If you want a strong back and maybe build some muscle while you’re at it, you’ve come to the right place.
There are tons of exercises out there to train your back. We all have 20 different pairs of back muscles, so it’s no wonder that you can train your back in so many ways.
The biggest muscles in your back are your lats. They are the main muscle you use when doing pull-ups or rows.
It’s also the main target when doing any kind of lat pulldown. Of the many grips you can train, neutral-grip pulldowns are one of my favorites.
It’s not the only grip you should ever do, but it is one I highly recommend throwing in. You can also do the neutral-grip pulldown with a wide or narrow grip.
So, while it’s only one of the grip styles, there are several ways you can do it.
But why do I like it so much and recommend it? I’m about to get into that.
In This Article:
• Benefits of the Neutral-Grip Pulldown
• How to Do a Neutral-Grip Pulldown
• Neutral-Grip Pulldown Variations
• Common Mistakes When Doing the Neutral-Grip Pulldown
• Sample Back Workout
• How to Get the Most out of Neutral-Grip Pulldowns
Benefits of the Neutral-Grip Pulldown
There are many benefits to name here. In general, any lat pulldown variation will strengthen the muscles in your back.
Your lattismus dorsi (aka “lats”) are the biggest muscles in your back. It runs from your low to mid spine and fans out to attach to your upper arms.
This is the prime mover in every lat pulldown variation. Its main job is to pull your upper arms down.
Because your arms don’t stay straight as you do it, you’ll also be working your elbow flexors.
These include your biceps, brachialis, and brachioradialis. Your brachialis lies beneath your biceps on your upper arm. Your brachioradialis runs across your elbow on the lateral side to your forearm.
If you didn’t already know, your biceps are the muscles lying on the front side of your upper arms. It’s one of the glamour muscles you see guys at the gym flexing in the mirror all the time.
With any lat pulldown variation, you can build plenty of strength and muscle in all these areas. So what’s different about the neutral-grip pulldown?
In the neutral-grip lat pulldown, your wrists are in their most comfortable position. They are neither fully supinated (palm facing you) nor pronated (palm facing away).
Keeping your palms in the middle, facing each other, puts the least amount of strain on your wrists. A neutral grip also puts your shoulders in a more free position.
It allows you to focus more on pulling with your lats instead of pulling too much with your elbow flexors. Those muscles need work, too, but they shouldn’t become the focus of the movement.
Now, to be clear, there is nothing wrong with using an overhand or underhand grip. Those are very beneficial as well.
If you want the best overall muscle development, though, you need to train your muscles from all angles. Using a neutral grip when doing lat pulldowns is one of those angles.
How Does a Neutral Grip Train Your Muscles Differently?
When you're using an overhand grip, like a traditional pull-up, your biceps and brachialis aren’t as active. Your brachioradialis is getting more work alongside your lats.
With an underhand grip, your biceps take a big leap in how much they get used.
When doing a neutral-grip pulldown, your biceps and brachialis both get a little more work and share the load more. This makes it a little easier to handle more weight.
So your grip does matter. Neutral-grip lat pulldowns are a great exercise, and I highly recommend you add them to your training program!
How to Do a Neutral-Grip Pulldown
For this exercise, you will need access to a lat pulldown machine. It has a cable set in a high position with a seat and thigh pads to lock yourself into position.
You can do this with a narrow v-bar attachment. You can also go shoulder-width or even wider with a neutral grip.
It all depends on what attachments you have available and what you want to do. For these instructions, we’ll use the v-bar.
Step-By-Step Directions (V-Bar)
1. Attach a v-bar to the cable, and set your thigh pads to a height that comfortably holds you down into position.
2. Stand up and grab the v-bar, then sit and secure your thighs under the pad. Your arms and shoulders should be stretched overhead with tension in the cable.
3. Lean back slightly, then pull your shoulders down and back to start the movement.
4. Keeping your elbows close to your body, pull your elbows down to your sides until the v-bar reaches your lower chest.
5. Squeeze your lats at the bottom for a second, then slowly return to the starting position.
Now, if you have access to a wider bar attachment with neutral (parallel) grips at the end, the instructions are slightly different...
