The Pulldown is an excellent exercise for working
Latissimus Dorsi muscles of back (also known as lats). It is a little known fact but there is a way you can dramatically improve effectiveness of this exercise by performing one simple movement before each rep. Many people have a hard time feeling their lats working when they do pulldowns. The biceps may have a tendency to take over movement. Some people just don’t feel anything in their back at all. This little movement trick can change all of that.
The movement is simply a shoulder drop and even though it may seem like a SMALL thing, it can have a HUGE impact on your back workout.
To demonstrate this movement, start by sitting in a pulldown machine with a moderate weight on stack. Take a close grip on bar with your palms facing you (known as a reverse grip). Do a few reps using your normal technique so you have a gauge to measure against.
Now we will add shoulder drop. Let your arms go straight and let your shoulder girdle rise up as though shrugging. Your shoulders should be up by your ears. Now drop your shoulder girdle down in opposite movement to shrug, pulling weight down as you do so. The range of motion is small, being only a matter of a few inches. Repeat this drop and raise several times to get feel for movement. You should feel your entire shoulder girdle moving up and down.
