How to Do a Single-Arm Lat Pulldown

A single-arm lat pulldown is a pulling exercise that targets your latissimus dorsi, rear deltoids, and biceps. You do this move on a lat pulldown machine. Single-armed lat pulldowns are considered a type of unilateral training. That means you perform the move with one side of the body at a time. Adding single-arm lat pulldowns to your workout routine can help you build a stronger back and gain more strength and size in your upper body.

Build muscle & lose weight fast with Flex.

Download for Free

Available on iPhone + Apple Watch

How-to

Sit at the cable machine with your legs secured under the pads and a single handle attached.
Grip the handle with your arm fully extended.
Pull the cable to chest level. Hold.
Slowly return to the starting position.

Muscle Worked

Primary Muscle Groups

Biceps

The biceps are muscles that sit at the front or your upper arms between your elbows and shoulders

Lats

Your latissimus dorsi, also called the "lats," help you to move your arms and keep your shoulders stable.

Middle Back

The middle back helps you rotate your torso

Shoulders

Your shoulders are ball-and-socket joints which connect your arms to your torso

Traps

Lie on the floor and place a foam roller below your traps and above your shoulder blades.

Upper Back

Lie on the floor and place a foam roller below your traps and above your shoulder blades.

Secondary Muscle Groups

Forearms

The forearms help you grip objects and move your hands, wrists and fingers

Obliques

The obliques help you twist your trunk and support your core and spine.

Pro Tips

Hold onto your spinal alignment and posture in this move by keeping your chest proud and shoulders back. Don’t round or arch your back.
Keep your core muscles engaged so your torso stays stable. Make sure not to swing or rock your body while you pull the machine handle down. This helps keep the tension in your lats.
Control the eccentric (lowering) phase of this move by resisting your weight as you bring the machine handle back to the starting position. This helps you create a slower and more controlled movement pattern so you can max out on muscular engagement and cultivate more strength.

Equipments

Lat Pulldown Machine

This is a machine with overhead bar handles attached to a pulley or arm that move downward when pulled to work the back muscles

Benefits

This exercise lets you activate your muscles unilaterally. That means you work one side of the body, then the other. If you’re stronger on one side, unilateral training addresses muscle imbalances between your left and right sides.
Lat pulldowns can improve your core stability since you’re forced to brace your core and obliques to keep yourself up.
This exercise can help you build more muscle mass in your back.

Alternatives

The following exercises target the same primary muscles using the same equipment:

All About the Dumbbell Pullover

Alternating Incline Dumbbell Curl

Barbell Clean and Press

Barbell Shrugs— Exercise

Warm Up & Cool Down

Warm Up

Arm circles are circular motions with your shoulders and arms to warm up the joints for exercise.

Roll each arm at the shoulder joint in circles. Start small, increasing the size of the circles until you are making wide arm circles.
Reverse the direction of your arm circles, starting with big circles and getting smaller.

Cool Down

Seated forward folds are a great way to relieve tension all throughout your body. You can use this move as a cool-down stretch for many exercises, including lat pulldowns. It stretches your back and shoulders to improve your flexibility.

Sit on the floor with your legs out straight in front of you. Hinge from your hips to fold your body forward and reach your hands toward your feet or shins, as far as they’ll go. Hold your stretch for 30 seconds or as needed, then roll through your spine to come back up.

FAQ

Get fit with Flex

Build muscle & lose weight fast for free.