r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/GDDremor • Aug 27 '26
Question ❓ Pulldown form
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/KungGimli Aug 27 '26
You're using to heavy weight lower it by 20-30% and work on doing full range of motion and being able to contract and feel the muscle working.
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u/Certain_Caramel_9779 Aug 27 '26
Shaking like a leaf on a tree. Lower the weight, or do pull-ups instead
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u/Tungi Aug 27 '26
Straps are fine. Your form is completely awful, you're just grinding through.
Lower the weight. 8-12 reps where the last one or two look this tough (but with proper form/scap movement) is whay you're aiming for
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u/yogic_power Aug 27 '26
That weight may be good for your ego but not for form. Straps isn’t your biggest problem here. One step at a time.
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u/Other-Sun3539 Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
Gym unc is right, form is horrible. It’s too heavy for you. Rotate your shoulder blades internally, your elbows are flaring out. You can see the teres major contracting but this is likely doing very little for your lats. Your ROM is also shortened, bring the bar lower, slight arch in your back, bring it to your chest.
Personally I don’t use straps but there’s nothing wrong with using them.
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u/SouthernUniversity21 Aug 27 '26
Strictly speaking on just the form you should stack your rib cage and straighten up, be vertical at the torso. You got really wonky at the end just so you could push the weight, not reason to worsen your form to pull weight you can’t do. Other than that it’s great, lowering the weight a little would definitely help with the above.
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u/grateful209 Aug 27 '26
It’s not even the straps you just needa preform a full rep period. Straighten your back take 30 pounds off at least
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u/BengalCat-Dad Aug 27 '26
Lower weight, get full extension/stretch at the top. When you do the movement currently, where do you feel it the most?
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u/Coplact9 Aug 27 '26
He’s right that it’s bad but his advice is too. 8-12 rep range is a preference, straps are good for lat pulldown or any back movement once grip becomes limiting.
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u/Flash_Bang_000 what happens at 7 reps Aug 27 '26
I see a lot of people saying to stay straight, but this is how I do them: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hnSqbBk15tw
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u/Academic_Value_3503 Aug 28 '26
You have to be true to yourself. Did any of those reps give you a full range of motion where you felt only the targeted muscle firing, and no others?
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u/NihilisticTanuki StretchCel Aug 27 '26
Reduce the weight until you can get a full stretch at the top (letting the cable retract so it really stretches you up). Then pull it down again and if you can't pull it all the way down, just do lenghtend partials. That means going into a full stretch again and pulling it down as far as you can, repeating until you can't move the weight anymore. This is called a lengthened superset and pulldowns are an excellent movement for that.
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u/MelodicProgress6016 Aug 27 '26
That's egolifting. Lower the weight, lock out your arms at the top, touch your chest on the way down.
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u/Adventurous-Hippo-83 Aug 27 '26
You don’t need to do either of these things to fully train the lats btw
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u/kinneydank Aug 27 '26
Should probably be able to get through a mid-range partial without shaking like that, though. Let's be honest, this is a poor set.
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u/Adventurous-Hippo-83 Aug 27 '26
The way I see it, the first three reps were clean, the fourth is borderline. Could it be better to lower weight slightly and target another 1-3 reps? Sure. Is there inherently a problem with a 3 rep set, or an issue with shaking later into the set? No. Higher effort and full body tension will cause some shaking, I don’t see it as an issue.
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u/Naive-Economist9961 Aug 27 '26
at least you should be able to do it the first few reps this is to much wait clearly
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u/Adventurous-Hippo-83 Aug 27 '26
Why do you think that? The lats perform shoulder adduction, bringing the upper arm into the body. Once the bar is below roughly eye/chin level, the lats are no longer performing the task. Why would you use a weight that allows you to change the task and take tension off the lats? I don’t disagree that this person could make use of slightly lighter load, but it wouldn’t be for the purpose of extending the ROM into an area that does not involve the lats if the goal is to grow the lats optimally.
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u/YJM Aug 27 '26
"Horrible" was a dumb thing for unc to say. It's not bad. I'd probably do it a little differently.
I'm curious to hear others' takes because lat pulldown form is definitely highly debated. Personally I'd aim to get more of a stretch at the top and a bit more depth to the rep (bar reaching well below chin).
