The underhand lat pulldown can help to activate these under utilized muscles and reduce back pain or discomfort. As a result, this can lead to slouching, pain, and tension in your shoulders and back. Hours of sitting in chairs at work or while driving can cause an underuse of your lats and other back muscles. A sturdy back is essential for improving your performance in athletics, other compound lifts, and simple day-to-day activities. An underhand grip allows you to pull the weight down further than you normally would with an overhand grip.Īs a result, you maximize the contraction of your lats at the bottom of each rep, which helps to build a thicker, stronger back.

Stronger LatsĬompared to the traditional lat pulldown, the supinated lat pulldown does a better job of training your lats. In addition, your abs activate to stabilize the movement. While your back should do most of the work to bring down the weight, your biceps fully contract as well. This places an unnecessary strain on the lower back.The supinated lat pulldown also incorporates the biceps, abs, shoulders, and upper back. This again places an unnecessary strain on the lower back. The other common error is hyperextending (over-arching) your back. This can lead to injury by damaging your lower back. You will be reducing the effectiveness of the exercise by taking tension off your Lats and putting it on your lower back.

This error is often made by people who are using too much weight in an effort to use momentum to get the weight moving. You should try to avoid them at all costs. The following errors are potentially dangerous and can result in injury. Frequent Mistakes You Want to Be Sure To Avoid Repeat this technique at the start of every rep.

Once you pull the weight down so that it meets the chest squeeze your shoulder blades together behind your back (picture trying to hold an orange between your shoulder blades) for maximum force (and maximum gains). This drop technique will lock your lats into activation. Once you have the feel for that, continue with the pulldown movement. Practice this short movement a few times. Your shoulders should just drop down a few inches. The arms should not be bent in this part of the movement. Start with just dropping your shoulder girdle. The second part is the pull with your lats. The first part is the extension then dropping of your shoulders. This movement should be done as a two-part movement to work your back best. Other Muscles (Secondary) Worked: Brachialis, Brachioradialis, Deltoid, Infraspinatus, Levator Scapulae, Pectoralis, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Trapezius.Primary Muscles Worked: Latissimus Dorsi.Subsequently, for a pronated grip, your thumbs will always be towards each other, or the inside of your body. The Easy Way To Determine Supinated and Pronated Gripsįor a supinated grip, your thumbs will always be towards the outside of your body. Although the words underhand and overhand may not always be synonymous with supinated and pronated. In regards to pulldowns, the supinated grip is an underhand grip and the pronated grip is an overhand grip. The word supinates and pronate are medical terms and can be confusing. The supinated lat pulldown is also known as the reverse grip or underhand grip lat pulldown. The supinated lat pulldown is an underhand grip pulldown that trains your lats superbly. A supinated grip has your palms facing up when your arms are to your side.

Underhand lat pulldown