Close-Grip Front Lat Pulldown
Also works: Biceps · Middle Back · Shoulders
A seated pulldown with the hands inside shoulder width, pulled to the upper chest with the torso laid back around 30 degrees. The narrow grip lets the elbows finish deep past the ribs, which takes the lats through more range than a wide grip does — and gives the biceps a larger share of the job.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Set the knee pad tight enough that your thighs are pinned when you sit down — snug, not merely resting.
- Take an overhand grip with hands 20-30 cm apart, narrower than your shoulders.
- Sit with straight arms and let the shoulders rise fully at the top before you begin.
- Lay the torso back roughly 30 degrees from vertical, chest up, and hold that angle for the whole set.
- Plant your feet flat on the floor and brace your abs so the torso angle does not change under load.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale as you pull the bar to your chest, inhale as it rises. One to two seconds down, a beat at the bottom, three seconds letting it back up.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Set the stack so the last two reps are hard but the bar still reaches your collarbone and the torso angle holds. As a rough marker, pulling down around 70% of bodyweight for 10 clean reps means you are close to your first chin-up. Add one plate when you complete all sets at the top of the rep range with a one-second pause at the chest.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Pick 30 degrees on rep one and hold it. If your torso ends the set near horizontal, take two plates off and let the lats do the work the hips have been doing.
Let the shoulders travel all the way up next to your ears at the top of every rep, then start the pull from that stretched position. Half the exercise lives there.
Think of the hands as hooks and drive the elbows towards your back pockets. If your forearms burn out first, use straps for the working sets.
Tighten the knee pad down onto your thighs before you take the bar. If the pad will not go low enough, sit on a folded towel to raise yourself into it.
Why bother
How far the elbow can travel decides how short the lat gets. A wide grip runs the elbows out of room while they are still level with the torso. Bringing the hands inside shoulder width lets the upper arms carry on past the ribs, which finishes the rep with the lats considerably more contracted and the lower fibres doing real work.
The cost is elbow flexion. Narrower means a longer arc for the arms, so the biceps and brachialis take a bigger cut than they would on a wide-grip pulldown. That is not a fault — it makes this a good pairing with wide-grip work — but it does mean a fatigued biceps often ends the set before the lats are finished.
Where it fits
As your main vertical pull if you cannot yet do chin-ups, or as the second pull of the session after them. Sets of 8-12, once or twice a week. The knee pad matters more than people think: without it set tight against your thighs, heavy sets simply lift you off the seat and you lose the bottom half of the rep.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Asked and answered
Does a close grip build the lower lats and a wide grip the upper lats?
Only loosely. The lat is one muscle with fibres running in different directions, and grip width shifts emphasis rather than switching regions on and off. What genuinely changes is elbow travel: a close grip lets the upper arm finish deeper past the ribs, so the muscle shortens further. Train both widths and stop looking for a switch that is really a dial.
Should I pull to the chest or behind the neck?
To the chest. The behind-the-neck version forces the shoulders into extreme external rotation and abduction, gives you less range, and pushes the head forward to make room. It offers nothing the front version does not, at higher cost to the shoulder.
Close overhand grip or underhand?
Underhand lets the elbows tuck harder and travel further past the ribs, so the lat shortens more and the biceps takes a bigger cut. Overhand keeps the shoulder slightly more externally rotated and is harder to turn into a standing curl. For lat growth the difference is small enough that comfort decides it — but if your elbows are already sore from chin-ups, take the overhand version for a few weeks.
Straight bar with the hands close, or a V-handle?
The V-handle, whenever the machine has one. Gripping a straight bar 20 cm apart forces the forearms to rotate inwards against a fixed bar and puts a twist through the wrist that most people feel by rep eight. Neutral handles let the wrists sit where they want and let the elbows finish deeper past the ribs. Use the close grip on a straight bar when the V-handle is in use, not as the default.