate on working through a full range of motion within the stretched (overhead) position.
Grip Variations
When it’s time to introduce exercise variety, the lat pulldown and pull-up can each allow narrow or wide hand positions, which might alter the muscle emphasis out of your lats to your upper back and even your biceps. (1)
Each exercises will also be performed using unique grip orientations, from neutral-grip to overhand and even freely rotating (using individual handles or straps to permit your wrists to rotate during each repetition). Like grip width, changing the orientation of your hands and forearms is an efficient way of altering muscle recruitment by making slight adjustments. (2)
Technique Differences
The lat pulldown and pull-up have some definitive technique differences. Because one is a calisthenics exercise and the opposite is performed while seated on a machine, your overall body position will affect exercise technique.
Hole Body
The hole body is a full-body bracing technique that helps to create a rigid body posture. The high level of total body tension it creates lets you higher control your movement through space. This system is particularly necessary throughout the pull-up, where you might be freely moving with none anchor points other than your grip.
In an effort to successfully perform a pull-up, establishing a powerful hole body technique is important to take care of stability. The lat pulldown, alternatively, provides this stability in your behalf by offering leg pads to carry you in place.
Torso Angle
Your torso angle during each repetition is a significant difference between the pull-up and lat pulldown. Because your lower body is secured under the knee pads, the lat pulldown lets you manipulate your torso angle to focus on subtly different muscles. A greater degree of backward lean could emphasize more of your upper back, whereas a more vertical torso angle puts your upper back right into a less advantageous position and emphasizes lat activation.
However, fairly consistent technique and upper body position is required for a correct pull-up. From a dead-hang position (gripping the bar along with your arms fully straightened), you have to set your shoulder blades by first “shrugging” yourself up. In doing so, you’ll find a way to higher leverage your latissimus dorsi to finish the rep and truly pull you up.
While you get this technical cue right, you should have a rather backward-leaning torso angle while performing each repetition, but nowhere near the liberty of motion provided by the lat pulldown machine.
Lower Body Position
Your lower body positioning will definitely be a notable difference in each exercise. Much like the soundness requirements throughout the hole body technique within the pull-up, your leg position might be affected by the necessity to stay rigid. Fully lock your legs out, leaving them either hanging straight down or angled barely ahead of your body. You can’t achieve a powerful, stable hole body position with bent legs.
With a lat pulldown, you might be in a totally seated position along with your feet flat on the bottom driving your knees up against the pad. While some lifters disregard the knee pad and let their heels leave the bottom during pulldowns, this poor form doesn’t add any profit and only reduces your stability and upper body pulling power.
The right way to Do the Lat Pulldown
Sit on the lat pulldown machine and adjust the knee pads to snuggly anchor your legs in place along with your feet flat on the bottom. Stand back up and grab the lat pulldown bar evenly, about shoulder-width apart, with an overhand grip.
Brace your full body and sit down, securing your legs under the knee pads. Squeeze the bar tight, brace your core, drive your legs into the knee pads by performing a static calf raise.
Lean back barely and pull the bar toward your chest. Concentrate on feeling your back squeeze in the underside position before straightening your arms to return to the starting position.
Form Tip: Be diligent to avoid momentum. Secure your body within the machine and brace hard – only move the bar by squeezing your back and pulling along with your arms. Don’t excessively sway your torso backwards.
Advantages of the Lat Pulldown
- The lat pulldown has a high degree of stability, making it a more practical solution to concentrate on the back muscles.
- The pulldown machine offers highly scalable loading, making it easy to perform for lifters of all experience levels.
- Multiple handle attachments allow many variations for various advantages.
- It’s relatively protected to take this exercise near muscle failure.
Lat Pulldown Variations
The vast majority of effective lat pulldown variations will capitalize on different handle attachments to barely change your technique and alter muscle recruitment.
Close-Grip Pulldown
Close-grip pulldowns draw your hands barely closer together than the usual, shoulder-width grip. This increases the quantity of leverage your lats have and barely increases the range of motion — each of which might result in a stronger training stimulus.
The close-grip pulldown could make the exercise more practical while you’re just learning general technique by delivering a powerful training stimulus without having heavy weight.
Wide-Grip Pulldown
Wide-grip lat pulldowns place your hands barely farther apart than the usual issue grip placement. This may put your lats at a greater drawback, making a few of the supporting musculature in your upper back, shoulders, and arms contribute more. This may also reduce the load you’ll find a way to lift.
That is a fantastic exercise to fill gaps in your physique or in your strength development. By strengthening relatively weaker links, wide-grip pulldowns may extend the period of time you’ll be able to make progress before adding weight.
Dead-Hang Pulldown
The dead-hang type of lat pulldown can have you fully “loosen up” your shoulder blades and assume a totally upright torso between each repetition. Your teres minor (a small shoulder muscle) will get some added work helping to stabilize your shoulder for every repetition.
That is a fantastic solution to gain, and maintain, shoulder stability. The increased muscle recruitment may also help upper back development.
Single-Arm Pulldown
The only-arm lat pulldown turn the exercise right into a unilateral (single-sided) version. This forces either side of your body to work independently of the opposite, which can greatly help to accommodate any body size or shape while addressing any natural asymmetries.
The only-arm pulldown can be a tremendously effective solution to add more progression time to your lat pulldown exercise by essentially doubling the quantity of load either side can have access to.
How To Do The Pull-Up
Perform the pull-up by grabbing a straight bar that’s high enough in your legs to dangle freely without touching the bottom. Use a small box or (safely) jump to grab the bar with an overhand grip roughly shoulder-width apart.
Perform a hole body technique by flexing your core, depressing your shoulder blades, engaging your glutes, and locking your quads.
