Resulting from their prominence, well-developed back muscles have been described as wings. Want wing-like back muscles? On the short list of things that allegedly “offer you wings” are energy drinks, good deeds, and upper body vertical pulling.

After consuming energy drinks throughout my younger years, I can dispatch the primary claim. Alertness and insomnia? Yes. Back muscles? No. As for good deeds, this can be a fitness article so it shall be kept secular. That leaves vertical pulling — pull-ups and pulldowns.

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Although pull-ups may be modified for nearly everyone, nothing beats the adjustability and convenience of cable-stack pulldowns. But the standard overhand grip isn’t for everybody, especially those with shoulder issues. (1)(2)(3)

The neutral-grip lat pulldown is a shoulder- and elbow-friendly alternative to straightforward lat pulldowns. Discover the right way to perform, program, and modify this big back builder.

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown Technique Breakdown

Dr. Merrick Lincoln demonstrates the right way to do a neutral-grip pulldown and talks you thru a whole repetition. Check to see what form looks like before reading on for the small print.

How one can Do the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown Step By Step

Versus using a straight or cambered “lat bar,” the neutral-grip pulldown requires use of a bar with grips running perpendicular to the length of the bar. This permits you to keep your forearms in a “neutral” rotation, along with your palms facing one another, halfway between full supination (palms facing toward you) and full pronation (palms facing away from you).

Step 1 — Establish Points of Contact

Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Face a cable machine along with your glutes on the seat, each feet flat on the ground, and your upper legs under the thigh pad. If mandatory, adjust the peak of the thigh pad or seat for secure fit.  

Form Tip: When setting the peak of the thigh pad or seat, ensure your feet are flat on the ground along with your heels barely behind your knees. This lets you easily slide your feet back to face when it’s time to retrieve or return the pulldown bar.

Step 2 — Grab the Bar and Set Your Trunk Angle

Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Grab the handles with a shoulder-width, or barely narrower, position. If the bar has traditional cylinder-shaped grips, use a completely closed grip along with your fingers and thumb wrapped across the bar. If the bar has more modern paddle-style or angled grips, make sure the palms of your hands make maximum contact with the paddles. With this handle, the knuckles of your fingers ought to be flexed excessive of the handle. 

Once your grip is secure, lift your chest, lean back barely (e.g. 10 to 30-degrees from vertical), and brace your core. Maintain this trunk position throughout the exercise. Within the stretched position, your elbows ought to be locked completely straight.

Form Tip: If you have got range of motion limitations within the overhead position, chances are you’ll profit from leaning back barely further (e.g. roughly 30-degrees from vertical). This changes the pulling angle and reduces stress in your shoulder joints.

Step 3 — Pull Right down to Peak Contraction

Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Initiate the movement by drawing your shoulder blades together and down, and “pull your shoulder blades into your back pockets.”

Immediately after starting to maneuver your shoulder blades, begin pulling your elbows toward the edges of your ribcage. Peak contraction is achieved when your shoulder blades are squeezed together and down, and your upper arms are pinned to your sides. 

Form Tip: Don’t worry about getting the bar to your chest, below your chin, or to another arbitrary position. Deal with achieving a robust contraction in your back muscles whenever you reach the underside position. 

Step 4 — Return and Seek Stretch

Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Lower the burden and permit your arms to be drawn upward, slowly letting your elbows extend. At the identical time, allow your shoulder blades to be elevated. The upward movement phase ends when elbows are completely straight and a robust sensation of stretch is felt across the surface of your armpits — that feeling is your lat muscles being properly stretched.

Form Tip: As your arms are drawn overhead and your latissimus dorsi are stretched, your low back might are inclined to arch. Avoid this by keeping your abdominal muscles engaged to keep up a neutral torso.

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown Mistakes to Avoid

Common errors within the neutral-grip pulldown occur when range of motion goes unchecked, when compensations are permitted, and when your arms “out-muscle” your back. 

Excessive Range of Motion

The uninitiated often assume the pulldown is just not complete until the bar touches their chest. That is erroneous. Hyperextension of your shoulder places additional stress on the front of the shoulder. (4)(5) This is just not typically good for people with anterior shoulder instability, a prevalent issue amongst lifters. (4) Also, consider the physics of hyperextending the shoulders at the underside of the pulldown — Demand on the shoulder muscles actually decreases as a consequence of a shortened resistance lever.

