Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

Start

Finish

How to do it

Grip the bar well outside shoulder width, lean back slightly with the chest lifted, and pull the bar to your collarbone with the elbows sweeping out and down.

Muscles worked

Primary: back · Also works: rear delts, biceps

Equipment

Cables, Machines, Full gym

Common mistakes

• Pulling the bar behind the neck, which forces the shoulders into extreme external rotation
• Cutting the range short at forehead level instead of reaching the upper chest
• Gripping so wide the elbows cannot travel, which shrinks the working range

Variations

• Wide-grip pulldown with a two-second squeeze at the bottom
• Wide-grip pulldown to sternum with a slight lean

Can't do this one? Swap it for

• Lat Pulldown
• Close-Grip Lat Pulldown
• Wide-Grip Pull-Up

Related exercises

• Pull-Upback
• Lat Pulldownback
• Barbell Bent-Over Rowback
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Rowback
• Resistance Band Rowback
• Inverted Rowback