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Know your exercises: Lateral pull-down

Know your exercises: Lateral pull-down

The lat pull-down or lateral pull-down is a great back exercise for beginners.

Written by Kris Gethin |Updated : March 4, 2014 1:27 PM IST

lat pulldownThe lat pull-down or lateral pull-down is a great back exercise for beginners. It is a classic cable workout which targets the lats or latssimus dorsi muscles in the back along with engaging the shoulders and arms.

Kris Gethin's tips to do a lateral pull-down

Attach a wide bar to the top pulley of a pull-down machine and sit down, adjusting the knee pad to fit snugly against your legs. Grip the bar wide with the palms of your hands facing away from your body. Lean your torso back slightly to create a small curvature in your back and stick your chest out. This will be your starting position. Exhale and bring the bar down until it touches your upper chest. As you pull the bar down, squeeze your shoulder blades back and down. Your upper torso should remain stationary during the movement, and only your arms should move. After a brief pause at the bottom, contracted position, inhale as you slowly raise the bar back to the starting position with your arms fully extended, feeling a slight stretch in your lats.

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Exercise tip: Make sure you don't lock your head and neck which can lead to stiffness and also that you're not straining your spine while doing this exercise.

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The exercise tip is an excerpt from his book The Bodybuilding.com: Guide to Your Best Body. Also read other excerpts from the book 'Tips to lose belly fat', 'How Hrithik transformed his body' and 'Exercises for Toned Legs', 'How necessary are bodybuilding supplements for results'. 'The Bodybuilding.com: Guide to Your Best Body is authored by Kris Gethin and published by Simon & Schuster (2013). It can be purchased online on Flipkart. Watch this space for more excerpts from the book. Read about the launch of the Indian edition of the book here.

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