Lat Pulldown With Pronated Grip: Muscles Worked & Technique

Muscles Worked in Lat Pulldowns

Primary muscles worked:

• Lats

Secondary muscles worked:

• Biceps
• Rear Deltoids
• Forearm Flexors
• Rotator Cuffs

How to Do Lat Pulldowns

• Grip the bar with a pronated grip (palms facing away from you), slightly wider than shoulder width.
• Sit down with your thighs under the leg support, keep your chest up, and look up at the bar.
• Inhale and pull the bar towards you.
• Pull the bar down until it is below your chin or touches your upper chest.
• Exhale and slowly return the bar until your arms are fully extended.

Commentary

Lat pulldowns train both your lats and arm flexors effectively. By using a grip slightly wider than shoulder width, you get a good range of motion as well as high muscle activation in all the working muscles.

Common variations of this exercise includes gripping the bar with a supinated (underhand) grip, which makes it possible to put more focus on your arm flexors. Another common variation is to use a one-handed grip and train one side at a time, which enables you to focus more on each sides muscles in turn.

Lat pulldown is a good exercise to strengthen the muscles necessary to do a pull-up.