The lat pulldown is a cable exercise for the back: you sit under a high pulley, take a wide bar overhead and pull it down to your upper chest. It mainly trains the latissimus dorsi, the broad muscles down the sides of your back that give you width. Sit tall, pull your elbows down towards your ribs, and let the bar all the way back up on every rep.
Lat pulldown at a glance
- Main muscle: latissimus dorsi; the middle and lower traps, rear delts and biceps help
- Equipment: a lat pulldown station or any high cable pulley with a bar
- Sets and reps: 3 or 4 sets of 8 to 12, stopping one or two reps short of failure
- Grip: overhand, a little wider than your shoulders, is the standard; the research suggests grip matters less than most people argue
- Most common mistake: leaning well back and yanking the weight down with your body
What muscles does the lat pulldown work?
The latissimus dorsi is a large, fan-shaped muscle that runs from your lower and mid back up to the front of your upper arm. Its jobs are to pull your arm down, pull it back and rotate it inwards, which is exactly what the pulldown asks of it.
It doesn’t work alone. A 2025 study in the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology lists the middle and lower trapezius, rear deltoid, infraspinatus (a rotator cuff muscle) and biceps as the main helpers, with how much each one contributes shifting with grip and body position.
That makes the pulldown a good all-round upper-back exercise, but the lats are the reason to do it.
How to do a lat pulldown
- Set the thigh pad so your legs are locked in firmly with your feet flat on the floor. If you can lift off the seat as you pull, the pad is too high.
- Stand, take the bar with an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders, and sit down with your arms fully straight.
- Lift your chest and lean back only slightly, a few degrees, not a recline.
- Start the pull by drawing your shoulders down, away from your ears. Then drive your elbows down and back towards your ribs until the bar reaches your upper chest.
- Pause for a moment, then let the bar rise under control over two or three seconds until your arms are straight and you feel a stretch through your lats. That’s one rep.
A useful cue: think of your hands as hooks and pull with your elbows. If your forearms and biceps are burning long before your back, you’re pulling with your hands.
Which grip is best for the lat pulldown?
This is the most argued-about question in the exercise, and the research says it matters less than gym folklore suggests. Here’s what three of the better-known studies found.
Front of the neck beats behind the neck. Sperandei and colleagues (2009) tested 24 trained men at 80% of their one-rep max on three versions: behind the neck, in front of the neck and with a V-bar. Lat activity was no different between them. The behind-the-neck version did make the rear delts and biceps work harder, and the authors concluded it “should be avoided”, recommending the front pulldown, with the V-bar as an alternative.
Overhand may edge out underhand. Lusk, Hale and Russell (2010) had 12 men pull at 70% of their one-rep max with wide and narrow grips, palms facing away and palms facing in. The overhand (pronated) grip produced more lat activity than the underhand grip; grip width made no difference.
Or it may not matter much at all. The largest of the three, a 2025 Italian study of 40 men with at least five years of training, compared seven versions: wide, narrow, overhand, underhand, neutral, upright and leaning back about 30 degrees. It found no significant difference in lat activation between any of them. Leaning back with a wide overhand grip did raise rear-delt activity. The authors put the lack of differences partly down to how much individuals varied.
Two cautions. These studies measure muscle activity with electrodes on the skin over a handful of reps, which isn’t the same as measuring how much muscle you build over months. And the groups were small and mostly young.
Our read: for the lats, pick the grip that lets you pull the most weight through a full range of motion without your shoulders or elbows complaining, and feel free to rotate. Wide overhand is a sensible default. Avoid behind the neck.
The best lat pulldown variations
Wide-grip overhand pulldown
The standard version and the one to learn first. Hands a little wider than your shoulders, palms facing away, bar to the upper chest. Going extremely wide shortens the range of motion without any clear benefit.
Close-grip (V-bar) pulldown
A double-D or V-bar handle puts your palms facing each other. Many men find this neutral grip the most comfortable on the shoulders, and it lets you pull the handle lower and drive the elbows further back.
Underhand (reverse-grip) pulldown
Palms facing you, hands about shoulder-width. Your biceps contribute more, so most people can handle more weight. Strength Level’s user-logged data, below, shows the same pattern. It’s a good choice if you’re also training for chin-ups.
Single-arm pulldown
Done with a D-handle on one side of the cable at a time. It lets you pull through a slightly longer range, and it shows up any strength difference between your left and right side.
Straight-arm pulldown
Stand facing a high cable, arms straight, and sweep a bar or rope down to your thighs. Your elbows don’t bend, so the biceps barely contribute. It’s a useful finisher, or a way to learn what your lats feel like working.
Common lat pulldown mistakes
- Leaning right back. Turning the pulldown into a reclined row lets you shift more weight but takes the movement away from the vertical pull that makes it a pulldown. Keep the lean slight.
- Using momentum. If you need to rock your body to get the weight moving, it’s too heavy.
- Cutting the top of the rep short. Letting the bar only halfway up skips the stretched position. Straighten your arms fully at the top.
