My preference is to be directly underneath the bar, pull back with the elbows to the clavicles, and slightly lean back (just enough to not hit your face). The chest must expand to fully contract the lats, so your torso is always moving while training back.
I know what you mean. It's really easy to get sloppy on those things. I see a lot of people trying to use way too much weight, and they don't get near a full range of motion, and thus their progression slows down drastically. Good form is the most important thing here. Even if you have to lower your usual weight by a drastic amount! Weight is the means to and end, rather than the goal itself. I'm not saying you do this, but some people get so carried away with how much weight that they're throwing up, that they forget what the purpose of the exericse is; to stimulate and recruit as much muscle fiber as possible, reaching positive failure, and thus inducing muscle overload, which is a driving factor in muscle hypertrophy. Good form is so important because you want to recruit as many muscle fibers from your target muscle(s) as possible.. Period!!!
Yeah, try to visualize two endpoints on each of your scapula Reaper; before beginning to execute the 'pull' part of the motion, bring the endpoints together, forming the base of your range of motion. This effectively decreases the plane of movement under which your biceps guide the pull, and elongates the plane of movement under which your lats guide the pull. For example, if you were to stick your hands straight out in front of you, and pull them back to your chest, your bicep completed the entire movement; whereas if you supinate your scapula prior to that, you'll notice even without any weight your lats complete the movement. I think you if you attempt to integrate that specific type of movement into your pulldown, you'll find it is a very effective exercise for imparting shape to the anterior serratus area.
Definitely, I would choose almost everything mentioned over them. But the original question was are they ineffective: I don't think they are useless, just not a core workout.
I'm unsure what you mean by V shape inwards/outwards? Could you clarify that a small bit?
Sure, except for that whole closed-chain vs open-chain thing.
Yes, exactly. This creates the base of your range of motion; once you have 'primed' the lift, you effectively relegate the biceps to a very small role within the lift. Start out light (considerably lighter than normal) and focus on contracting as hard as you possibly can, holding that contraction, and achieving a maximum stretch at the top.
good point man! i never go over my bodyweight with them.
In terms of muscle development your argument bears no relevance. If you wanted to get technical you could have just said the pull down machine isn't a pull up bar. The ONLY reason that closed/open would matter is for ****wads who can't use proper form on a lat pull down machine.
In terms of muscle development, one could certainly talk about how pullups will activate more muscle than pulldowns, so perhaps it's more relevant than you're indicating.
Ok. Go ahead and try to explain to me how that would work.
