Exercise:

Overhand Lat Pulldown

Target Muscle:

Back (Lats)

Lat Pulldown Machine, Lat Pulldown Attachment

Sit down on a lat pulldown machine with a wide bar attached to the top pulley. Adjust the lap bar so that your body is held firmly in place throughout the entire exercise.

Grip the bar using an overhand grip spaced about 2-3 inches outside of shoulder width. Start the exercise with your arms extended above you so that you feel a good stretch in your lats.

Lean back slightly, position your shoulders down and back, retract your shoulders blades slightly, puff out your chest and keep a small arch in your lower back.

Pull the bar down until it touches your upper chest and you feel a strong contraction in your lats, and then raise the bar back up until your arms are extended before repeating.

- In order to maximize the tension on your lats rather than your biceps and shoulders, focus on pulling the bar down using your elbows rather than your hands. Imagine that your hands and forearms don’t even exist, and just place 100% of your focus on driving the weight down using your elbows.

- Make sure to keep your elbows pointed out at your sides throughout the exercise rather than allowing them to drift out in front of your body.

- To increase the activation of your back muscles even further, you can use a set of lifting straps or lifting hooks to fully eliminate your grip from the equation.