- Shrugging. Pulling with your shoulders up near your ears shifts the work to your upper traps. Draw your shoulders down first.
- Pulling behind your neck. It gives you no more lat work than the front version, according to the 2009 study above, and puts the shoulder in a more awkward position.
How much weight should you lat pulldown?
Pick a weight you can pull for 8 to 12 controlled reps, with a full stretch at the top and no rocking. Add weight once you can do the top of your rep range on every set with good form. Machines vary a lot in their pulley ratios, so the number on the stack at your gym won’t match the one at the next gym.
For context, here are Strength Level’s men’s standards for estimated one-rep maxes on the lat pulldown and the reverse-grip version, based on lifts logged by its users:
| Level | Lat pulldown | Reverse-grip lat pulldown |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 42kg | 48kg |
| Novice | 60kg | 67kg |
| Intermediate | 82kg | 90kg |
| Advanced | 107kg | 117kg |
| Elite | 134kg | 146kg |
Source: Strength Level, lat pulldown vs reverse-grip lat pulldown standards (men, kg). These are one-rep estimates averaged across body weights, not weights to train with for sets of 10, and self-logged data skews towards people who train. Use them as a rough guide to where you stand. To turn a set of 8 or 10 into an estimated max, use our one-rep max calculator, and for the big lifts see our strength standards.
How many sets and reps?
Three or four sets of 8 to 12 reps, finishing each set with one or two reps left in the tank, works well for most men. Train it once or twice a week as part of a back or pull session, and rest about two minutes between sets so you can keep the weight up.
Going heavier for sets of 6 is fine, provided you’re not rocking the weight down. Going lighter for 15 to 20 is fine too, as long as the last few reps are genuinely hard.
Lat pulldown vs pull-up
They train the same muscles in much the same pattern. The difference is the load. A pull-up asks you to lift your whole body weight; a pulldown lets you choose any weight below or above it.
That makes the pulldown the better tool if you can’t yet do several clean pull-ups, if you’re heavy, or if you want to add volume once your pull-ups are done for the day. Pull-ups ask more of your grip and core and need nothing but a bar. Most men are best served by doing both. Our guide on how to do pull-ups covers the first rep to the 20th, and the dead hang builds the grip they both rely on.
Lat pulldown alternatives at home
No cable stack? These train the same pattern:
- Pull-ups and chin-ups: the closest match. Use a band for help if you need it.
- Resistance band pulldown: anchor a band high on a door or bar, kneel and pull it down to your chest. See our resistance band training guide.
- Inverted row: not a vertical pull, but a good back builder that scales to any level.
If overhead pulling hurts your shoulder rather than just tiring the muscles, try the neutral V-bar grip and a slightly shorter range. If it still hurts, stop, read about exercises that can make shoulder pain worse and see a physio.
Where the lat pulldown fits in a back workout
Pair it with a horizontal row (seated cable, barbell or dumbbell) and a hinge such as the deadlift or Romanian deadlift, and you’ve covered the back. Our back workout puts those together in a weekly plan, and our pull workout builds a whole session around vertical and horizontal pulling. For the shoulders that sit on top, see the lateral raise.
Lat pulldown FAQ
Does the lat pulldown build a wider back?
Yes. It trains the lats directly, and the lats are what give your back its width from the front and behind. Combine it with rows for thickness.
Should you lean back on lat pulldowns?
Only slightly. A small lean lets the bar clear your face and reach your chest. A big lean turns it into a row and usually means the weight is too heavy. In the 2025 study, a 30-degree lean didn’t increase lat activity, but it did make the rear delts work harder.
Is the behind-the-neck pulldown bad?
It’s not worth doing. The 2009 study found it worked the lats no more than the front pulldown, while placing more demand on the rear delts and biceps, and its authors recommended avoiding it. The front version does the job without the awkward shoulder position.
Wide or close grip for lat pulldowns?
Both work the lats. The research found little or no difference in lat activity between grip widths, so choose the one that feels best on your shoulders and lets you use a full range. Many men rotate between them.
Can lat pulldowns replace pull-ups?
They can stand in for them, especially while you build up to your first pull-ups. But pull-ups also train your grip, core and control of your own body, so if you can do them, keep them in.
How much should I be able to lat pulldown?
On Strength Level’s user data, an intermediate man’s estimated one-rep max is about 82kg on the standard pulldown and 90kg reverse grip. Machines differ, so compare yourself against your own past numbers on the same machine.
Sources
- Fiorilli G. et al. Electromyographic analysis of back muscle activation during lat pulldown exercise: effects of grip variations and forearm orientation. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 2025; 10(3): 345.
- Lusk S.J., Hale B.D., Russell D.M. Grip width and forearm orientation effects on muscle activity during the lat pull-down. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2010; 24(7): 1895–1900.
- Sperandei S. et al. Electromyographic analysis of three different types of lat pull-down. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2009; 23(7): 2033–2038.
- Strength Level. Lat pulldown vs reverse grip lat pulldown standards (kg).
