If you have trouble feeling your back work on traditional lat pulldowns, then straight arm lat pulldown exercise is for you. It’s a fantastic isolation exercise to target your lats through a greater range of motion.
Here’s a quick rundown of everything you need to know on how you can perform straight arm pulldown to get that bulkier and stronger lats.
Quick Summary
- Examples of straight-arm lat pulldown variation exercises are single-arm lat pulldown, straight-arm band pulldown, and straight-arm pullover.
- The benefits of straight arm lat pulldown include improved posture, improved mind-muscle connection, and they give biceps rest.
- Latissimus dorsi, chest, triceps, and teres major are the muscles straight-arm lat pulldown exercises work on.
- The most common mistakes most people make when performing lat pulldown workouts are bending arms, and performing partial reps.
Straight Arm Lat Pulldown Muscles Worked
Primary Muscle
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Latissimus dorsi
Straight arm lat pulldown exercise focuses the latissimus dorsi, a.k.a lats, on a longer period of time which activates your upper and mid back muscle more than other lat pulldowns. It helps form that head-turning V-taper.
Secondary Muscles
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Teres Major
Teres major is a thick muscle in the upper arm. It is important for maintaining proper posture and swinging the arms.
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Triceps
If you want to build bulkier arms, working on your triceps is the key, and the straight arm pulldown does just that.
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Chest
Straight arm lat pulldown also engages the chest muscles. Working out your chest muscles increases your upper body strength and power for pushing and pulling heavy objects.
Straight Arm Pulldown Benefits
Straight arm pulldown variation is one of the best isolation workouts for your lats. Here are other results you can gain from this workout:
1. Increases mind-muscle connection
The mind-muscle connection is the conscious contraction of your muscles. It means an exercise is more effective the more you feel the contraction of your muscles [1].
With straight arm pulldown, the more you feel the contraction of your lats without other muscles getting in the way.
2. Improves posture
You will not only get broader and stronger lats but also better posture. Doing the exercise overtime trains our body to be brought down and our shoulders to be brought together.
3. Gives the biceps rest
If your arms ever felt tired after back-to-back lat pulldowns, it could be that your biceps are too tired to do any more pulling-type movement.
Straight arm pulldown involves little biceps activation, so you can give your biceps a rest and still focus on working your lats.
How to do Straight Arm Lat Pulldown
Reap the best possible results from this lat pulldown variation by doing it in proper form.
Equipment
You will need a pulley system and a cable machine with a lat bar attachment to perform straight arm pulldown.
Set-up
- Adjust the height of the bar to shoulder level.
- Stand at an adjustable cable machine with your feet at shoulder width.
- Hold the lat pulldown bar with an overhand grip.
- Keep your knees slightly bent and feet shoulder width apart.
Action
- Exhale, squeeze your lats, and pulldown the straight arm bar down to your thighs.
- Keep your arms straight, elbows locked. Pause for a count or two.
- Inhale while slowly returning to the starting position and repeat!
Recommendation
Complete 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps of the straight arm lat pulldown. You may increase the number of sets and reps as you get comfortable to challenge yourself.
Straight Arm Pulldown Mistakes
These are common mistakes you would like to avoid when performing this workout:
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Bending Your Arms
If you bend your arms way too much, it puts more tension on your triceps way more than it should, and it becomes an arm exercise instead of a lats isolation exercise.
So, try to slightly bend your arms keeping it almost straight, and focus the contraction on your lats.
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Not Utilizing Mind-Muscle Connection
Many gym persons go through the movement but don’t actually connect their minds to the muscles being worked. If you’re doing this, you are missing the great results of the whole exercise.
So, make sure to feel the lats being worked while doing the straight arm pulldown movement.
-
Completing Partial Reps
It is a mistake committed when weightlifters pull halfway down then return to the original position. Doing this movement with heavy weight puts you at risk of injury and reduces your potential results.
So, bring the straight arm bar way down your thighs and feel the contraction of your upper back muscles.
Other similar exercises:
Straight Arm Pulldown Variations
Here are other kinds of back exercises you can perform similar to straight arm pulldown:
1. Single Arm Lat Pulldown
- Stand at an adjustable cable device with your feet.
- Hold the handle with your palm facing in, your torso fully erect, arm fully extended.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together, inhale and pull the handle to your upper chest. Pause for a count or two.
- Exhale and release the handle back to its original position and repeat!
Straight Arm Band Pulldown
This is a home variation of a straight arm pulldown workout using a cable stack machine.
- Stand with your knees slightly bent, your back flat, and your arms at shoulder height.
- Pull down the band towards your body until they are parallel with your back while keeping a straight posture.
- Bring your arms to the starting position and repeat!
3. Straight Arm Pullover
- Lie your back flat down on the bench, your legs bent, and your feet firm upon the surface.
- With an overhand grip, grab a pair of dumbbells and extend your arms straight up above your chest.
- Bring your arms back until the dumbbells touch the bench.
- Restore the dumbbell back to the starting position and repeat!
Straight Arm Pulldown Alternatives
Here are some alternatives you can also try for your back muscles exercises:
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Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
It is one of the excellent back exercises. Sit on the lat pull-down machine. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip with your hands wider than your shoulders. Exhale as you pull the bar down slowly until it reaches the upper part of your chest. Go back slowly to the starting position to complete one rep!
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Underhand Barbell Row
Bend forward at a 45-degree angle and grab the barbell with an underhand grip. Squeeze your lats to pull the barbell towards your belly button with each rep. Repeat!
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Alternating Lat Pulldown
This alternating lat pulldown alternative is a fantastic exercise to correct muscle imbalances between the right and left sides of your back. Use two separate handles and pull down one at a time.
Time to do the Workout
The straight arm lat pulldown is an excellent exercise to work on your lats in a greater range of motion.
If you consistently perform straight arm pulldown for weeks, your upper body muscle will surely get stronger and bulkier.
Check out our guide to the top lat pulldown machines for home gyms to find one that has durability, material, and functionality you'll love.
It’s time for you to try straight arm pulldown exercise in your fitness training! Make sure to share with us in the comment section how this exercise improved your lats.
Reference:
- https://fitnessvolt.com/straight-arm-pulldowns
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