Credit: Kitreel / Shutterstock

Still convinced touching the bar to your chest is “mandatory?” Watch a handful of parents with barndoor backs perform neutral-grip pulldowns. They don’t touch the bar to their chest — Albeit, they likely couldn’t in the event that they desired to as a consequence of the dimensions of their latissimus dorsi and teres major muscles. 

Avoid it: A superb rule of thumb for pulldown range of motion is to pull down and back until your triceps squeeze against your lats. Achieve a robust contraction, then begin the upward movement. 

Slouching Into the Repetition

The sticking point, or most difficult a part of the repetition, occurs near the underside of the downward pulling phase. Novice lifters often work through this portion of the lift by rounding their shoulders forward and flexing their mid-back. This provides the looks of “crunching” or slouching at the underside of the repetition.

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Avoid it: As you pull, keep give attention to your back muscles by reminding yourself to create space between the front of your shoulder and the cable pulley.

“Curling” the Weight Down

While it’s true the neutral-grip pulldown may be an amazing biceps-builder, it is just not intended to be an arms-focused exercise. Lifters who initiate the pulldown with elbow flexion and “muscle” the bar down with their elbow flexors are missing out on back gains.

Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

Avoid it: Performed properly, upper body vertical pulling exercises (i.e. pull-ups and pulldowns) are initiated by back muscles, specifically your lower trapezius and latissimus dorsi. (8) These muscles should activate a split-second before your biceps. Ensure this sequence by downwardly rotating and depressing your shoulder blades to start each rep or “pull your shoulder blades into your back pockets.”

How one can Progress the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

To learn the neutral-grip pulldown, start with light weight. Over time, progress the exercise by adding weight and/or repetitions. Incorporating strategic pauses may additionally be useful for dialing-in proper form and constructing strength. 

Start Light, Add Weight and Reps

Once proper form is dialed in, progress the pulldown by adding weight. The quantity of weight you add ought to be related to your primary training goal. A weight that enables 4 to 6 good repetitions is an efficient goal whenever you’re prioritizing strength. A big selection of weights may be effective for hypertrophy, so pick a weight that enables a repetition goal you favor (e.g. eight to 12 repetitions, 12 to 16 repetitions, or 16 to twenty repetitions). 

When you’ve established your working weight, you’ll need so as to add weight or repetitions over time to make sure you are progressively overloading your muscles. A straightforward strategy is so as to add repetitions, then add weight when you’ve exceeded the highest end of your goal repetition range. For instance, when you/re aiming for eight to 12 repetitions per set, start by identifying a weight that permits you to perform roughly eight repetitions.

In per week or two, you’ll likely be hitting nine or 10 repetitions with the identical weight. Eventually, you’ll reach 13 repetitions, which is the signal so as to add weight. Note: If you have got a bit more training experience, gains sometimes come more slowly and you would possibly consider the occasional deload to make sure ongoing progress. 

Add “Iso-Holds”

Near the underside position of a pulldown, when your elbows are bent and just in front of your chest, the resistance on the shoulder is amplified by the length of the humerus (upper arm bone). That is the sticking point, or portion of the exercise where muscular failure or form breakdown is most probably to occur. It’s also the right position for adding an isometric hold or “iso-holds.” That is an intensification technique used to extend time under tension and improve strength at targeted positions.

Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

So as to add an iso-hold, simply stop at probably the most difficult portion of the pulldown. Hold for 4 to 6 seconds, after which complete the repetition. Iso-holds may be performed on the ultimate repetition to maximise set performance or incorporated on every repetition. Take note, you’ll probably must lower the burden or repetition goal when you intend to make use of iso-holds on every rep. 

Advantages of the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

Sure, there are quite a lot of back exercises you might do on the gym, so why give attention to this pulldown variations? With good effort and decent programming, lifters can construct respectable size and strength with the neutral-grip pulldown as a consequence of the setup, range of motion, and user-friendliness.

Works Back Muscles Through a Full Range of Motion

During pulldowns, shoulders reach the overhead position at the highest of each repetition. This exposes the goal muscles to substantial stretch and cargo. This mechanical tension is a key driver of muscle growth. (6) Unlike rows, for instance, which only train the muscles through a comparatively partial range of motion, pulldowns reach maximum or near-maximum stretch on the goal muscles.

