If you have already mastered the traditional overhand lat pulldown and are seeking an effective alternative, try adding reverse-grip pulldown to your workout. This cable-based exercise targets lower portions of latissimus dorsi, as well as your biceps and torso muscles.
Start by holding the bar with hands slightly closer than shoulder width and palms turned towards your torso (supinated grip). Pull down and back until achieving an upright, neutral spine position.
Target Muscles
Reverse-grip pulldown, also referred to as an underhand lat pulldown or biceps curl, is a cable-based machine exercise designed to work the muscles of both your back and arms for an efficient workout. It specifically targets your latissimus dorsi muscle that runs from your lower spine to armpit; however, other back muscles (teres major and teres major) as well as forearm biceps brachii are also exercised; all this exercise helps build strength while strengthening them at once both strength and size – plus improved posture!
As well as targeting the latissimus dorsi, this exercise can also develop your rear deltoids – those rounded muscles in the top of your shoulders that connect to your spine, clavicle and scapula. Furthermore, this can strengthen your rotator cuff, comprising four small shoulder muscles which allow for upward and backward arm rotation; plus it targets trapezius muscles which link with skull, spine, ribs and scapula to elevate, depress or adduct your shoulders – something latissimus dorsi alone cannot.
Why would one need a reverse grip to supplement an otherwise standard back exercise such as straight bar row? Reason being, this style places more of an emphasis on your biceps than an overhand grip, thus providing additional biceps exercise without exerting too much strain on shoulder joints and tendons. Increased engagement will strengthen biceps during curling motions at the end of exercise. Strengthening forearms will also help strengthen wrists, which is crucial for keeping wrists stable during a curling motion. This is particularly important if your training regimen includes multiple curling exercises like biceps curls and triceps extensions.
Variations
Lat pulldowns are a versatile cable-based exercise designed to work the upper back, shoulders, biceps and triceps muscles simultaneously. Utilizing different grips and positions you can target individual muscle groups simultaneously in this dynamic exercise; making it an essential component of any upper body or back workout regimen. Reverse-grip pulldowns offer additional challenges by targeting both biceps and lower back more effectively than standard overhand grip – they’re great way to build strength or size depending on your workout goal!
As its name implies, reverse-grip pulldown involves taking an underhand grip instead of the more commonly employed overhand grip on the handles, which forces more use from your biceps and allows you to lift more weight than with an overhand grip. Furthermore, this approach may be easier on shoulders that tend towards shoulder issues; additionally it provides support for beginners working towards their first chin up as the underhand grip mimics hand positioning during this movement.
As this variation of the exercise involves more of your biceps, it is vitally important that you don’t overtrain this muscle group. To prevent overtraining, perform it using a moderate to high range of motion and use a wrist wrap if possible, to protect from injury and avoid overtraining assistance muscles.
As well as altering your grip on the pulldown machine, you can change its position and depth as well. To focus on lats more specifically, keep elbows close to sides without flaring out at top of movement; or you could try switching out for closed-grip machine instead to isolate more precisely your lats.
By adding variations to your workouts such as supersets, rest-pause sets, drop sets and giant sets you can increase intensity of training and the overall effectiveness of your exercises.
Form
While an overhand lat pulldown targets your lats, its reverse-grip version also targets your biceps. As you perform this exercise, hold the bar with supinated palms facing in towards your body in an inverted or underhand grip (sometimes known as underhand or inverted grip) – slightly wider than shoulder width is ideal to increase grip strength! For additional difficulty use wrist wraps or lifting gloves as well as remove your thumb from the bar if possible to increase challenges and challenge yourself further.
As you pull down on the bar, this variation of the pulldown also targets your triceps and forearm muscles, making this movement one of the best ways to work both muscle groups simultaneously. To maximize its benefits, it is important to maintain back posture as you pull on the bar; alternatively, to increase challenge of this movement lower your arms to either side instead of straight out behind you for even more effective muscle toning!
People unable to perform pullups and chin-ups or who simply wish to add something different to their exercise regimen may find this exercise beneficial, as it doesn’t place as much strain on joints while still targeting back and bicep muscles effectively.
Reverse-grip pulldown exercises not only challenge your biceps and forearms, but they can also work your deltoids and rotator cuff muscles – the rounded muscle groups located between your shoulders that cover clavicle, scapula, humerus – but they’re also responsible for elevating or depressing scapula as well as rotating arms forward, backward, sideways or inward and abduct them.
The seated cable row provides another alternative to the reverse-grip lat pulldown. This exercise can be performed either with resistance bands or on a cable machine and targets similar muscle groups as the lat pulldown, providing an ideal option if overhead movements due to injury or recovery from previous training are out of the question.
The seated row may be harder to master than its reverse-grip lat pulldown counterpart, but it still provides an effective workout for your back and biceps. As with any exercise routine, progress slowly while prioritizing high-quality repetitions for maximum benefit.
Equipment
The reverse-grip lat pulldown is an ideal exercise to add to your upper-body training because it strengthens both back and biceps simultaneously, as well as improving posture by helping prevent rounded back posture that leads to back pain and weakens core muscles. Furthermore, this exercise assists with deadlifts and squats by stabilizing hip hinge movement during deadlifting or squatting movements with improved form by stabilizing hip hinge stabilization movements.
Exercise may seem straightforward, but proper form is still vital during every rep range of this workout. Subpar form could result in ineffective results and muscle strain; to decrease injury risks and maximize safety, start out by lifting lighter weights until you find one you can handle for all rep ranges without losing form.
To execute a reverse-grip lat pulldown, you need a machine with a bar attachment that enables you to do the exercise from either a sitting or tall kneeling position. Once you find such a machine, adjust its knee pads so they touch your thighs before sitting up tall with core engage before performing this exercise.
Grab the bar using your reversed grip (palms facing each other and slightly closer together) and slowly pull down with your biceps to initiate back traction. As your back becomes tighter, your biceps should feel engaged; focus on controlling the eccentric part of movement for maximum muscle engagement and an effective pump.
This movement targets not only the lats but also a variety of other upper body muscles such as traps and rhomboids; additionally it activates forearm muscles with supinated gripping of a bar; making this exercise popular among CrossFitters who wish to build strength without engaging in bodyweight exercises like cleans and muscle-ups.
The seated cable row, an alternative to the reverse-grip lat pulldown, can provide an effective replacement if you lack access to machines with bar attachments or are in an area of your training where lifting overhead is proving challenging. This exercise targets similar muscles while being done either seated or tall kneeling positions for added versatility.
