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2007/06/27, 10:39 AM
A couple of queries have been sitting at the back of my mind for a while and I thought I'd voice them here in the hope that I might have them answered.
1. When doing Lat Pulldown's, does leaning back at approx 45 degrees and pulling the bar diagonally towards your chest affect the way your lats are stimulated, will it still widen the upper back?
2. Which are more effective, Wide Grip Pulldowns or Close?
Appreciated.
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If in doubt K.I.S.S.
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2007/06/27, 11:00 AM
You should pull almost strait down to activate your lats to their fullest potential. leaning back is not the correct way to do it. You will probably still benefit from doing it any which way, but not leaning back is more effective in terms of lat activation.
More effective in terms of what? I find that I can't do really wide pull-up/pull-downs for too long because they tend to hurt my shoulders.
If you can do pull-ups then stop doing pulldowns. Pull-ups are far more effective.
I thing that you meant what is more effective for widening the back. I don't think that you should be worrying about this. Get a healthy dose of deads, rows, and (pull-up/chins) and your back will get bigger and stronger. In short both are effective and both should be used to get a variety of stimulation.
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2007/06/27, 11:40 AM
Appreciate the info Pemdas. If I had a pullup station I'd definitely use it but mine is a home gym and I already coughed up alot of money on it.
The reasoning behind my leaning back is that the Lat Pulldown station is quite short and almost directly above my head which means that it's rather awkward unless I lean back. I might have to work around this somehow.
Yeah I meant more effective in widening the back (I should have clarified). Currently I incorporate deads, lat-pulldowns, and either BO Rows or T-Bar Rows (using Olympic BB) into my routine. But without a pullup station either wide or close grip are equals in their effectiveness on working the lats I assume?
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Quoting from Pemdas:
You should pull almost strait down to activate your lats to their fullest potential. leaning back is not the correct way to do it. You will probably still benefit from doing it any which way, but not leaning back is more effective in terms of lat activation.
More effective in terms of what? I find that I can't do really wide pull-up/pull-downs for too long because they tend to hurt my shoulders.
If you can do pull-ups then stop doing pulldowns. Pull-ups are far more effective.
I thing that you meant what is more effective for widening the back. I don't think that you should be worrying about this. Get a healthy dose of deads, rows, and (pull-up/chins) and your back will get bigger and stronger. In short both are effective and both should be used to get a variety of stimulation.
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If in doubt K.I.S.S.
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2007/06/27, 01:40 PM
If you have to lean a little to keep the bar from hitting your face that is ok as long as you keep your trunk still (i.e. not doing some sort of max effort dance to get the weight down), but by leaning back farther you make it more of a horizontal pulling motion. If you are arching your back and keeping your chest up and out, I don't think you should have much a face smashing problem.
Yes, I think that both grips are effective and that both should be used.
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2007/06/27, 04:06 PM
Both grips are acceptible. Some folks think that because the 'bend' on the bar is there, that is the place they have to put their grip.
As far as leaning back or straight up, both have their place. It is what you are trying to accomplish. I for instance the majority of the time do them behind my neck for my wider grip.
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Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer
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2007/06/27, 05:06 PM
Sorry BB1, but could you possibly list the benefits/purposes of the different grips/leaning postures (leaning back, straight back, behind neck)? I purely wish to widen my lats as a I have a small waist but little in the way of lats. With a small waist I should ideally have that "v" taper that comes with wider lats.
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If in doubt K.I.S.S.
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2007/06/28, 08:32 AM
You don't have to buy a pull-up station, you just need a bar. hang it in your basement, or garage. Find a playground near your house and do some on the swingset.
Pull-ups are a great exercise, try to incorporate them into your back workout. But again for that "v" taper you want you need to do more than just lat pulls. You need to be doing heavy rows, deadlifts help, shrugs, pull-ups.....
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2007/06/28, 11:09 AM
I don't have anywhere to hang a bar, and the where we live, if we went to the local park and used the kids swings for pull-ups it would certainly be met with disapproval. I already do deads, heavy rows and shrugs. I was just questioning my lat pulldown form.
I am also still curious as to what different affects leaning back, straight up, and pulling behind the neck all have on lat pulls.
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If in doubt K.I.S.S.
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2007/06/29, 08:36 AM
When you lean back, to me that is basicaly the same thing as a row. Upright hits your lats from a different angle.
Both can be beneficial, but I would focus more on straight up or with just a little lean if you are already doing rows.
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