Full range of motion training may end in more muscle gain over time. (7) As a bonus, full range of motion training is prone to improve flexibility as effectively, or much more effectively, than stretching. (9)  

An Alternative for Banged Up Shoulders and Elbows

Although traumatic injuries amongst resistance trainees are somewhat unusual, a big percentage of lifters complain of painful shoulders and elbows. (4)(10) The lion’s share of those issues can often be attributed to overuse or training errors. 

Forearm position during exercise affects the stress and strain experienced by joint structures, connective tissues, and muscles across the elbow. (11) Structures across the shoulders experience different patterns of stress based in your arm path. For instance, the “high five” position of abduction and external rotation passed through during traditional lat pulldowns is related to increased stress the front of the shoulder. (4)(1)(3) Temporarily avoiding this position could also be indicated within the presence of certain shoulder injuries.

Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

It could be prudent for lifters to include neutral-grip variations to scale back the danger of overuse. Periodically switching out pull-ups or traditional lat pulldowns for a rather different vertical pulling exercises, comparable to neutral-grip pulldowns may help to ward off overuse-type injuries. 

Lifters already contending with overuse injuries related to upper body pulling may need to experiment with variations comparable to the neutral-grip pullover to find out whether it’s higher tolerated than previous exercises. 

Allows Easy Use of Advanced Training Techniques

Advanced training techniques can include methods used to take sets past failure (e.g. forced reps, drop sets, rest-pause), delay failure (e.g. cluster sets), or increase time under tension by imposing a tempo (e.g. lowering the burden very slowly with six-second eccentrics). (12) The neutral-grip pulldown is usually performed on a stable and protected machine that enables for efficient use of those techniques.

The pulldown machine enables quick manipulation of weight — Just move the pin or slide plates on or off. This enables for efficient performance of drop sets. The machine can be self-contained and “self-spotting.” If muscular failure is reached, there may be very little likelihood of getting pinned under weight. Just arise and control the pulldown bar back to the highest position. 

Similarly, if the lifter wishes to take rest inside a given set (i.e. cluster set training), the machine allows for quick stops and starts. Finally, the seated position on the machine allows for a training partner to soundly and efficiently assist the lifter to perform additional reps. Advanced training techniques are removed from easy, however the pulldown setup makes them about as efficient as they may be.

Muscles Worked by Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

The neutral-grip pulldown hammers muscles of the back, shoulders, and arms. (3)(13)(14) The pulldown is a comparatively fundamental movement since it recruits various upper body muscles and works them through a big range of motion.

Shoulder Extensors — Lats, Upper Back, Deltoids

The neutral-grip pulldown targets the muscles that reach the shoulders or draw the arms from in front of the body toward the back of the body. They primarily include the latissimus dorsi, teres major, rear deltoids, and the long head (or innermost portion) of the triceps brachii. Interestingly, the lower a part of the pectoralis major (“costal fibers” of the chest) contribute to the pulldown as well. (14)

Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

Collectively, the shoulder extensors have the potential to be highly aesthetic muscles. Well-developed latissimus dorsi gives the back breadth, while teres major and rear deltoid enhance shoulder dimensions. And if any gap stays between the arms and upper sweep of the lats, constructing the long head of triceps brachii will appear to fill it in. “Wings” achieved.

Mid-Back

Sometimes called “scapular muscles,” the muscles of the mid-back act in your shoulder blades. No big back is complete without the visual interest and depth of well-developed scapular muscles.

While these muscles will not be the first goal of the pulldown, they may receive a training effect. Throughout the pulldown, the rhomboids, lower trapezius, and middle trapezius rotate the shoulder blades downward, pull them together, and draw them toward the small of your back. 

Elbow Flexors

Curls aren’t the one strategy to construct big biceps. Drawing resistance toward the body trains the muscles of elbow flexion (bending your arms) — Specifically, your biceps brachii, brachioradialis, and brachialis. Functional importance notwithstanding, these muscles give your arms a more muscular, anaconda-like appearance. 

How one can Program the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

Neutral-grip pulldowns can fit nicely into most lifters’ programs in a full body workout, back day, or pulling session. Whether your major training goal is strength or muscle gain, an overarching suggestion is to perform neutral-grip pulldowns earlier within the workout to maximise adaptations.

As a Primary Exercise for Strength

The neutral-grip lat pulldown is long range-of-motion, multi-joint exercise that enables incremental loading. These features make it ideal to be used as a primary exercise in your “back day” or “pull day” routine. Primary exercises, sometimes termed “core exercises” in some circles, are typically placed earlier within the workout before any “accessory exercises,” that are typically single-joint exercises or rehab/prehab work.

