Close-Grip Front Lat Pulldown

Lats
Biceps
Upper Back
Shoulders

Equipment: Cable

New to this

Your first close-grip front lat pulldown

What weight should I start with on the close-grip front lat pulldown?

Start around 40 to 50 lb, or roughly a third of your bodyweight. The close grip lets you use more weight than a wide grip, so do not copy your wide-grip number down.

You have got it right if you can pull the handle to your collarbone without the bench rising off the pad.

What usually goes wrong on the close-grip front lat pulldown?

Set the thigh pad snug so your legs stay pinned when you pull. Take the V-handle with palms facing each other and sit tall.

Lean back about 15 degrees and hold it. Pull the handle to the top of your chest with your elbows driving down toward your hips, then let the handle rise until your arms are straight and you feel your lats stretch.

Most common mistake: leaning back further and further as the set goes on, which turns the pulldown into a row. Pick your torso angle on rep one and keep it.

If the pulldown station has a line

The wide-grip pulldown is the same station with a different handle and slightly more upper-back involvement. Band assisted pull-ups train the same pattern with your bodyweight, which carries over better to real pull-ups. The machine row is a different pull direction, but a reasonable stand-in when nothing overhead is free.

How to do it

Sit down on a pull-down machine with a wide bar attached to the top pulley. Make sure that you adjust the knee pad of the machine to fit your height. These pads will prevent your body from being raised by the resistance attached to the bar.
Grab the bar with the palms facing forward using the prescribed grip. Note on grips: For a wide grip, your hands need to be spaced out at a distance wider than your shoulder width. For a medium grip, your hands need to be spaced out at a distance equal to your shoulder width and for a close grip at a distance smaller than your shoulder width.
As you have both arms extended in front of you - while holding the bar at the chosen grip width - bring your torso back around 30 degrees or so while creating a curvature on your lower back and sticking your chest out. This is your starting position.
As you breathe out, bring the bar down until it touches your upper chest by drawing the shoulders and the upper arms down and back.
Tip: Concentrate on squeezing the back muscles once you reach the full contracted position. The upper torso should remain stationary (only the arms should move). The forearms should do no other work except for holding the bar; therefore do not try to pull the bar down using the forearms.
After a second in the contracted position, while squeezing your shoulder blades together, slowly raise the bar back to the starting position when your arms are fully extended and the lats are fully stretched. Inhale during this portion of the movement.
Repeat this motion for the prescribed amount of repetitions.