Advice on lat pulldowns?

[dalinks]

Everytime I to do a lat pulldown I seem to feel it in my biceps and not my lats as much.

Any advice?

I have been watching youtube videos but I don't noticed what I'm doing wrong.

Any ideas on how to stop using the bicep so much? As of lately I have tried to work my bicep first in my routine to get them fatigue so I can't use them as much in the lat pulldowns, but for some reason I'm having litle sucess because I still feel it more there..

Maybe you guys could give me some pointers or ideas?

Thanks.

 

[g8r80]

Everytime I to do a lat pulldown I seem to feel it in my biceps and not my lats as much.

Any advice?

I have been watching youtube videos but I don't noticed what I'm doing wrong.

Any ideas on how to stop using the bicep so much? As of lately I have tried to work my bicep first in my routine to get them fatigue so I can't use them as much in the lat pulldowns, but for some reason I'm having litle sucess because I still feel it more there..

Maybe you guys could give me some pointers or ideas?

Thanks.

You cannot avoid the use of your biceps in lat pulldowns, but you can lower it with a pronated grip (palms facing away). This will work your forearms more and your biceps work less.

Maybe your biceps are your limiting factor and until they "catch up", they will continue to become fatigued.

 

[blackbeard]

I've seen the pre-fatigue method mentioned as a learning technique for those who tend to have trouble feeling the lats working, but I'm n favour of chin-ups and pull-ups over lat-pulldowns any day.

 

[leckbass]

One thing that helped me with working back was to slow down and focus. I would pretend that my hands were just hooks and i focused on pulling and with my elbows, squeezing tight at the bottom.

 

[Kiba Stryker]

Couple things to try. Have a partner stand behind you and almost guide your shoulder blades. And concentrate on pulling the bottoms of them close together. When you have someone touching them you can feel more what muscles to contract. Also i always felt a better pull with a chin style grip(falsm facing you) with a just shoulder width grip. In this position pull the bar all the way down to your chest and you will be forced to do the whole contraction to get it down that far.

All that being said, I second pull-ups as a better exercise. Do them until you can do 20 straight. You can do 20 now? Good, add a weight belt.

 

[evan]

Pull-ups are way better. But, if for one reason or the other, you're still going to do lat pull-downs, one thing that helped me a while back was to imagine doing pull-ups. Instead of focusing on pulling your arms in, focus on getting that bar under your chin, even down to your chest. For some reason, that really helped me.

 

[dswithers]

As of lately I have tried to work my bicep first in my routine to get them fatigue so I can't use them as much in the lat pulldowns, but for some reason I'm having litle sucess because I still feel it more there..

Isn't that backwards? Since the biceps are the smaller, weaker muscle you need to pre-exhaust your lats (the larger, stronger muscle) so the biceps are not the limiting factor. Unfortunately, there are almost no "isolation exercises" for the lats. You can try pullovers. Nautilus tried to make some isolation machines for the lats, a pullover machine and a pulldown machine where you pushed some pads down with the back of your arms to take the elbow joint out of the movement, but you don't see those machines around any more, so I guess they weren't very popular.

Also, I find using a handle with a narrow parallel grip or using a close palms facing grip to allow me to use a lot more weight and "feel" the lats more on pulldowns.

Also, get a full stretch at the top of the movement and concentrate on making the initial pull with the lats.

 

[illiniphase4]

A wide, pronated grip, pulling the bar in front of your chin, while you sit at a slightly backwards lean (in order to utilize the lat through it's full ROM) is your best bet at maximizing lat usage and exposire during the exercise.

And dswithers is right about exercise order. You need to work the prime movers (lat pulldown) first and the synergists (biceps curl) second, so that the syngergists don't overly limit the amount you can lift during the prime mover exercise.

 

[dalinks]

Thanks everyone,

Speaking about the pullover, is this a good exercise? I have tried it a couple times at my gym but really didn't get a "feel" in the lats from it. Instead I felt more in my shoulders.

Which one targets the lats more effectively, chin up or pull ups?

 

[Kiba Stryker]

That probably just means your shoulders are weak, which is the case with most people who start "bodybuilding" routines. It is the same thing when people try power cleans and snatches, at first they think its a shoulder workout because thats their only body part that is sore. But as you get used to it and your shoulders catch up, you find that the exercise is more of a leg workout.

So if your form is correct, which you should have someone check, then when your shoulders catch up in the strength department, you will feel it in your lats.

 

[blackbeard]

Thanks everyone,

Speaking about the pullover, is this a good exercise? I have tried it a couple times at my gym but really didn't get a "feel" in the lats from it. Instead I felt more in my shoulders.

Which one targets the lats more effectively, chin up or pull ups?

I leave you to do a little reading instead of being spoon-fed.

- chinups
- pullups

 

[blackbeard]

That probably just means your shoulders are weak, which is the case with most people who start "bodybuilding" routines. It is the same thing when people try power cleans and snatches, at first they think its a shoulder workout because thats their only body part that is sore. But as you get used to it and your shoulders catch up, you find that the exercise is more of a leg workout.

So if your form is correct, which you should have someone check, then when your shoulders catch up in the strength department, you will feel it in your lats.

REALLY?? Do you mind providing any citations for your shoulder weakness/leg workout theories? You do know what a lat-pulldown/chinup/pullup are dontcha?