Cable Incline Pushdown
Despite the name, this is not a triceps pushdown. You lie back on an incline bench facing away from a high pulley and drive a straight bar from overhead down to your thighs with straight arms — a supported straight-arm pullover in which the bench takes the torso out of the equation and leaves the lats no way to cheat.
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 an incline bench to roughly 45 degrees, a stride in front of a high pulley, with the bench facing away from the stack.
- Attach a straight bar and take an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders.
- Sit back against the pad with the bar overhead and your arms fully extended towards the pulley.
- Straighten your elbows and lock them — that angle does not change for the rest of the set.
- Press your lower back into the pad and pull your ribs down so the torso cannot swing forward to help.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale as you pull the bar down to your thighs, inhale as it travels back overhead. One second down, one second held, three seconds back up.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Start at 10-15 kg on the stack. The right weight is the one you can hold at the thigh for a full second on the final rep without the elbows breaking or your back coming off the pad. Add weight only when you can hit 15 clean reps with a one-second squeeze; otherwise add a rep or slow the return.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Drop the pin two plates and lock the elbows straight before the first rep. If the elbows still bend, the load is set for a compound, not an isolation.
Keep your shoulder blades in contact with the bench from the first rep to the last. If you have to peel off the pad, stop the set — the extra reps are being done by your hips.
Take three seconds letting the bar rise and let the plates come within a finger's width of the stack without touching. That end range is where the lat is loaded longest.
Set up facing away from the stack with the bar starting overhead. If the bar starts at your chest and finishes at your thighs with the elbows flexing, you are doing a different exercise.
Why bother
With the elbows locked, the only joint that can move is the shoulder, and the only large muscle that pulls the arm from overhead down to the hip is the lat. Every row and pulldown lets the biceps and mid-back share the load; here they cannot. It is one of the few honest lat isolations available.
The incline bench is what separates it from a standing straight-arm pulldown. Standing, you can lean, rock and drop your ribs to help the bar down, and most people do by rep six. Pinned to a bench at 45 degrees with your back supported, the torso is out of the argument and the resistance stays on the lats through the whole arc, including the overhead position where the muscle is longest.
Where it fits
As a pre-exhaust before pulldowns, or as the last movement on a back day when your grip and biceps are done but your lats still have work in them. Sets of 12-15 with a controlled tempo; loading it heavy just recruits the elbows and turns it into the pushdown it is misnamed after.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Why is it called a pushdown if it works the lats?
It is a naming accident inherited from older exercise databases: the hands travel downwards holding a straight bar, which looks like a triceps pushdown from across the gym. Mechanically it is a supported straight-arm pullover. If you set it up with bent elbows and a chest-height start, you have swapped exercises without meaning to.
Is this better than a standing straight-arm pulldown?
For strict lat work, yes. Standing, almost everyone leans and rocks by the back half of the set, and that torso movement quietly removes the tension the exercise exists to create. The bench takes that option away. The standing version wins only on convenience and on being easy to superset.
Can I do this with dumbbells instead of a cable?
Not the same movement. Once your arms pass vertical on the way down, a dumbbell stops resisting anything — gravity pulls straight down and your hands are already going that way, so the bottom half of the rep is free. The cable pulls along the line of the arc the whole way, which is why the thigh position still burns. A dumbbell pullover is a decent exercise, but it loads the overhead end of the arc and gives the finish away.
Can I do it with a rope instead of a straight bar?
Yes, and many people prefer it. The rope lets your hands split apart at the bottom, which allows a little more shoulder extension and a stronger contraction at the thigh. The straight bar is more stable and easier to keep symmetrical, so use it while you are learning the pattern.