Front Pull-Down

EXECUTION

• Straddle the seat of a lat pull-down machine and position yourself so that the cable to which the bar is attached comes directly in front of the body. Adjust the thigh rollers so that they fit snugly over your thighs when your feet are in full contact with the floor.
• Grasp the angled ends of the bar with a pronated (palms facing forward) grip. Your trunk should be erect, and the arms should be fully extended to depict a wide “letter Y”.
• Inhale slightly more than usual and hold your breath as you pull the bar straight down in front of your head to shoulder or upper chest level.
• Keep your trunk erect by contracting the erector spinae muscles to hold this position. This ensures that the bar can be pulled straight down close to your body.
• As you pull down, keep the elbows back and pointed out and toward the ground as you reach the bottom position. The arms should remain in the same side plane as your body.
• Hold the contraction of the muscles in the lowest position for 1-2 sec. and then exhale as you return to the starting position.
• Pause momentarily in the up position and then repeat. Be sure that your arms are full extended before beginning each repetition.
• Be sure to keep the arms and shoulders back as you pull down to work the latissimus in its actions of pulling the arm down and back.

 

Workout Tips

 

• Be sure that your arms are fully extended and the shoulders elevated when you begin the pull-down. If the arms are slightly bent you will not get the maximum development possible of all the muscles involved. Also you may lose shoulder flexibility.
• When first beginning the pull-down, have the arms (hands) wide, up to 10 inches wider at each shoulder. This is important for developing a broader upper back which will de-emphasize the hips.
• For full upper lat development keep the trunk erect at all times. If you lean back as you pull down you bring in to play more of the rear shoulder muscles rather than targeting the upper back muscles. Keeping erect will also improve your posture.
• Holding your breath as you pull down not only helps you to stabilize the trunk in the erect position but also creates the base against which the muscles pull. This makes the exercise more effective and efficient.
• If you exhale on the exertion, you weaken your trunk stability and lose force. As a result, you cannot handle as much weight, which detracts from greater strength and definition.
• Concentrate on pulling the shoulders down at the beginning of the movement to coordinate safe movements of the scapula together with the arm. Then concentrate on pulling down with the elbows rather than the hands to ensure greater stress on the latissimus dorsi and teres major.
• Do not use too much weight when doing the pull-down. If you do, your range of motion will be decreased considerably and you will not get full involvement of the muscles involved.
• Be sure your grip is not too wide (when the hands are 10-12 or less inches above the shoulders). In this case, your range of motion will be cut down considerably which will decrease full development of the muscles.
• If your grip is too narrow (shoulder width or less apart) there is a tendency for the elbows to come in front. In this case you will emphasize the lower latissimus dorsi rather than the upper.
• Maintain the pronated grip. If you use a supinated grip (palms facing toward you) it brings in strong use of the biceps and other elbow flexors and the lower lats.
• Stop the pull-down when the bar is shoulder or upper chest level. In order to go below this point you will have to medially rotate the arms. However, because of the arm angle, the forces acting on the shoulder and elbow can be quite high and may be injurious.

 

Major Muscles Involved

The major muscles involved in the shoulder joint are the upper portions of latissimus dorsi, lower portions of the pectoralis major and the teres major. The latissimus dorsi is a large muscle that covers the sides of the upper back from the shoulder to the top of the hip bone. The muscle fibers of the upper latissimus dorsi are fairly horizontal which puts them in an ideal position for pulling the arm down sideward (shoulder joint adduction). In the lower section, the fibers are more vertical and thus best suited for shoulder joint extension. The pectoralis major is the large muscle of the chest and has two distinct sections. In this exercise only the lower (sternal) portion is involved. The muscle fibers run almost horizontally in this section which places them in an ideal position for the pulldown. The teres major is a round muscle located on the upper sides of the back . Its actions parallel those of the latissimus dorsi. In the shoulder girdle, the muscles that act on the scapula are the rhomboid and pectoralis minor. These muscles cannot be seen as the rhomboid lies beneath the middle trapezius while the pectoralis minor is located under the pectoralis major. The rhomboid is a fairly large muscle while the pectoralis minor is relatively small.

Muscle/Joint Actions

The main action in the shoulder joint is adduction in which the arms move downward and inward while they remain in line with the sides of the body throughout the movement. This action involves mainly the upper latissimus dorsi, teres major and the lower pectoralis major especially at the beginning of the movement. Pulling down and rotating the scapula downward in coordination with the arm movement is the function of the rhomboid and pectoralis minor. The biceps and other elbow flexor muscles contract to stabilize the elbow joint. By themselves they are not able to pull the bar down. Elbow flexion is a consequence of the upper arm action.

Sports Uses

For gaining a broader upper back and strengthening the upper back muscles, the front lat pulldown is probably the best exercise you can do. By going through a full range of motion, you also get greater definition of the involved muscles. The front pull-down is an extremely important exercise for athletes involved in sports that involve a pulling-up body action. This includes gymnastics, especially on the rings and horizontal, parallel and uneven bars. It’s also one of the best exercises for swimmers as it duplicates to a good extent the pulling action in most swim strokes. This exercise has great value in rock and mountain climbing, pull-ups and rope climbing. For athletes involved in sports that require pulling down objects as for example, the ball in basketball, especially when the arms are fully extended overhead, the front pulldown is a must.