Back · Cable machine

Cable Pulldown

The cable pulldown is a compound vertical pulling exercise that develops the latissimus dorsi, upper back, and biceps. It serves as an accessible alternative to pull-ups for any fitness level and works best at the beginning or middle of a back session.

Muscles: Back
Equipment: Cable machine
Type: Strength
Animation: Men and women

How to do it

Sit at a lat pulldown machine and adjust the knee pad to fit snugly against your legs.
Grab the bar with a wide overhand grip, hands wider than shoulder-width apart.
Sit down with your spine straight and lean back slightly.
Inhale and brace your core. Exhale as you pull the bar down towards your chest.
Lead with your elbows and squeeze your shoulder blades together at the bottom of the movement.
Keep your movements controlled, focusing on engaging your lat muscles.
Slowly return the bar to the starting position, fully extending your arms and feeling the stretch in your lats.

Common mistakes

Leaning back excessively turns the movement into a row, shifting tension away from the lats and onto the mid-back.
Pulling mainly through the hands and arms exhausts the biceps before the larger back muscles can properly engage.
Pulling the bar too far down past the upper chest causes the shoulders to round forward and stresses the rotator cuff.
Letting the weight stack snap up uncontrolled removes the muscle-building eccentric phase and strains the shoulder joints.

Tips

Initiate the pull by depressing your shoulder blades and driving your elbows down toward your hips.
Set the thigh pads snug against your legs so your hips remain firmly planted on the seat throughout the set.
Pause for a brief second when the bar reaches upper-chest level to maximize the contraction of the lats.

Sets and reps

For muscle building, aim for 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions with 60 to 90 seconds of rest. For muscular endurance, use lighter loads for 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps with 45 to 60 seconds of rest.

Muscles worked

Your coach guides every set

Turn on the coach in Gloox: it asks how you feel, picks the weight from your history and cues technique and rest. Rate each set and the next one is tuned to you.

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On a computer? Point your phone's camera here to get the app.

Questions

How does the cable pulldown compare to pull-ups?

Both train the same primary muscles through a vertical pull, but the cable machine allows for incremental loading below body weight to maintain strict technique.

Should the bar be pulled to the chest or behind the neck?

Pulling to the upper chest is biomechanically safer, whereas pulling behind the neck forces extreme external rotation and increases the risk of shoulder or neck impingement.

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