Lat Pulldowns are the quintessential exercise for adding width to your lats. These will help you create the flared “winged” appearance bodybuilders possess when viewed from behind. This, along with well-developed delts (shoulders), also has the added benefit of making your waist seem smaller than it actually is. Lat pulldowns (as with most back exercises) also target your biceps to some degree and upper back muscles are incorporated as well. Despite the fact that nearly everyone knows that lat pulldowns are a good exercise for developing your back, this movement seems to be one of the most poorly executed form-wise (at least among gym-goers I’ve observed). The key to the lat pulldown (described fully below) is keeping your back straight throughout the movement. Many people lean back (often because they’re trying to pull down much too heavy of a weight) and this turns the movement into more of a row, a different exercise all together. So, be cognizant of keeping your back erect through every rep. When you pull the bar down, it also helps to focus on contracting your back muscles, as opposed to just letting your arms do all the work. Varying your grip on the bar (from close to wide and reverse to overhand) will hit your lats from different directions for full back development. The closer your grip, the lower the emphasis on the lats; a wider grip focuses more on the upper lats. Reverse grip tends to put more stress on the biceps in addition to the lats.
Muscle Emphasis: latissimus dorsi, posterior delts, biceps, brachialis, and forearm flexors
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