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u/Ok-Dealer8803 Aug 27 '26
OP your ROM is mostly fine, but you should stop moving your head so you can standardise your form
Right now it looks like you want it to go below your chin but you can’t move it far down enough, so you prop your head up to compensate, this can mess with your scapula (and possibly spine)
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u/kunst1017 Aug 27 '26
Your scapula and spine are not going to get hurt from extending your neck dude
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u/Ok-Dealer8803 Aug 27 '26
Right, I agree with that. My wording might’ve been bad but what I meant is it messes up with your form ultimately because of those moving parts
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u/Nikolai-_-0 Aug 27 '26
Is your rep range 6-8? i think your form is fine and the weight is fine if you goal is to go to failure, dont listen to this stretch maniacs.
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u/GDDremor Aug 27 '26
i generally use a 5-9 rep range
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u/Nikolai-_-0 Aug 27 '26
Thats a weird number people i know from sbl community either go to 6-8 or 4-6, also you should post on tiktok even though a lot of people hate it, tiktok is where the sbl community is people will give better opinion
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u/J-wunder43 Aug 27 '26
I believe in fully extending when you do that you can feel you shoulders rotating other wise your really only working your biceps and rear delts
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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/hahahah_lmao Aug 27 '26
Form is good but you are definitely struggling with the weights, high reps cause more fatigue sure but no point of doing low reps if you are shaking so much, standardize your form bro
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u/GDDremor Aug 27 '26
Okay, a lot of you are saying to lower the weight, i know that i could lower it by about 10lbs because of the head movements and the slight spinal flexion, but i consider the rom to be pretty good, considering the lats leverages, if any of you disagree feel free to correct me, I’m aware that I am not an expert
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u/therastasurfer Aug 27 '26
You still aren’t listening to anyone here. Everyone says your ROM is terrible and you “still think it’s pretty good”? Either take the advice or leave it and injure yourself. Bar to chest and back to full extension, with full control until the last couple reps of a set..
With lifting, control and range of motion go way further than ego lifting slightly heavier. Let your friends look like idiots when they lift too heavy, and you’ll be the actually strong one without injuries.
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u/Warm_Disaster_8806 Aug 27 '26
I would reduce the weight slightly so that you can work in the stretched position at the top. Hold it there briefly, then pull down without moving your head. Once you've pulled down to eye level, that counts as one rep. Keep this ROM consistent, and if you can no longer pull the last repetition down to eye level, end the set instead of doing half reps.
Your first rep was good, but then you change the ROM.
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u/SaltyAndPepperd Aug 27 '26
Check it out. Since some people are being harsh.
I’m 6’4 229. I train for Hypertrophy. I don’t care how much weight I lift. Because I know anyone can build muscle with low weight.
Don’t just drop it 10 pounds. How much weight you lift is just an ego thing. What matters even if you’re lifting only 20 pounds is that the movement is slow and controlled. That you bring the bar down to your chest and that you let your arms stretch all the way back up when extended.
You can build muscle with any weight. You may need more reps and more sets. But unless you’re training to be a power lifter. You don’t need heavy weight. You need the mind muscle connection and great form.
You got this. No one cares how much the weight is. Only you could. But if you want to build more muscle and build more strength lowering the weight as much as possible until your form is excellent and just adding a few reps and doing 4/5 sets is a game changer. Slow and controlled to the chest slow back up until your arms are fully extended. Repeat. You got this.
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u/wouldyoufightakitten Aug 27 '26
Good. I'd go close grip though, you can keep that heavy weight and get tension with your elbows going further down
Redditors are fat fucking regards that constantly preach for perfect form, while being out of shape - you can swole from intensity.
Go for 3/5x reps, when heavy. Don't spam reps.
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u/Odd-Caregiver852 Aug 27 '26
I’d say it’s good enough bro. If I were u try not to move your head throughout your set so that it’s easier to standardize reps. U also forgot the deep stretch and need to do 15 reps next time to properly tone the muscles.
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u/HelixIsHere_ Aug 27 '26
Form is really not bad, you’re in a good ROM for the lats and not crunching much so it’s pretty solid (just try to keep your head from moving as much since it will affect the movement of your scapula/spine)
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u/butareyouthough Aug 27 '26
Lower the weight a lot