Lat Pulldowns: effects of grip width

breezy11

breezy11

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Interesting study on the effects of different lat pulldown grip widths:


Effects of grip width on muscle strength... [J Strength Cond Res. 2014] - PubMed - NCBI


J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Apr;28(4):1135-42. doi: 10.1097/JSC.0000000000000232.

Effects of grip width on muscle strength and activation in the lat pull-down.

Andersen V1, Fimland MS, Wiik E, Skoglund A, Saeterbakken AH.


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11Faculty of Teacher Education and Sport, Sogn og Fjordane University College, Sogndal, Norway; 2Department of Public Health and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; and 3Hysnes Rehabilitation Center, St. Olavs University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.

Abstract

Andersen, V, Fimland, MS, Wiik, E, Skoglund, A, and Saeterbakken, AH. Effects of grip width on muscle strength and activation in the lat pull-down. J Strength Cond Res 28(4): 1135-1142, 2014-The lat pull-down is one of the most popular compound back exercises. Still, it is a general belief that a wider grip activates the latissimus dorsi more than a narrow one, but without any broad scientific support. The aim of the study was to compare 6 repetition maximum (6RM) load and electromyographic (EMG) activity in the lat pull-down using 3 different pronated grip widths. Fifteen men performed 6RM in the lat pull-down with narrow, medium, and wide grips (1, 1.5, and 2 times the biacromial distance) in a randomized and counterbalanced order. The 6RM strengths with narrow (80.3 ± 7.2 kg) and medium grip (80 ± 7.1 kg) were higher than wide grip (77.3 ± 6.3 kg; p = 0.02). There was similar EMG activation between grip widths for latissimus, trapezius, or infraspinatus, but a tendency for biceps brachii activation to be greater for medium vs. narrow (p = 0.09), when the entire movement was analyzed. Analyzing the concentric phase separately revealed greater biceps brachii activation using the medium vs. narrow grip (p = 0.03). In the eccentric phase, there was greater activation using wide vs. narrow grip for latissimus and infraspinatus (p ≤ 0.04), and tendencies for medium greater than narrow for latissimus, and medium greater than wide for biceps (both p = 0.08), was observed. Collectively, a medium grip may have some minor advantages over small and wide grips; however, athletes and others engaged in resistance training can generally expect similar muscle activation which in turn should result in similar hypertrophy gains with a grip width that is 1-2 times the biacromial distance.


PMID: 24662157 [PubMed - in process]
 
TheMovement

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Thanks!
 

JD261985

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So medium grip is best? If so I'm going to switch from a wide grip to that. Easier on the bicep tendons also
 

stxnas

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I was doing lat pulldowns tonight and was curious about this (and thumb positions, IE, monkey grip). Thanks for the post.
 

stxnas

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Yes, thumbless (in that it is beside your index finger instead of wrapped around the bar). I guess it's monkey grip in MMA. I just did a quick search and I see what I was referring to being called a suicide grip, when used while weightlifting.
 
TheMovement

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Yes, thumb less (in that it is beside your index finger instead of wrapped around the bar). I guess it's monkey grip in MMA. I just did a quick search and I see what I was referring to being called a suicide grip, when used while weightlifting.
Just gym lingo

Usually Suicide grip is for pressing movements where it just isnt a safe plan of action. Monkey grip ive heard in reference on being thumb less on pulling movements including Deads
 
Young Gotti

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Best For Lat Width: Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown: University of Miami (Coral Gables) researchers had 10 experienced lifters perform wide-grip pulldowns to the front, pulldowns with reverse and neutral grips, and wide-grip pulldowns behind the neck while measuring muscle activity with electromyography. Wide-grip pulldowns to the front were found to involve the most lat muscle fibers, with the reverse-grip version coming in a close second.

I do all my back movements thumbless if at all possible

I don't know who is training but charles glass has a good video on youtube about proper lat pulldown technique that you should watch
 

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