I am glad to welcome you again, friends! You can write endlessly about exercises. The reason for this is their diversity. Even for the simplest of them, you can come up with many options for implementation! What can we say about multi-joint movements?
But athletes and their coaches came up with various variations of exercises not for fun, but as a tool for achieving better results. Therefore, if you are interested in the result, you need to develop your “training” horizons!
The leader in the number of exercise variations are pull-ups. But not everyone is able to perform them from the very first training, and even more so with the correct technique. Fortunately, there is a replacement for heavy pull-ups - vertical pull-downs. It retains many of the benefits and is suitable for people of all skill levels!
Why include exercise in your workout?
There are many reasons not to avoid this exercise.
- Back workout for beginners. If you just came to the gym and want a wide back, then start with a vertical block. Because approaches to the horizontal bar are unlikely to be successful. Of course, if you are not a former workout competitor or an athlete from other sports.
By practicing this exercise, you will give your muscles a stimulus for growth, not much inferior to pull-ups. In addition, rows will serve as an effective tool for learning the technique of pull-ups.
- More experienced athletes will be helped to diversify the training process. Or they will serve as a good replacement for pull-ups during the period of mass gain. For example, bodybuilders can use rows as the main exercise for the back, due to the fact that it is difficult for them to do pull-ups due to their large muscle mass.
- Exercises on vertical blocks are used as rehabilitation for spinal injuries or diseases of the musculoskeletal system. But under the strict supervision of a specialist.
What muscles are involved?
The main part of the body worked in the exercise is the back. The assistants are the arms, shoulders and pectoral muscles. The contribution of each assistant depends on the version of the movement.
Now let's take a closer look at the anatomy.
Among the entire array of back muscles, it is the latissimus that pulls the handle of the exercise machine down. They can be helped by the round muscles, pectoral, rear deltoids and biceps. The trapezius and rhomboid muscles have their own responsible duty - moving the shoulder blades (adduction, rotation and downward movement).
You can remember a simple relationship:
- The narrower the grip, the greater the load on the arm muscles.
- The more you lean your body back, the more the trapezius and rear deltoids are loaded.
Features and Recommendations
You don't want to waste your time and energy, do you? Therefore, carefully study the execution technique. But first, there are some features of the exercise that are worth knowing!
Traction for girls
Since most girls find it difficult to do pull-ups, you can use the vertical pull-down as the main exercise to train your back muscles. But keep in mind that due to anatomical features, women’s upper body is not as strong as men’s. Therefore, train with light weight and a high number of repetitions - 15-20.
We work with our backs
Not everyone can immediately feel the latissimus muscles. Don't be upset, this is not always a sign of bad technology. There is such a thing as a neuromuscular connection. If it is not yet developed, then even with proper muscle contraction, you may not feel them. Neuromuscular connection improves over time, as long as you exercise regularly!
It's a completely different matter when you violate your technique, causing the wrong muscles to work. The reason may actually be ignorance of the technique or too much weight in the exercise, which again leads to a violation of the technique.
Elbow position
During training, pay attention to the position of your elbows, whether they are moving along the correct path. Which trajectory is correct? The one in which the forearms are directed along the cable of the simulator.
If you do deadlifts with a wide grip, your elbows should move to the sides of your body. If behind the head - strictly in the (frontal) vertical plane. When doing rows with a narrow grip - in front of the body, that is, parallel to the plane of symmetry of our body.
Cheating
Let me explain this concept. Any swinging, irregular technique, or jerking used to lift more or perform one more repetition is called cheating. He is your enemy! And that's why:
If the technique is violated, there is a risk of injury, which can nullify all your strength records.
By cheating, you are depriving your muscles of growth! After all, to gain high-quality mass, it is important to work the muscle until it fatigues, and not to lift as much as possible by any means.
How to choose a working weight
From my own experience I can say that you should start with very little weight. One with which, on the one hand, you will feel the load on the muscles, and on the other, you will be able to perform the exercise with ideal technique for 15-20 repetitions. Work with this weight, ask an experienced person to watch your technique. Try to feel the muscles that need to work (mainly the lats). Only after this increase the weight by 10-15 percent and move on to full loads.
How to determine the initial weight of the projectile? Let's look at three situations:
- You can’t do a single pull-up, or you struggle to reach the bar once. Then you should put weights on the blocks that are a third or even a quarter less than your own weight.