Step-By-Step Directions (Wide Bar)
1. Attach a wide bar with neutral grips on the end of the cable. Then, set your thigh pads to a height that comfortably holds you down into position.
2. Stand up and grab the neutral grips on the end, then sit and secure your thighs under the pad. Your arms and shoulders should be stretched overhead with tension in the cable. Your palms should still be facing each other when gripping the bar.
3. Lean back slightly, then pull your shoulders down and back to start the movement.
4. Keeping your elbows away from your body, pull your elbows down and behind you until the bar reaches your chest.
5. Squeeze your lats at the bottom for a second, then slowly return to the starting position.
Neutral-Grip Pulldown Variations
In the last section, I provided instructions on how to use both a narrower v-grip and a wider bar with neutral grips on the end.
Using this wider attachment will recruit your biceps and outer lats more than the v-bar. The narrower grip in the v-bar will help build more muscle thickness in your lats. The wider bar will build more width in your lats.
With the neutral-grip pulldown, it’s good to throw both narrow and wide grips into your training. It doesn’t have to be all in the same training session, though.
In one workout, you could choose to use the v-bar, and in another workout, you could choose to use the wider bar. Doing both will further help to train your lats from all angles.
After all, that’s how you’ll get the most well-rounded muscle development in your back. But let’s talk about a few other variations of the neutral-grip pulldown you can do.
Neutral-Grip Pull-Ups
This might seem like the exact same exercise mechanically, but if you look closely, it’s actually pretty different.
When doing a neutral-grip pulldown, you’re pulling the bar down to you. Your body stays stable, but your hands and elbows are moving up and down with the bar.
So regarding your lats, the fibers attached to your spine are the anchor point. The fibers then pull down on your arms to move the bar.
The resistance is moving in the opposite direction of gravity. When doing a neutral-grip pull-up, it’s the exact opposite.
Your hands and elbows are stable, but you’re pulling your entire body up against gravity. So the muscle fibers in your lats somewhat have to pull in the opposite direction.
While it’s essentially the same movement, it does train your muscles differently. So, it’s a great exercise to mix in for optimal muscle development.
Neutral-Grip Low Rows
This exercise still works the same muscles, but the angle of pull is different.
In the neutral-grip pulldown, your arms go from outstretched overhead down to your sides. In neutral-grip low rows, your arms are out in front of you, and you’re pulling your arms back.
Again, this is another example of changing the angle at which you’re training your lats. You can also do this with a narrow v-bar grip or a wider bar with neutral grips on the ends.
Renegade Row
This is a great exercise that adds in some core stability. It’s a lot harder than it looks.
It starts in a high plank position with your hands gripping dumbbells. The dumbbells are set up parallel, with your palms facing each other, so it’s still a neutral grip.
From there, you have to keep your core tight and use your lats to row the weight up. You won’t feel very balanced, so your core strength will matter a lot in this one.
It’s another great way to switch up the way you train your lats. Don’t try to go too heavy on this one, or you’ll quickly realize it’s too difficult.
Common Mistakes When Doing the Neutral-Grip Pulldown
It’s not too difficult to make mistakes when doing this exercise. You have to be conscious of your form and not lift with your ego.
Using Too Much Momentum
This is common with almost every exercise if you lift with your ego. Many people will throw their body back really hard in an effort to do more reps.
The problem with this is that they end up not emphasizing the right muscles. If you’re doing any exercise, it has a purpose.
You’re doing the neutral-grip pulldown to strengthen your arms and your lats. Don’t throw the weight around to look strong.
If you’re doing this, you’re likely using too much weight. Keep the movement slow and controlled, and focus on the contraction in your lats.
Leaning Back Too Far
The further you lean back, the easier the exercise becomes. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re hurting yourself, but it’s changing the exercise into more of a row.
If you want to do a neutral-grip row, do that. If you want to get the benefits of doing a neutral-grip pulldown, do it correctly.
