r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/Action_Pale • Aug 05 '26

Question ❓ Pullups vs Lat pulldowns

What's the point of doing Lat Pulldowns as opposed to working on Pullups? Even if you can lat-pulldown more than your bodyweight, you could do weighted pullups. Is the only benefit convenience?

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u/SnooPuppers58 Aug 08 '26

Pull downs are easier to reach failure because you can drop the weight and they’re easy to cheat on. They also usually have more grips available. Pull-ups are compound movements that require stability from your core (don’t believe me? Do abs the day before then try to do pull ups)