This exercise order is preferred, because multi-joint exercise performance tends to suffer when performed after isolation exercise. (15) Furthermore, exercises performed earlier within the workout are inclined to stimulate greater improvement in strength. (16)

To prioritize back strength, hit two to 5 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions using 85% or greater of your one-repetition maximum (1RM), ideally early in your workout. (17)

As High-Volume Hypertrophy Work

In case your training focus is constructing an enormous back, address neutral-grip pulldowns toward the start of your workout. Resulting from heavy involvement of the biceps brachii and other elbow flexors, it’s best practice to perform pulldowns before curls or other direct biceps exercises. 

Some research has shown that as few as three sets of barbell curls performed before pulldowns can decrease back-training performance by three to 5 repetitions. (13) Lost repetitions doesn’t bode well for optimal muscle gain, as hypertrophy is positively related to exercise volume (i.e. total weekly sets x reps). (18) Maximize pulldown volume by performing this exercise early within the workout.

For constructing larger back and biceps, perform three to 6 sets of eight to twenty repetitions using a weight that brings each set inside three or fewer repetitions of failure.

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown Variations

In your back-building quest, there are numerous variations of the neutral-grip pulldown to assist move you forward. Select probably the most appropriate variation based on personal preference, equipment availability, and goals. 

Neutral-Grip Pull-Up 

No pulldown machine? Prefer pull-ups over pulldowns?— Swap neutral-grip pulldowns for pull-ups. If multiple neutral-grip widths can be found, start with those closest to shoulder-width or barely narrower.

Despite the actual fact your body weight provides the resistance, the mechanics of the neutral-grip pul-up are just like the neutral-grip pulldown. Start from a dead-hang, initiate out of your shoulder blades, and pull your elbows right down to your sides.

V-Bar Lat Pulldown

Using a narrow v-bar or “chinning triangle” attachment ends in a tighter arm path and hits your back and arms in another way. Neutral-grip pulldowns with the v-bar appear to rely more heavily on the biceps brachii than shoulder-width and wide neutral-grip variations. (13) So the v-bar pulldown is an amazing option for those prioritizing strong, thick arms.

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The v-bar pulldown is performed very similar to the neutral-grip pulldown except the lifter should give attention to squeezing the elbows and forearms together throughout the exercise. Elbows should graze your ribcage below your pecs as you approach the underside position of the exercise. 

Half-Kneeling Single-Arm Lat Pulldown

Single-arm lat pulldowns are wonderful for feeling the stretch and contraction of your latissimus dorsi and other shoulder extensor muscles through a big arc and long range of motion. Because each arm is worked individually, they also can help to deal with any possible side-to-side strength asymmetries.

The half-kneeling single-arm lat pulldown is the following level of single-arm pulling. The “half-kneeling” position (i.e. one knee down) provides a big, stable footprint for the addition of subtle trunk movements. These trunk movements allow more stretch at the highest followed by a stronger peak contraction at the underside of every rep. The previous may enhance “stretch-mediated” muscle growth, while the squeeze at the underside promotes mind-muscle connection and increased latissimus dorsi activity. (6)(19)

Face the cable stack and kneel with the working side knee down. Allow your shoulder blade to be pulled up for a full stretch through your lat. Side-bend your trunk barely away out of your working arm. Pull by drawing your shoulder blade and elbow down and in. Achieve peak contraction by aggressively pulling your arm to your ribcage and side-bending barely toward the working side. Deal with feeling your lats “cramp” at the underside of every rep.

Swiss Bar Pullover

The pullover is an outstanding exercise for the shoulder extensor muscles — Latissimus dorsi, posterior deltoid, a part of your pectoralis major, etc. Although commonly done with a each hands on a single dumbbell, the pullover may additionally be performed using a neutral-grip implement comparable to a Swiss bar, a multi-grip barbell, or triceps bar.

The Swiss bar may enable those with less-than-ideal range of motion (i.e. limited forearm pronation or shoulder external rotation) to reap the advantages of pullovers – Namely, heavy loading overhead when the goal muscles are at their longest lengths, which can enhance growth.(6)(20)(21) Just remember to have an attentive spotter as a consequence of free weights passing over your head and face throughout the movement.

