Rope Straight-Arm Pulldown
Trains the Lats and Teres Major.
- Equipment
- A cable station
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set a rope attachment on a high pulley and take an end in each hand.
- Step back until the cable is taut with your arms overhead and out in front of you.
- Hinge slightly at the hips with your back flat and your knees soft.
- Keeping your elbows straight but not locked, pull the rope down in a wide arc until your hands reach your thighs.
- Let your hands separate as they come down so the rope ends finish beside your hips.
- Let the cable draw your arms back overhead under control, without letting the shoulders shrug up at the top.
Common mistakes
- Letting the elbows bend as it gets hard. The moment the elbow bends this becomes a pushdown and the triceps take the load — which is the one thing this exercise is designed to prevent.
- Standing bolt upright. Without the forward lean the arc is shorter and the cable line runs past the body rather than through it.
- Going heavy enough that the whole torso rocks. The load travels through a straight arm, which is a long lever, so the weight that works here is far lighter than on a pulldown.
- Overlooking what it is for. With the elbow taken out of the movement, the muscles that pull the upper arm down and back — the latissimus dorsi and the teres major — get the work with no help from the biceps.