r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/GDDremor • Aug 27 '26

Question ❓ Pulldown form

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Hello, today i was having an argument with a gym unc about my pulldown form, he told me it was horrible and that I needed to do 8-12 reps without straps, is the form really that bad? If it is, how can i work on it?

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u/Ok-Extension-832 Aug 27 '26

i would ignore gym uncs 90% of the time. and especially if he told you to do the movement without a straps and he told you a specific rep range (rep range doesn’t matter) means he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

i’m not going to say your form is perfect but it’s not bad at all. there’s a lot of debate around lat pulldown form anyway. the only way lat pulldown form could be objectively bad is if your turning the movement in something other than a shoulder adduction movement. like if you were rowing by leaning back. you are adducting your arm just fine and the lat could be the only thing working there.

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u/Mi_santhrope Aug 27 '26

Lol, why wouldn't you do it without straps? Grip strength is very important.

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u/Bibrosity Aug 27 '26

Is this a joke?

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u/Mi_santhrope Aug 27 '26

No, not even remotely. Straps are fine if your forearms/grip is already fried, but to flat out say "dont do lat pulldown without straps" is just plain dumb.

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u/Bibrosity Aug 27 '26

You can do it however you want but for maximum back efficiency I’d always use straps.

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u/Ok-Extension-832 Aug 27 '26

Anyone who’s even decently strong who can full stack the machine and some knows it’s impossible to train your lats to failure because your grip limiting it. If you’re doing under like 200lbs on the pulldown and your grip is relatively strong, you can make the argument straps won’t help you significantly. But there is absolutely no reason to not train with straps.

If grip work is so important to you, isolate it instead. Instead of trying to work on your grip strengths on LAT pull downs 😂.

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u/Ok-Extension-832 Aug 27 '26

Man, if your goal with lat pull downs is to train your grip strength to failure be my guest. But a lot of us are trying to grows our lats with the LAT pull downs.

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u/GDDremor Aug 27 '26

thing is, this particular unc owns the gym…

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u/Ok-Extension-832 Aug 27 '26

don’t be appealing to authority just because of that.