- You can do pull-ups, but for less than 8 reps. Then your initial weight of the burden will be from a third to half of your own.
- You can easily handle the crossbar. Performing more than 8 repetitions is not a problem for you. Then deadlifts can be done with more than half your own weight.
The calculations, as you can see, are not tricky.
How can you increase the quality of muscle contractions?
There is one subtlety that allows you to achieve better contraction of the lats. The fact is that between the handle of the simulator and our “wings” (the broadest muscles) there is also a whole chain of muscles. This chain includes the biceps, brachialis, forearms and hands. Each of them can “steal” the load from the back.
By squeezing the handle of the exercise machine in your hands so that it does not slip out from the good weight, you strain your forearms. From them, your biceps and brachialis also receive a signal to increase contraction. As a result, you seem to be shaking your back, but your arms get tired. But there is a way out! Use wrist straps (loops). By screwing them correctly onto the handle, you neutralize load thieves.
Grip Features
Which muscles will work in the exercise depends on the width of the grip and its direction. Knowing these dependencies, you can create a workout that does not leave a single area of the back unattended!
- Straight
This is the classic grip where your palms face forward. Only it can be used in wide-grip deadlifts, which develop the lats better than other variations of the exercise. In this case, the biceps receive minimal load.
Practice this grip if you want to build a wide back!
- Back
Palms face back. With this grip, the biceps is in an advantageous position, but despite this, it practically does not take on the load. And if you feel your biceps, then most likely you need to adjust your technique.
To pump up your biceps, you need to pull the handle not to the bottom of your chest, but to your chin. Moreover, the forearms will no longer be directed along the cable.
- Parallel
This grip is also called neutral. More powerful than other types of grip. This is good, as it will make it easier to hold the handle when working with serious weights.
- Wide
A wide grip is considered to be wider than the shoulders. And the farther the hands are from each other, the greater the emphasis on the lats. This type of grip requires good mobility of the shoulder joint.
Don't use too wide a grip. This is dangerous! And besides, it reduces the amplitude of the exercise.
- Narrow
A narrow grip is considered to be narrower than the shoulders. To grasp it this way, a special narrow handle with parallel handles is used. Or use a standard curved handle for a wide grip, which you need to grab with a narrow grip.
The amplitude of the exercise is slightly reduced, since the elbows have to be moved not back, but slightly to the sides.
Wide grip lat pulldown to chest
The chest pull-down can be considered a classic version of this exercise. This is because it is most popular among athletes. And this is not without reason.
Firstly , the simplicity of the movement itself. Not every person can perform overhead pull-downs due to various injuries, anatomical features, or poor elasticity of the shoulder joints. And chest rows do not require any physical training.
Secondly , the range of movement is much greater than that of the same version for the head. This gives us the opportunity to stretch our back muscles more strongly.
Thirdly, the option to the chest in the lower phase, connects the shoulder blades and brings them together. This movement improves posture and strengthens deeper muscles. As a result, the back becomes stronger and it will be easier to perform heavier basic exercises, such as bent over rows and deadlifts.
But among such pronounced poles, there are several disadvantages:
The execution technique is much more complicated than in other options (unless, of course, you understand it). This refers to body position. Many bodybuilders lean too far back and pull the handle as if at an angle. It is not right! Our task is to ensure that the cable goes down at a right angle. To achieve this, you need to move as close to the block as possible (that is, crawl your legs under the bolsters that hold your legs as much as possible). And also bend at the lower back.
And of course, you need to understand that the option to the chest involves a large number of secondary muscles , such as the rhomboids and teres major muscle. As a result, the lats do not receive the proper load. And to increase it, you will have to add weight on the block itself. If you are a professional athlete and have years of experience behind you, then adding weight will not affect your technique in any way. But for beginners, this can be an overwhelming burden.
Execution technique
- Sit on the exercise bench. If yours is adjustable, then adjust it according to your height. So that the knees are bent at 90° and are in the same plane as the gluteal muscles. Place your feet under a special support cushion. At the same time, move as close to the simulator as possible (this is written above).
- Grasp the handle with a wide grip, palms facing away from you.
- Bend your lower back, while keeping your back straight. Push your chest forward.
- As you exhale, begin to pull the handle towards your chest. We do this without bending the arms at the elbow joint. And we try to pull our elbows down and back.