Engage your lats and flex your arms to drag your chest toward the bar. Once you’ve gotten reached the very best point that you could pull yourself to, slowly lower back to the starting position using control. Maintain your brace and perform in your goal repetitions.
Form Tip: Be diligent about maintaining hole body tension and eliminating any lower body sway. Performing a pull-up gets exponentially tougher when you’ve gotten to counter any unneeded movement. Stay braced and aim to begin each repetition from a motionless position. Swinging your hips and legs may aid you perform more reps, but it surely reduces muscular stress in your back.
Advantages of the Pull-Up
- The pull-up requires little-to-no equipment.
- Body weight exercises can improve coordination and proprioception (body awareness) which might carryover to general athleticism.
- Scalable to suit either strength or hypertrophy goals when appropriate programming and loading is used.
Pull-Up Variations
Pull-ups could be modified to attack a number of different goals. Much like pull-ups, changing your grip position can deliver some unique advantages.
Wide-Grip Pull-up
Wide-grip pull-ups place your upper back (teres minor) on blast. A wider grip will make it harder in your lats, but additionally put a much bigger emphasis in your ability to take care of the appropriate shoulder positioning for every repetition.
While you’re trying to train nearly your entire upper body, while also seriously roasting your shoulder stability, use the wide-grip pull-up.
Neutral-Grip Pull-up
On the other side of things, a neutral-grip pull-up places you in a way more inherently stable position. The relatively closer grip and neutral (palms facing in) hand placement will make it easier to harness your back muscles to drag you up, but additionally take a few of the shoulder stability challenge away.
While you’re trying to go for moderate or higher reps, or construct a foundation of strength and muscle, neutral-grip pull-ups are a fantastic option.
Towel Pull-up
Towel pull-ups are an enormous boost to your grip strength. This low-tech modification, draping a straightforward (but sturdy) towel over a bar, will seriously challenge your ability to easily hang on.
For those who’re out there for a stronger grip and larger arms — and if you happen to can already perform greater than a handful of pull-ups — challenge yourself with towel pull-ups.
When to Program the Best Pulling Movement for Your Goal
There are several instances where either the lat pulldown or pull-up may be the higher option. Your specific goals and training experience are unique aspects to think about.
Beginner
While you’re a beginner, you’ll be trying to construct a base of muscle and strength before eventually launching right into a more structured and difficult program. With that in mind, you might struggle with pull-ups because they could be very unforgiving.
While there are methods to make pull-ups more accessible for beginner lifters, akin to using resistance bands for assistance, oftentimes a pull-up is a little bit of a tall order. As a substitute, spending a while constructing a super-strong lat pulldown is usually a relatively lower barrier to entry. When you’ve achieved this, either option is freely available and effective.
Muscle Gain
Each the lat pulldown and pull-up could be very effective muscle-building tools, but there are some subtle differences that likely edge the lat pulldown ahead. The lat pulldown is a more stable training tool. Because of this there might be less “moving parts” in your way whilst you chase highly stimulating sets that accumulate volume needed to construct your back. (3)
The lat pulldown also allows for a slow, controlled, and incremental increase in loading which once more provides a lift to long-term muscle growth. The pull-up is great in its own right, but it surely’s hard to beat the lat pulldown for pure muscle gain.
Strength Gain
Gaining strength could be achieved with each the lat pulldown and pull-up. Nonetheless, the lat pulldown can more easily be loaded and trained for strength-focused results. With that in mind, it’s going to give you more lat-specific strength.
However, the pull-up, as a body weight exercise, is more of a full-body exercise. On this instance, the pull-up will help construct greater full-body strength. For those who want higher overall strength potential, emphasizing the pull-up will likely be the higher option.
Limited Equipment
While you don’t have access to a gym, the alternative is an easier one. The lat pulldown literally requires a machine, which likely is just accessible through a business or home gym equivalent.
While a pull-up bar could appear mandatory for doing pull-ups, it just isn’t actually required. A pull-up can, technically, be performed anywhere you’ve gotten access to a powerful, stable anchor point to soundly grab. The pull-up wins when you’ve gotten limited equipment.
Advanced Athlete
For those who’re a complicated athlete in nearly any sport, it’s a toss up. When you’ve developed a powerful base of muscle, strength, and coordination, each the pull-up and lat pulldown could be tailored to your needs.
Each could be loaded and progressed, each have unique variations to extend your progress, and each are relatively easy to master after a brief amount of focused time. Depending in your goals or needs, either the pull-up or lat pulldown (and even each) could be effectively programmed for athletic goals.
Prioritize Your Pulls
The lat pulldown and pull-up are each iconic staples of weight training. The exercises have unique advantages, times of superiority, and a few clear drawbacks. Depending in your training age, goals, and available equipment, one option may jump out as the apparent alternative. Review the knowledge and make the very best decision in your goals. Prioritize your pulls for some big gains and, sooner or later, each classic movements may find their way into your program.
References
- Andersen, V., Fimland, M. S., Wiik, E., Skoglund, A., & Saeterbakken, A. H. (2014). Effects of grip width on muscle strength and activation within the lat pull-down. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 28(4), 1135–1142. https://doi.org/10.1097/JSC.0000000000000232
- Signorile, J. F., Zink, A. J., & Szwed, S. P. (2002). A comparative electromyographical investigation of muscle utilization patterns using various hand positions throughout the lat pull-down. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 16(4), 539–546.
- Schoenfeld, B. J., Contreras, B., Krieger, J., Grgic, J., Delcastillo, K., Belliard, R., & Alto, A. (2019). Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 51(1), 94–103. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764
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