Check this Confusion on Lat Pulldown Exercise
1. Should I Touch My Chest On Lat Pulldowns?
The bar does not need to touch your chest on lat pulldowns, but you should bring it below the level of your chin. When doing this exercise, focus on retracting your shoulder blades and driving your elbows down towards your back pockets.
2. Should I Lean Back On The Lat Pulldown?
You should lean back slightly when doing lat pulldowns so that you can arch your upper back, however, you should keep the rest of your spine neutral.
3. Is The Lat Pulldown A Compound Exercise?
The lat pulldown is a compound exercise because it trains several muscle groups in the back as well as in the upper arm.
4. Can Lat Pulldowns Help With Pull-Ups?
The lat pulldown trains all the same muscles as the pull-up, so in theory, it should help. The problem is, you actually have to practice pull-ups to get better at them.
If you are an absolute beginner, you can start off with lat pulldowns, but if your goal is to get better at the pull-up, be sure to practice them as well.
5. Are Pull-Ups Better Than Lat Pulldowns?
Free weight and bodyweight exercises are generally better than machine exercises. If you could only pick one, I recommend doing pull-ups.
With that said, pull-ups are more challenging as the require you to engage your entire body and core. If you prefer to isolate the back and not get the rest of your body involved, you can do lat pulldowns instead.
6. Should I Do Lat Pulldowns With An Overhand Or Underhand Grip?
I recommend that you stick to an overhand grip. This grip will target your back muscles more than an underhand grip, which heavily involves the biceps. There are other exercises you can do to target the biceps. Let the lat pulldown work your lats.
Can I Do Lat Pulldowns Behind The Head?
Lat pulldowns should not be performed behind your head. The behind the neck lat pulldown can place exercise strain on your shoulder and rotator cuff. You will get all of the benefits that you need from doing this exercise in front of your body.
