Lat Pulldown

Muscles worked by the Lat Pulldown

Primary

LatsLatissimus Dorsi

Secondary

BicepsBiceps BrachiiRear DeltsPosterior DeltoidRhomboidsRhomboid Muscles

Also called: lats, lat, latissimus dorsi, latissimus, back wings.

Equipment

Cable Machine

Also called: cable pulley, functional trainer, cable crossover, cable column, cable station, pulley machine.

How to do the Lat Pulldown

1. Sit at the lat pulldown machine with thighs secured under the pads.
2. Grip the wide bar with an overhand grip.
3. Pull the bar down to your upper chest, squeezing your lats.
4. Slowly return the bar to the starting position.
5. Repeat.

Form tips

• Drive your elbows down and back rather than pulling with your hands.
• Avoid leaning far back or using momentum to move the weight.
• Keep your chest lifted and shoulders down away from your ears.

At a glance

Lat Pulldown in German & Spanish

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Related exercises

• Archer Pull Ups
• Assisted Pull Ups
• Band Assisted Pull Ups
• Chin-Ups
• Close Grip Lat Pulldown
• Close-Grip Pull-Ups
• Negative Pull Ups
• Neutral Grip Pull Ups

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "lat-pulldown",
  "name_en": "Lat Pulldown",
  "name_de": "Latzug",
  "name_es": "Jalón al Pecho",
  "description_en": "A cable machine exercise targeting the latissimus dorsi.",
  "description_de": "Eine Kabelzugübung, die den Latissimus dorsi anspricht.",
  "description_es": "Un ejercicio en máquina de polea que trabaja el dorsal ancho.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "pull",
  "mechanic": "compound",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "equipment": "cable",
  "body_part": "back",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "latissimus_dorsi"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "biceps_brachii",
    "posterior_deltoid",
    "rhomboids"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy",
    "strength"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "pull_day",
    "lower_back_safe",
    "knee_safe",
    "no_axial_load",
    "shoulder_safe"
  ],
  "variation_group": "pull-up",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": false,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Sit at the lat pulldown machine with thighs secured under the pads.",
    "Grip the wide bar with an overhand grip.",
    "Pull the bar down to your upper chest, squeezing your lats.",
    "Slowly return the bar to the starting position.",
    "Repeat."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Setze dich an das Latzuggerät und sichere die Oberschenkel unter den Polstern.",
    "Greife die breite Stange im Obergriff.",
    "Ziehe die Stange zur Oberseite der Brust und spanne den Latissimus an.",
    "Führe die Stange langsam in die Ausgangsposition zurück.",
    "Wiederhole."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Siéntate en la máquina de jalón con los muslos sujetos bajo los rodillos.",
    "Agarra la barra ancha con un agarre en pronación.",
    "Jala la barra hasta la parte superior del pecho apretando los dorsales.",
    "Regresa la barra lentamente a la posición inicial.",
    "Repite."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Drive your elbows down and back rather than pulling with your hands.",
    "Avoid leaning far back or using momentum to move the weight.",
    "Keep your chest lifted and shoulders down away from your ears."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Leite den Zug über die Ellbogen ein, nicht über die Hände.",
    "Lehne den Oberkörper nur leicht zurück und vermeide jeden Schwung.",
    "Strecke die Arme oben vollständig, ohne die Schulterspannung zu verlieren."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Inicia el tirón bajando los omóplatos, no doblando los codos.",
    "Evita balancear el torso para mover el peso.",
    "Dirige los codos hacia abajo y atrás, no hacia fuera."
  ],
  "met": 6.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/lat-pulldown-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/lat-pulldown-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "lat-pulldown");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.