Cable Wide Neutral Grip Lat Pulldown

Also known as: Neutral grip lat pulldown, Neutral grip pulldown, Wide neutral grip pulldown

StrengthPull

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Body Part: Back

Description

Pull a wide parallel-grip bar from the high pulley down in front of your face, palms facing each other, to build your lats with a wrist-friendly grip. The lats along the sides of your back do most of the work. Your rear delts and teres major join in, the lower and middle traps pull the shoulder blades down and together, and the biceps and forearms assist. For most people it's the strongest pulldown grip, so the back tires first. Pick it over the overhand bar when that bothers your wrists, elbows or shoulders. Unlike the close V-handle version, your elbows come down at your sides and you lean back less.

How to Perform

Hang the wide parallel-grip bar on the high pulley; its short end handles sit at right angles to the bar, so your palms face each other.
Lower the thigh pad until it locks your thighs in, feet flat and knees bent about 90°, so you can't rise off the seat.
Stand, take one end handle in each hand and sit down with the bar, the cable hanging just in front of your face.
Start with straight arms and let your shoulders ride up. Sit tall, chest lifted, leaning back only about 10° for the whole set.
Pull your shoulders down away from your ears first, then drive your elbows down and in toward your ribs.
Stop with the handles beside your head at shoulder or collarbone height, forearms vertical. The bar passes in front of your face, never behind your neck, so keep your head still.
Pause briefly, shoulder blades down and together, then let the bar rise over 2–3 seconds until your arms are straight and your armpits stretch.
Let go only once your arms are straight again, or stand up with the bar. Dropped at the bottom, it shoots up and slams the stack.

What Muscles Work

Primary Muscle:

Secondary Muscles:

Tips

For size, sets of 8–15 work for most lifters; for strength, 6–8. If you're new, use 10–15 with a weight you can bring to shoulder height without leaning back. Reps come before weight. When all your sets reach 15 with the same torso angle, put the pin one plate lower (usually 5 kg or 10 lb) and drop back to 8.
Expect to feel it along the sides of your back from the armpits down, at the back of your shoulders and under your shoulder blades, plus a stretch under the armpits at the top. If your biceps burn more than your back, think of your hands as hooks and lead with the elbows.
Struggling with the shoulders-down start? Practice it on the Lat Pulldown Machine, whose fixed lever path makes it easier to learn, or go lighter with a 1-second pause at the bottom. To make it harder, let the bar rise over 3–4 seconds or pause for 2 at the bottom. Clean sets of 8–10 with close to your body weight are a rough sign you're ready for the Assisted Pull-Up on neutral handles, then the Neutral-Grip Pull-Up.
Substitutes: Cable Lat Pulldown (straight overhand bar), Cable Neutral Grip Lat Pulldown with the close V-handle (use it if your gym has no parallel-grip bar), Lat Pulldown Machine, Neutral-Grip Pull-Up.

Common Mistakes

Swinging the torso back on every rep and rowing the bar to your chest. Set the slight lean once and keep it; if you can't finish the set without rocking, take a plate off.
Bending the elbows before the shoulders move, so your biceps and forearms give out before your back does. Shoulders down first, then elbows to your ribs, wrists straight.
Gripping the straight middle of the bar or the bent sections instead of the end handles. Hold the parallel handles, palms facing, the same distance from the center on each side.
Cutting the top short. Let the bar rise until your elbows are straight and your shoulders lift a little on every rep, because that stretch is half the exercise.