- Sit down on a pull-down machine with a wide bar attached to the top pulley. Make sure that you adjust the knee pad of the machine to fit your height. These pads will prevent your body from being raised by the resistance attached to the bar.
- Grab the bar with the palms facing forward using the prescribed grip. Note on grips: For a wide grip, your hands need to be spaced out at a distance wider than your shoulder width. For a medium grip, your hands need to be spaced out at a distance equal to your shoulder width and for a close grip at a distance smaller than your shoulder width.
- As you have both arms extended in front of you holding the bar at the chosen grip width, bring your torso and head forward. Think of an imaginary line from the center of the bar down to the back of your neck. This is your starting position.
- As you breathe out, bring the bar down until it touches the back of your neck by drawing the shoulders and the upper arms down and back. Tip: Concentrate on squeezing the back muscles once you reach the full contracted position. The upper torso should remain stationary and only the arms should move. The forearms should do no other work except for holding the bar; therefore do not try to pull down the bar using the forearms.
- After a second on the contracted position squeezing your shoulder blades together, slowly raise the bar back to the starting position when your arms are fully extended and the lats are fully stretched. Inhale during this portion of the movement.
- Repeat this motion for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
Caution: Performing this exercise can be hard on the rotator cuffs and if not properly executed can cause an injury to occur. Also, if you already have rotator cuff issues, I advise you to stick to the front pull-down version.
Variations: You can also performing this exercise by bring the bar down and touching your chest. This variation is safer and not as hard on the rotator cuffs.
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Tip: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Nov 13, 2011 11:43 PM: if you want to go complex with your workouts, this is not the choice exercise to do. It strains your neck more than building your lats.
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Tip: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Jul 29, 2011 1:02 PM: I've seen many guys in the gym trying to pull the bar down when they dont have enough power to do so.Dont do it if you cant , you may get an injury .
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Review: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Jul 29, 2011 12:43 PM: If you do these correctly without jerking your head forward as you pull the bar down, they really provide a good full range of motion for your lats and your outer biceps.
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Review: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Mar 8, 2011 11:31 AM: This exercise is not appropriate for most people. If you feel your not flexible enough to do an exercise don't do it. I like these a lot and use them for variation. My brother has alway done them heavy with no problem.
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Review: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Feb 10, 2011 8:33 PM: not a safe at all.
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Tip: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Dec 19, 2010 12:15 PM: this is not a natural movement at all, go too heavy or do this wrong you may end up with an injury. im a personal trainer and know what im talking about.
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Review: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Aug 11, 2010 11:27 PM: Hits the mid-back and lats hard.
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Review: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
May 25, 2010 4:07 PM: On these I like to alternate sets with front pulldowns. I don't go as heavy behind the neck but not much lower, 10-20 pounds. I like these because I feel like I get just a little more muscle isolation, thats just my opinion. Any exercise done improperly can increase risk of injury, I don't think...+See More
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Review: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Apr 21, 2010 1:21 PM: I'm amazed how low of a rating some of these users have given this work out. Just because you don't know the proper way to do these or can't handle the motion, doesn't mean it should get a low rating. I go up to 190lbs on this behind my back with near perfect form.
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Review: Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck
Mar 13, 2010 6:52 PM: Very good exercise,one of my favorites