Straight-Arm Pulldown

Muscles worked by the Straight-Arm Pulldown

Primary

LatsLatissimus Dorsi

Secondary

Rear DeltsPosterior DeltoidTricepsTriceps Brachii

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 Straight-Arm Pulldown

1. Stand facing a cable machine with a straight bar attached to the high pulley.
2. With arms nearly straight, push the bar down in an arc toward your thighs.
3. Squeeze your lats at the bottom.
4. Slowly return the bar to the starting position.
5. Repeat.

Form tips

• Maintain a slight elbow bend without turning the movement into a pressdown.
• Hinge slightly at the hips and keep your back flat.
• Avoid using body momentum to swing the bar down.

At a glance

Straight-Arm Pulldown in German & Spanish

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

Related exercises

• Barbell Pullover
• Bent Arm Barbell Pullover
• Dumbbell Pullover
• Archer Pull Ups
• Assisted Pull Ups
• Band Assisted Pull Ups
• Banded Lat Stretch
• Bench Child's Pose

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": "straight-arm-pulldown",
  "name_en": "Straight-Arm Pulldown",
  "name_de": "Straight-Arm-Pulldown",
  "name_es": "Jalón con Brazos Rectos",
  "description_en": "An isolation exercise for the lats using a cable with arms kept straight.",
  "description_de": "Eine Isolationsübung für den Latissimus am Kabelzug mit gestreckten Armen.",
  "description_es": "Un ejercicio de aislamiento para los dorsales usando cable con los brazos rectos.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "pull",
  "mechanic": "isolation",
  "difficulty": "intermediate",
  "equipment": "cable",
  "body_part": "back",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "latissimus_dorsi"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "posterior_deltoid",
    "triceps_brachii"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "pull_day",
    "knee_safe",
    "no_axial_load",
    "lower_back_safe",
    "shoulder_safe"
  ],
  "variation_group": "pullover",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": false,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Stand facing a cable machine with a straight bar attached to the high pulley.",
    "With arms nearly straight, push the bar down in an arc toward your thighs.",
    "Squeeze your lats at the bottom.",
    "Slowly return the bar to the starting position.",
    "Repeat."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Stehe vor dem Kabelzug mit einer geraden Stange am oberen Seilzug.",
    "Drücke die Stange mit nahezu gestreckten Armen bogenförmig zu den Oberschenkeln.",
    "Presse den Latissimus am unteren Punkt zusammen.",
    "Führe die Stange langsam in die Ausgangsposition zurück.",
    "Wiederhole."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Párate frente a una máquina de cable con una barra recta enganchada a la polea alta.",
    "Con los brazos casi rectos, empuja la barra hacia abajo en un arco hacia los muslos.",
    "Aprieta los dorsales en la parte inferior.",
    "Devuelve la barra lentamente a la posición inicial.",
    "Repite."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Maintain a slight elbow bend without turning the movement into a pressdown.",
    "Hinge slightly at the hips and keep your back flat.",
    "Avoid using body momentum to swing the bar down."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Fixiere den Ellenbogenwinkel, damit kein Trizepsdrücken daraus wird.",
    "Vermeide Schwung aus dem Oberkörper während der Zugbewegung.",
    "Lass die Schultern unten, statt sie zu den Ohren zu ziehen."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Mantén los brazos casi rectos durante todo el movimiento.",
    "Lleva la barra hacia los muslos describiendo un arco.",
    "Aprieta los dorsales en la parte baja del recorrido."
  ],
  "met": 5.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/straight-arm-pulldown-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/straight-arm-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 === "straight-arm-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.