Lat Pulldowns

[Guest guest]

--------------------------------

1. RESEARCH UPDATE: Lat Pulldown

--------------------------------

" Secrets of the lat pulldown uncovered... "

Walk into any gym in the world, and there's a good chance you'll

find a lat pulldown machine in there somewhere. The lat pulldown

is a good back exercise for people who can't do chin ups.

There are, however, many conflicting opinions on the " right " way

to perform the lat pulldown. To clear up some of the confusion,

scientists from the University of Miami have tested four

variations of the lat pulldown.

Although it's called the lat pulldown because it works the

latissimus dorsi (a large muscle in your back), several other

muscles that produce movement at the shoulder joint are also

involved.

The researchers measured muscle activity in the teres major

(said to be latissimus dorsi's little " helper " ), the rear

deltoid (the back of your shoulder), pectoralis major (the

chest) and the long head of the triceps (the back of your arm)

during the following variations of the lat pulldown.

- Wide grip front pulldown

- Underhand front pulldown

- Close grip lat pulldown

- Wide grip rear pulldown

For the wide grip pulldown, the hands were spaced roughly one

and one-half times shoulder-width apart. For the underhand front

pulldown, the hands were placed shoulder-width apart (in line

with those bony bits on top of your shoulder). The results

showed wide variations in muscle activity during each exercise.

* The wide grip front pulldown led to the greatest muscle

activity for the latissimus dorsi. There were no major

differences when comparing the underhand front pulldown, the

wide grip rear pulldown, and the close grip lat pulldown.

* Activity in the pectoralis major was greatest during the close

grip lat pulldown, followed by the underhand front pulldown,

then the wide grip front pulldown. The wide grip rear pulldown

produced the least muscle activity in the chest.

* Muscle activity in the rear deltoid was greatest during the

close grip lat pulldown, followed by the wide grip front

pulldown and underhand front pulldown, which both produced

similar levels of muscle activity. There was little activity in

the rear deltoid during the wide grip rear pulldown.

* For the teres major, all exercises produced similar levels of

muscle activity, though it was greatest during the wide grip

front pulldown.

* The long head of the triceps was most active during the wide

grip front pulldown, followed by the wide grip rear pulldown.

It was least active during the close grip lat pulldown and

underhand front pulldown.

Changing your hand position and the type of bar you use makes a

big difference to muscle activation during the lat pulldown.

If you want to train the latissimus dorsi muscle, but you're not

strong enough to do chin ups, the wide grip front pulldown

produces the greatest muscle activity during both the concentric

and eccentric phases of the movement.

Reference

Signorile, J.F., Zink, A.J., & Szwed, S.P. (2002). A comparative

electromyographical investigation of muscle utilization patterns

using various hand positions during the lat pull-down.Journal of

Strength and Conditioning Research, 16, 539-546

To view this update on-line, visit:

http://thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/pull.shtml