My daughter and future son-in-law reported back to me about my lat-stretch suggestion. I told them to try undergrip pulldowns after the ideal exercise…
Keeping the torso angled slightly back allows the arms to stay in front of the shoulders to avoid joint impingement—but there are some problems I forgot to warn them about…
“We felt a good stretch in our lats and no shoulder discomfort. But the grip was a bit awkward.”
“Yes, that can be a problem when your hands are locked on a bar. It’s why I do them on my cable unit with separate cable handles. That allows more freedom of movement.”
“Oh, now you tell us.”
“The functional cable machine is popular at the gym, so you may not always be able to use it.”
“True, but I think our gym has a pulldown bar with handles that twist.”
“Try it, as long as it’s not too wide. A parallel grip would work too—even the V handle from the cable row—although those don’t give you the freedom that separate cable handles allow.”
“We also noticed that it’s really hard to pull the arms all the way down and into the body at the bottom for a lat contraction.”
“Yes, the strength curve is wrong, which is one of the reasons it’s not an ideal exercise. But remember that you’re doing this as an add-on stretch move. The top range is most important, so pulling until your hands are down to chin level is fine.”
“So an over-grip pulldown is a no-go, right?”
“Correct. It puts your upper arms up and out, on the same plane as your torso. That’s shoulder-impingement territory when you extend your arms.” [I put my right arm up and cringed due to a shoulder-joint twinge.]
“Whoa, you are an old man.”
“Yep, with a little bit of young muscle and a few mangled joints.”
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Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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