V-Bar Pulldown

What it is

This cable machine exercise is a compound pulling movement primarily designed to strengthen your latissimus dorsi, often called your lats. It effectively works your biceps, middle back, and shoulders as secondary muscles, building a strong upper body.

Technique tips

• Engage your lats by leaning back slightly with a proud chest.
• Keep your torso stable and avoid swinging throughout the movement.
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull the bar down.
• Control the bar slowly as you return to the starting position.
• Exhale as you pull the bar down, then inhale on the way up.

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.