subject: Three Common Mistakes Made While Performing the Lat Pulldown Exercise [print this page] Three Common Mistakes Made While Performing the Lat Pulldown Exercise
Almost every time I go into the gym, I see a bodybuilder performing Lat Pulldowns improperly. The Lat Pulldown is a very effective exercise for developing the lats, rhomboids, teres major/minor posterior deltoids and biceps. However, if done improperly, then it's ineffective and potentially injurious to you. Here are three common mistakes that you need to avoid when doing the Lat Pulldown:
Pulling The Bar Behind The Neck The shoulder joint, while being amazingly flexible, was not designed for pulling behind the neck. Long-term shoulder work (pressing and pulling) behind the next will eventually result in shoulder problems such as impingement and rotator cuff wear/tears.
When doing Lat Pulldowns, pull the bar to the top of the chest at the collar bone area. This requires that your back is arched, with chest pushed forward, shoulders retracted and elbows slightly behind the torso. You may need to lean your torso back slightly to ensure that the bar clears the front of your face. Do not "rock or sway" your upper torso to gain momentum during the pulldown. Let your upper back muscles and arms do all the work.
Pulling The Bar To Waist Many trainers pull the bar down to their waist or lower rib cage area. To do this, the arms are rotating forward to help move the bar to the waist/lower rib area. At this point, the lats are not even involved. The movement to the waist/lower rib area is a wasted motion and serves no purpose. In fact, additional shoulder stress is initiated during this part of the exercise. Pulling the bar to the waist/lower rib area is probably the most common mistake I see in the performance of the Lat Pulldown. As mentioned above, the bar must be pulled to the upper chest for an effective and safe execution of this exercise.
Hand Grip Too Wide It appears that some trainers think that since the Lat Bar is about four feet wide, that you need to grip it at the far ends of the bar. This is a mistake for several reasons. One, an extra wide grip reduces your range of motion in this exercise. Second, the extra wide grip increases the separation force in the shoulder joint, which can eventually lead to shoulder problems.
The proper grip positions for Lat Pulldowns are a narrow grip of about 6-12 inches or a wide grip that is 3-6 inches wider than your shoulder width. The narrower grip will cause more stretch on your outer lats and gives your back more width. The wide grip will affect the central lats more. Do both in your routine for maximum development.
Make sure you don't make these three mistakes and follow the advice listed above for a productive and safe execution of the Lat Pulldown exercise
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