FAQs

Should I take advantage of lifting straps for neutral-grip lat pulldowns?

It is not uncommon to make use of lifting straps during pulling exercises comparable to deadlifts and barbell rows. Lifting straps may increase the quantity of weight a lifter can handle, extend the set by minimizing grip fatigue, and spare your grip for subsequent exercises.
While it is feasible to make use of straps for neutral-grip pulldowns, it is usually not mandatory. The neutral-grip position tends to stronger than a pronated (overhand) grip, though not as strong as supinated (underhand) grip. (22) Furthermore, trained lifters have showd no helpful effects of lifting straps on pulldown one-repetition maximum, repetitions to failure, or total repetitions across three sets to failure. (23) That being said, when you train deadlifts during a back workout, there is likely to be advantages to using straps to preserve your grip if you’re performing heavier pulls later within the workout. 

Can different pulldown variations be used to focus on different portions of the lats or back?

In comparison with other pulldown variations, the neutral-grip pulldown may bias certain shoulder muscles and even certain parts of the lats. 
While some neuromuscular strategies may differ as a consequence of grip orientation, more notable differences may be attributed to differences in grip width. The lat pulldown traditionally uses a comparatively wide grip, which leads to resisted shoulder adduction (i.e. pulling your arms down and into the edges of your body). (24) neutral-grip pulldown typically uses a shoulder-width or barely narrower grip. This grip width ends in resisted shoulder extension (i.e. pulling your arms toward the back of your body). 
Probably the most reliable approach to determining a muscle’s motion is to research its moment arm (how a muscle crosses the joint and the way much leverage it has over the joint). For instance, muscles crossing behind the shoulder will extend the shoulder once they shorten. Shoulder extensors with a bigger moment arm extend the shoulder more efficiently.
For the reason that posterior deltoids and teres major have the best moment arms for shoulder extension through much of the pulldown’s range motion, it might be inferred that the neutral-grip pulldown will emphasize these muscles. (14)
The latissimus dorsi is a broad, multi-part muscle with fibers originating on the pelvis (“iliac part”), lumbar region (“lumbar part”), and lower thoracic spine (“thoracic part”). Certain parts are mechanically higher suited to adduct the shoulder (i.e. iliac- and lumbar parts), whereas the upper portion of latissimus dorsi (i.e. thoracic part) is a robust shoulder extensor. (14)
Putting that each one together, from a mechanical standpoint, traditional lat pulldowns may best goal the iliac and lumbar parts of the latissimus dorsi (“lower lats”), while neutral-grip pulldowns may higher goal the thoracic a part of latissimus dorsi (“upper lats”), teres major, and posterior deltoid.
Ultimately, more research is required. To cover your bases for complete back development, incorporate each pulldown variations into your training plan.

Is there any profit to using rotating handles?

First, let’s examine how these rotating handles are sometimes used. The handles are commonly held within the pronated (“overhand grip”) position at the highest of the pulldown then steadily twisted into the supinated (“underhand grip”) position at the underside of the repetition.
Another choice is to keep up the identical grip and forearm position throughout the pulldown. You possibly can hold the rotating handles in a neutral position (or some other position) throughout the repetition; nevertheless, this selection introduces an extra degree of freedom (read: “instability”) and should end in reduced maximum weight or repetition performance.
The rotating method feels very natural for some lifters. Anecdotally, twisting the handle throughout the repetition promotes shoulder external rotation throughout the pulldown. This is likely to be useful for keeping tension on primary muscles like latissimus dorsi and teres major.
Objective research on rotating handles is sparse, nevertheless. Some research has reported pull-ups performed with rotating handles increased latissimus dorsi muscle electromyography (EMG) activity, albeit to not a level reaching statistical significance. (8) But interpret these findings with caution. It should be stated that muscle activity via surface EMG is just not an indicator of the standard of an exercise and it doesn’t necessarily mean rotating handles promote higher lat growth or strength. (25)(26)
Ultimately, if rotating handles feel more natural or more comfortable to you, go ahead and use them as an alternative of a rigid pulldown bar.

Earn Your Wings

The neutral-grip lat pulldown builds a large back and thick arms in addition. When performed with a shoulder-width or barely narrower grip, it tends to be a joint-friendly exercise to your lats, upper back, mid-back, and biceps. Altogether, neutral-grip lat pulldowns could also be amongst the most effective options for constructing a set of wings when your shoulders produce other plans.

References

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