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Secret
Training Tip #178 - One Simple Movement Can Double the Effectiveness of Pulldowns
By Nick
Nilsson
Learn a simple
technique that you can use to dramatically
increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the lat pulldown.
The Pulldown is an excellent exercise for working the Latissimus Dorsi muscles
of the back (also known as the lats). It is a little known fact but there is
a way you can dramatically improve the 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 the 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 the stack.
Take a close grip on the 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 the 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 the opposite movement to the shrug, pulling the 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 the feel for the movement. You
should feel your entire shoulder girdle moving up and down.
We will now do a rep with
the shoulder drop movement. Start in the stretched position with your shoulders
up by your ears. Drop your shoulders down, lean slightly back then do a pulldown.
Be sure to keep your lower back arched and your chest puffed out to meet the
bar on the way down. You should feel your lats working harder than usual.
Squeeze hard as though trying
to touch your shoulder blades together as you come to the bottom then let the
weight back up slowly. You can repeat the shoulder drop movement at the start
of every rep or you can simply keep your shoulders down and locked in that position
throughout the set.
Dropping your shoulders
down like this serves to lock the lats into the movement and helps to minimize
the biceps involvement in the pulldown. You should find that you get a much
more effective lat workout using this technique.
------------------
Nick Nilsson is Vice-President
of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical
Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for
more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including
"Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've
Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!"
and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available
at (http://hop.clickbank.net/?xxxxx/betteru).
He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.
