Straight-Arm Pulldown

What it is

This exercise isolates your latissimus dorsi, or lats, effectively developing your back muscles. You perform it using a cable machine, pulling a bar down to engage these primary muscles. It's an excellent way to build strength and definition in your upper back.

Technique tips

• Maintain a slight bend in your elbows throughout the movement.
• Keep your chest up and a fixed slight forward lean.
• Drive the movement with your lats, not your arms or shoulders.
• Breathe out as you pull the bar down towards your thighs.
• Control the eccentric phase, resisting the bar's return slowly.
• Avoid using momentum; initiate each rep with deliberate lat contraction.

How to track your progress

Log the weight and reps of each set. Straddly turns every set into an estimated one-rep max, so a heavier single and a strong set of eight both count as progress, and it flags a personal record the moment you beat your best.