- While inhaling, we return to the starting position
Important! When returning the weight to its original position, do not throw the projectile down! All movements must be controlled, as the back works during pulling and lowering.
Exercise technique
Depending on the width and direction of the grip, the technique changes, but only slightly. Therefore, we will consider it step by step, introducing some adjustments for different types of grip:
- The approach begins not with the traction itself, but with adjusting the “seat”. First you need to adjust the height of the rollers of the machine, which you will rest against with the front of your thighs. Align them so that your shins can be parallel to the floor.
- Depending on what you are going to do, you need to sit either a little closer to the rollers (so that your head is under the cable) or a little further. We sit closer if, according to the plan, we pull by the head and, accordingly, a little further if we do other variations.
- Sit in the machine and grab the handle with the desired grip. The thumb should go under the handle of the machine; this is called a closed grip. Make sure that the hands are positioned symmetrically relative to the middle of the handle.
- When pulling behind your head, maintain a natural arch in your lower back. In other cases, a slight additional deflection is allowed.
- At the beginning of the exercise, you need to move your shoulders slightly upward, thereby stretching the lats.
- With a smooth movement (as you exhale), begin to pull the handle towards your chest, stomach or head, depending on the movement being performed. In the first case, this is a chest pull with a wide or medium grip. In the second - with a narrow or reverse grip. And in the last one - with a wide grip on the head.
- At the same time as you pull, lower and contract your shoulder blades. There is no need to bring your shoulder blades together in the overhead pull. This is the only way you can reduce your lats to the maximum!
- Make sure your elbows remain parallel to the cable at all times.
- Lower the handle to the lowest point (not necessarily until it touches your chest, but as far as flexibility allows). Then also smoothly (while inhaling) return to the starting position.
- Complete the required number of repetitions.
Close-grip lat pull-down
The lat pulldown with a narrow grip works all the back muscles such as the latissimus, rhomboids, trapezius and teres major. It is made with a special V-shaped handle. It stretches to the middle of the pectoral muscles. But what is the difference then between a narrow and wide grip? The main difference is the amplitude of movement. In a narrow grip, it will be maximum. This will help to properly stretch the lats and engage the smaller back muscles. Unfortunately, this advantage in amplitude also has a negative side. When performing lat pulldowns with a close grip, we will also engage the biceps. For experienced athletes, this is not a problem, since they have some experience and have learned how to do pulling movements using their back muscles. But a beginner doing this exercise will hammer his biceps faster than his lats. Therefore, before starting this kind of traction, we should first develop the neuromuscular connection of the brain with the muscle groups we need. Or use special wrist straps, they will relieve the forearm a little and it will be more difficult to connect the biceps to the work.
Execution technique
- Customize the simulator for yourself. Sit on a bench. Place your feet under special support bolsters.
- Bend your lower back and push your chest forward as much as possible.
- As you exhale, pull the block until the handle touches your chest.
- While inhaling, we return to the starting position.
Important! When lowering the handle, do not place your elbows to the side. The arms are lowered along the body.
Movement should be smooth and controlled. As you return to the starting position, maintain tension in your lats. No need to suddenly relax your muscles! Don't pull the weight with your spinal erectors. The torso should be in one position.
Exercise options
In addition to standard rods, there are many more specific options. They can be used as an effective tool in training your back muscles!
- Pull in different directions
You can pull the handle towards your chest, you can pull it behind your head, but what if you do these two movements alternately? This way you can first load the lats and trapezius, then “give heat” mainly to the lats!
What does it look like? Let's say you need to do 12 repetitions. Start the exercise with chest rows. After completing the repetition, change the tilt of the body to strictly vertical and perform a row behind the head for the second repetition. In order for the total number of repetitions to be 12, you need to do 6 repetitions in each method. This is some simple math!
- To the chest
Usually performed with a wide or medium straight grip. The handle does not have to be pulled all the way to your chest. You can stop at chin level.
- Per head
People usually feel the latissimus dorsi muscles better with this exercise. It is for this reason that even beginner athletes should include such deadlifts in their split. But here you need to be careful not to lower the bar until it touches your trapezius and not to pull your elbows back!
