Underhand Cable Pulldowns
Also works: Biceps · Middle Back · Shoulders
A lat pulldown taken with a supinated grip narrower than shoulder width, bar pulled to the upper chest. The palms-up hold lets the elbows track down past your ribs instead of out to the sides, which lengthens the pull and gives the biceps a real share of the work — closer to a chin-up than to a wide-grip pulldown.
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 pads snug against your thighs — if they are loose, the stack lifts you and the last reps disappear.
- Take the bar with palms facing you, hands about shoulder width or slightly narrower.
- Sit with your feet flat and the cable running just in front of your face, not behind your head.
- Lean back around 20-30 degrees from vertical, chest up, and hold that angle for the whole set.
- Pull your shoulder blades down before the first rep so you do not start from a shrug.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale as the bar comes to your chest, inhale on the way up. One to two seconds down, a one-second squeeze, three seconds letting the arms straighten.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Start at roughly half your bodyweight on the stack and expect this grip to be 5-10 kg stronger than your wide-grip pulldown. Pulling bodyweight for 8 clean reps is a solid intermediate marker and usually means chin-ups are available to you. Add weight only when the bar touches your chest on every rep from a full stretch.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Pick a fixed lean of about 25 degrees and hold it. If the last two reps only move because your torso drops back, take a plate off and keep the angle honest.
Start each rep with a deliberate shoulder-blade depression before the elbow bends, and pause a second at the chest. Loosening your grip on the bar helps too.
Return until your elbows are straight and your shoulders rise toward your ears, then pull from there. Cut the weight if you cannot control that stretched position.
Set the knee pad one notch lower than feels comfortable, so it is already pressing your thighs before the first rep, and drive your feet into the floor as the bar travels up. If your hips still leave the seat, the stack is past what your bodyweight can anchor — take a plate off.
Why bother
Grip decides elbow path, and elbow path decides which part of the back does the work. Palms up and hands close means the upper arms travel in a plane close to your torso, so the lat pulls through shoulder extension as well as adduction and the bar has further to go before it reaches your chest.
It is also the strongest pulldown grip for most people. The biceps are in a mechanically better position supinated than pronated, so you will handle more weight here than on a wide-grip pulldown — which is worth knowing so you do not read the extra plates as extra back development.
Where it fits
As your main vertical pull on days you cannot do chin-ups, or as a second vertical pull after them when your grip and biceps are already tired and you want more lat volume. Three to four sets of 8-12, twice a week, sits comfortably alongside rowing.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Underhand or overhand pulldown — which builds more back?
Neither wins by much. The underhand grip lets you use more weight and gives the biceps more work; the wide overhand version biases the upper lats and the teres major slightly more. Run both across a training week rather than arguing about it.
Is this just a chin-up on a machine?
It is the same pattern with two useful differences: you can load below bodyweight, and your torso is fixed by the seat so you cannot swing. A chin-up is still the harder and more transferable movement — use pulldowns to add volume, not to avoid chin-ups forever.
My wrists hurt on a straight bar. What do I do?
The straight bar forces the forearm into full supination with a fixed hand spacing, which some wrists dislike. Swap to an EZ-curl style pulldown bar or two single handles so the hands can sit at their own angle. Grip width is worth less than pain-free wrists.
Should I pull the bar behind my neck instead?
No. Behind-the-neck pulling forces the shoulders into full external rotation and abduction at end range, shortens the working range, and offers nothing the front version does not. Pull to the upper chest.