Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
Also works: Biceps · Middle Back · Shoulders
The wide-grip lat pulldown pulls a cable bar down to your upper chest from a seated, braced position. Because the machine holds you down rather than asking you to hold yourself up, it lets you train the lats through a full range at a load you choose — which makes it the workhorse back exercise for anyone still building toward pull-ups.
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 thigh pad tight enough that you cannot lift off the seat when the weight gets heavy.
- Grip the bar wider than your shoulders, roughly where the bar starts to angle down.
- Sit tall, then lean back about 15 degrees and hold that angle for the whole set.
- Let the weight pull your shoulders up at the start so you begin from a full stretch.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale as you pull down, inhale as the bar rises. One second down, brief squeeze, two to three seconds up.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Choose a load you can pull to your chest for at least 8 reps without your torso swinging. As a rough marker, pulling down around 70% of bodyweight for reps is respectable; once you are pulling close to bodyweight, you are strong enough that pull-ups should be in your program.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Pick your torso angle in rep one and hold it. If you are ending the set nearly horizontal, you are rowing, and the weight is too heavy.
Pull to the upper chest. Behind-the-neck pulldowns force the shoulder into extreme external rotation for no additional lat recruitment.
Control the ascent over two to three seconds. Most people get more from halving the weight and owning the negative.
Just wider than shoulder-width is enough. An extreme grip cuts the distance the bar travels and gives the lats less to do, not more.
Why bother
The pulldown and the pull-up train the same pattern from opposite ends. The pull-up fixes the bar and moves you, so the load is always your bodyweight. The pulldown fixes you and moves the bar, so you can pick any load — lighter to learn the pattern, heavier once you have outgrown your bodyweight.
That adjustability is why it earns a place even for people who can already do pull-ups: it is far easier to add controlled volume in the 10-15 rep range on a pulldown than to grind out more bodyweight reps.
Where it fits
After your heaviest pulling movement, or as the main pull if you cannot yet do pull-ups. Three to four sets in the 8-15 range suits it well; it is a machine exercise and there is little reason to take it into low, heavy singles.
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
Is the pulldown as good as a pull-up?
For lat growth, close. For overall strength and trunk stability, no — the pull-up also demands you hold your whole body rigid. Use the pulldown for volume and the pull-up as your benchmark.
Wide grip or narrow grip?
Wide biases the upper lats slightly; narrow and neutral grips allow a longer range and usually more weight. The difference is smaller than the internet suggests. Rotate them and pick whichever lets you feel your back working.
Why do I feel this in my biceps instead of my back?
You are starting the pull with your arms. Initiate every rep by pulling the shoulder blades down first, then let the elbows bend. Dropping the weight by a third makes this much easier to learn.
How do I know if I am leaning back too far?
If your torso angle changes between the first and last rep, you have. Film one set from the side — most people are surprised by how far back they end up.