- One hand
It is also used in bodybuilding by experienced athletes who are fluent in the two-handed deadlift technique. Proper technique plays an even more important role in this version of the exercise. After all, the load acts on the torso asymmetrically and leads to unequal work of the core muscles. For beginners, the core muscles are still poorly developed, and the entire load can fall on the spine!
Using one-arm rows, you can concentrate on working only one part of the back and increase the amplitude of the exercise.
- To the belt
From the name you might think that the handle should be pulled towards the stomach. But that's not true. In accordance with the correct technique, the handle should be lowered to the level of the chest or even the chin. But at the same time, the trajectory of the handle should go towards the stomach. That is, you seem to be trying to pull the handle towards your belt, but you stop earlier.
- To the chin
Do not confuse this with the delt pull, which is also called the chin pull. In our case, we are talking about an exercise for the back muscles. If you perform chin pulls with a wide or medium grip, the rear deltoids and trapezius will receive most of the load. If you do deadlifts with a narrow grip, the load will go to the biceps.
What is the difference between pulling the upper block behind the head and to the chest?
You may not have realized this difference yet. In that case, I'll explain. The overhead row targets the lats to a greater extent than the chest row, but at the same time involves less of the trapezius.
The difference between rows and pull-ups
From a biomechanical point of view, there is only one significant difference in the exercises. Pull-ups load the biceps, but rows don't! This is explained by the fact that in deadlifts our body is on the seat and does not try to push down with our weight. It is the weight of our body in pull-ups that causes the biceps to tighten.
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown
The overhead pull-down with a reverse grip is aimed at working the lower part of the latissimus dorsi muscles. Of course, you shouldn’t think that the top will not participate in this movement. It will simply account for a smaller portion of the total load. A reverse grip, due to a supinated grip (palms facing you), will slightly relieve the forearms, but at the same time involve the biceps in the movement. Therefore, you will need to try to work through the lats, and not pull the weight with your arms. For beginners, I would not recommend starting their acquaintance with block rows with this option, since the line between the work of the biceps and the back muscles is too thin. If you still cannot resist the temptation, then take a lighter weight. It will make it easier for you to focus on working your lats.
Execution technique
- Sit on the machine bench as close as possible, until your waist touches the lower limiter. Place your feet under special bolsters.
- We grasp the handle with a reverse grip (that is, the palms are turned towards the body and lie below the handle) at shoulder level, or slightly narrower.
- As you exhale, pull the block until it touches the upper part of the pectoral muscles.
- Stay in this position for a short time to maximize contraction of the lats.
- While inhaling, maintaining tension in the working muscles, return to the starting position.
As in the previous version, the elbows are lowered along the body; there is no need to spread them to the sides. Throughout the entire exercise, keep your body straight. We pull the block slowly and under control and also return it to its original position.
Effective lat training on a vertical block
There is no point in performing a large number of exercises on a vertical block, since approximately the same muscles work.
You need to choose two types of traction from those we talked about. For example, wide-grip and narrow-grip rows, or overhead rows and one-arm rows. The main thing is that the exercises affect different areas of the back!
An example complex might look like this:
- Wide grip rows – 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.
- Close grip rows – 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps.
After completing the complex, you can perform stretching exercises.
What muscles work when pulling a vertical block?
According to the classification, vertical rows belong to the basic (multi-joint) exercises for the back group. It is on the back that the main load falls. But using the angle of inclination, the handle and other techniques, you can slightly shift the vector, reducing or increasing the load on individual groups.
The main muscles that work in all rows on a vertical block:
- Latissimus;
- Biceps;
- Posterior deltoid bundles.
The pectoral, abdominal, supraspinatus, teres and brachioradialis muscles also receive partial load. They mainly help with movement or act as stabilizers.
By using different handles and grips when performing block rows, you can switch the load, but you cannot completely change the nature of the exercise. This means that in all variations only the priority in additional muscle groups changes, while the back is always involved, regardless of technique and features.
Basic mistakes
Athletes performing deadlifts (as well as any other exercise) often make mistakes in technique.
The two most popular are:
- Rounding of the thoracic spine. Usually such a “jamb” occurs when you want to lift more. In this position of the body, not only the back muscles are used, but also the triceps muscles of the shoulder.
- Pulling your elbows back. Everything is connected with the same desire to take on new weight.
All mistakes can be avoided if you approach training headlong, understanding that there are no quick results in iron sports!
