Pronated Pulldown Guide: Benefits, How-To, Grip Comparison, & More

Simply put, this exercise is a normal pulldown (usually pulling a handle downwards, seated, using a cable) but we’re using a pronated grip (or overhand grip). On the pulldown bar, because we have our hands above our head, a pronated grip would be where our pals are pointing forwards, whereas a supinated grip would be where our hands were pointing behind us.

If our hand were by our sides instead of above our heads, a pronated grip would be where our palms are facing behind us.

As we’re usually going to be looking for a hypertrophy effect with this exercise, aim for 10 – 12 reps for 3 – 4 sets with a 1 – 2 minute rest time. In most cases, we should be using the pronated pulldown as an accessory to a bigger back lift like the pull-up (see guide) or weighted pull-up.

The pull-up is one of the best exercises you can have in your arsenal. It’s extremely functional, it builds a lot of back muscle and it’s a great barometer of overall strength compared to weight.

The pronated pulldown can be used to improve pull-up frequency and strength, especially considering that pull-ups generally use a pronated grip as well. They can also be particularly useful if someone can’t perform a good set of pull-us yet.

It’s not just the lat muscles that are involved in this movement. Your traps, rhoms, teres major, rear delt and biceps will also be getting a workout.

How much of a workout these muscles get will depend on your grip width and technique.

[back to top]

As you can imagine, the lats will be playing a big role in this movement. You can see in the diagram the top of the lats attaching to the humerus. This allows the lats to pull this bone backwards, towards our back when they’re out in front of us.

Think of the movement that this bone makes during a pronated pulldown. The arms are a long way from the side of the torso and the lats will be doing a lot of the pulling. However, grip width also impacts how much work the lats do. More on this later…

In short, the traps (see trap raise guide) keep our shoulder blades stable and in place, with the help of a few other muscles. If we were to completely relax our traps in this exercise, our shoulder blades would move up our back and externally rotate (clockwise).

This is an awful position for our back and shoulders to be in to perform a heavy lift whilst is why the traps are so important to this movement.

The rhomboids help to pull our shoulder blades (or scapula) towards our spine. Similar to the work of the traps during this movement, this is really important as the weight we’re trying to pull would pull our shoulder blades away from their optimal position without the help of this muscle.

The posterior deltoid, like the lats, also works to pull the humerus backwards from in front of us but there is a key difference between the two muscles. The further we move our elbows out to our side (rather than in front of us), the harder the rear delts work and the less the lats work.

This is why studies, and 6 times Mr Olympia Dorian Yates, explain that wide grip pull-ups or pulldowns are not as effective for building big lats as closer grips. We would recommend medium length grips for strength and performance as this is in line with the most recent studies on grip width.

The biceps work to close the angle of the elbow by pulling on our forearm.

We should be mindful to think about pulling our elbows back to our sides rather than cranking our arms to complete the lift. This cue helps to activate the lats rather than the supporting muscles (see a recent study on this cue).

This muscle has a few functions but the main one we’re interested in pulling the humerus back when it’s out in front of us.

Whilst this muscle is attached to the scapula, it’s not actually part of the rotator cuff like the muscles attached further up the bone. This is because the teres major actually attaches to the humerus rather than the shoulder socket as we can see from the diagram. This muscle performs a similar function to the lats which is why in some cases the fibres of the two separate muscles fuse together.

[back to top]

This version of the pulldown is best at targeting muscles in the upper back vs the muscles of the arm like the biceps. This is because biomechanically the arm is in a poor position to help. Can you bicep curl the same amount of weight with a pronated and a supinated grip? Now you know why.

Directly opposite to the pronated grip, this variation is the best at using the biceps, therefore building the arms. Conversely, it’s the worst variation for activating the upper back muscles.

Biomechanically, this grip is the best for muscle recruitment. Where pronated and supinated somewhat inhibit certain muscles, the neutral grip really is the best of both worlds. Read our guide on the neutral grip pulldown here.

[back to top]

Wide grip lat pulldown: This variation will do a better job of activating the upper back muscles like the traps, rhomboids and rear delt. This is because our elbows are pointing further out to the side which leads to less lat recruitment.

Medium grip lat pulldown: Scientific studies have proven that the medium grip length lat pulldown is the best of all of the grip lengths (see study here). Biomechanically, this grip length allows us to activate our muscles the most effectively, moving more load and generating the most muscle growth.

[back to top]

Pull-ups are an incredibly functional movement that incorporate all of the same muscles as a pulldown, as well as using a pronated grip. On top of this, the pull-up incorporates a wider range of muscles to complete the move due to the instability of the exercise, helping to build more functional muscle. Read our pull-up guide here.

I can’t get enough of Jeff Cavalier (but not in a weird way). Here’s another brilliant one arm pulldown variation that gets a brilliant stretch on your lats whilst being incredibly functional and athletic.

[back to top]