One Arm Lat Pulldown
Also works: Biceps · Middle Back
A cable pulldown done with a single handle, one side at a time. Losing the bar lets the shoulder blade travel further at the top and the elbow finish tighter to your ribs at the bottom, and it stops the stronger lat from quietly doing 60% of the work while the weight stack still moves.
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 snug enough that your hips do not lift on the heavy reps but not so tight that you have to squeeze in.
- Sit slightly off-centre, toward the working side, so the cable runs in a straight line down to your shoulder rather than diagonally across you.
- Pronated grip loads the lat and rear delt; neutral or supinated brings more biceps and lets you use a bit more weight. Choose deliberately.
- Start with your arm fully extended and let the shoulder blade rise toward your ear — that top position is range you only get without the bar.
- Free arm rests on your thigh or holds the seat. Do not brace it against the frame and turn it into a second pulling limb.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale as you pull down, inhale on the return. One second at the bottom with the elbow pinned to your ribs, three seconds letting the handle back up.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Expect to use around 55-60% of your two-handed pulldown weight per side, not half — single-arm work sacrifices some stability. Start there for 12 reps, and only add a plate once you can hit the top of the range on your weaker side with a full stretch and a held contraction. Always set the load by what the weak side can do strictly.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Face straight ahead and pin your free hand to your thigh. Cut the weight until you can pull with the shoulder and elbow alone; the twist is trunk rotation, not lat work.
Let the elbow lock and the shoulder blade lift at the top of every rep. Count three seconds up and you will find the load has to drop — that is the point.
Start each set with the weak side, do as many strict reps as it gives you, then stop the strong side at exactly that number. Balance comes from capping the good side, not thrashing the bad one.
Tighten the knee pad and drive both feet into the floor. If your hips still lift, the weight is heavier than your lat can pull, and you are just doing a standing cable pull-in badly.
Why bother
A straight bar locks both hands into one fixed path, so your shoulder blades can only move as far as the weaker side allows and your dominant lat picks up the difference. With one handle, the working side gets the full arc — the shoulder blade rises and rotates at the top, then depresses fully at the bottom — which is more range than either arm gets on the bar.
The single handle also lets you change the line of pull mid-set in a way the bar cannot. Pull straight down and you get lat with rear delt; pull slightly across your body toward the opposite hip and you shift it further onto the lower lat fibres. That is one machine covering two distinctly different pulls.
Where it fits
As the second vertical pull on a back day, after chin-ups or a two-handed pulldown, or as the main pull for anyone still building toward a bodyweight pull-up. Budget the extra time: unilateral work doubles the set count. Three sets per side, once or twice a week, in the 8-15 range where the cable is at its best.
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
Is a one-arm pulldown better than a normal lat pulldown?
Better for range and for exposing side-to-side differences; worse for total load and time efficiency. The single handle lets your shoulder blade move through its full arc at both ends, which the bar prevents. Run both: two-handed for heavy work, single-arm for the second exercise or when you know one side is lagging.
How long does it take to even out a side-to-side difference?
Two to three months of capping the strong side at the weak side's rep count, and only if you stop feeding the gap everywhere else. A lat that is a rep or two behind usually closes within a training block. A gap of four or more reps at the same load is old, often from a shoulder you stopped using properly years ago, and it needs the weak side trained first in the session every time rather than a heroic amount of extra volume bolted on the end.
Should I do it seated, kneeling or standing?
Seated with the knee pad, if the pad is available — it anchors your hips so you cannot use bodyweight to help. Kneeling is fine if the machine has no seat and you can keep your torso from swaying. Standing turns it into a half-lat, half-trunk exercise and is best kept for when you actually want that.
Does pulling across my body hit a different part of the lat?
Somewhat, yes. Pulling the handle toward the opposite hip changes the line of pull relative to the lat's fibres and shifts emphasis toward the lower portion. The effect is real but modest — do not build a program around it. Use it as a variation every few weeks rather than a separate exercise.