Lean back a few degrees, and you’re doing it correctly. Lean back 45 degrees like many do, and you’re doing more of a high row.
Focusing Too Much On Your Elbow Flexors
If you do the neutral-grip pulldown and finish with your elbows in front of you, you’re not using your lats enough.
Your lats will primarily be pulling your upper arms down and behind you, along with your rear delts. If you put too much focus on pulling with your hands, you’ll over-emphasize your biceps.
That will cause your elbows to fully flex before your elbows make it behind you. When you do neutral-grip pulldowns, focus on pulling your elbows down first.
That will help you recruit your lats better and not over-use your biceps.
Sample Back Workout
Obviously, I’m not going to make an entire workout out of just doing neutral-grip lat pulldowns. It’s only one exercise, and for a workout, you need to do more than that.
There are so many different ways to incorporate neutral-grip pulldowns into a workout. Down below is just going to be an example of how you can throw it into your routine.
Because we all have different starting points, I’m going to throw 3 different workouts together. One for beginners, intermediate, and advanced lifters.
Beginner Back Workout
For this workout, finish all sets of each exercise before moving on to the next one. This workout is designed for simplicity, and you’ll have plenty of rest and recovery between sets.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Bent-Over Row | 3 | 10-12 |
| Neutral-Grip Pulldown (Wide Bar) | 3 | 10-12 |
| Bicep Exercise of Choice (Ex. Preacher Curl) | 3 | 12-15 |
| Single-Arm Dumbbell Row | 3 | 10 Each Arm |
| Shoulder Shrug | 3 | 10 |
| Abdominal Exercise of Choice (Ex. Sit-Up) | 3 | 10-20 |
Intermediate Back Workout
For this workout, some supersets will be involved. When you see “SS” next to two consecutive exercises, that means you’ll be supersetting them.
A superset means you’ll be going back and forth between the exercises with no rest in between. Once you've completed both exercises, you can take a rest between sets. Many times, people choose opposing muscle groups to do supersets with, but that’s not always the case.
Here, they may still be working the same muscles. It’s great for building muscular endurance!
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Deadlift | 3 | 8 |
| Neutral-Grip Pull-Up | 3 | Until Failure |
|
SS: T-Bar Row |
3 | 8-12 |
| Bicep Exercise of Choice (e.g., Barbell Bicep Curl) | 3 | 10-12 |
|
SS: Shoulder Shrug w/ Wide Neutral-Grip Pulldown |
3 | 8-12 |
| Bicycle Crunches | 3 | 20 (Each Side) |
Advanced Back Workout
This workout is going to be more about strength but with a twist. So, the weights will be heavier, but some of the exercises will have a drop set.
I’ll signify this with a “DS” and it will be on the last set of that exercise.
A drop set is when you finish the reps required with a given weight, then you lower the weight and keep going. You can end up lowering the weight 3-4 times before you cannot do any more.
This is great for building muscular endurance, and it can help with muscle growth, too. You just have to make sure you’re squeezing your muscles really hard when you get to using lighter weights.
This sometimes requires a spotter, but even if it doesn’t, it’s helpful to have someone there to lower the weight for you on drop sets.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Deadlift | 4 (DS on Set 4) | 6 |
| Wide-Grip Pull-Up | 3 | Until Failure |
| Neutral-Grip Pulldown (V-Bar) | 4 (DS on Set 4) | 6 |
| Shoulder Shrug | 4 (DS on Set 4) | 6 |
| Bicep Exercise of Choice (Ex. Incline Dumbbell Curl) | 3 (DS on Set 3) | 10 |
| Renegade Row | 4 | 6 Each Arm |
| Hanging Leg Raises | 3 | Until Failure |
How to Get the Most Out of Neutral-Grip Pulldowns
The neutral-grip pulldown is a wonderful exercise that can be thrown into your routine in tons of ways. Its many variations are great to do as well.
Over time, though, there will be some factors you’ll have to change. At least if you want to continue seeing progress.
You see, our bodies are masters at adapting. If you always do the exact same workout, your body will get used to it and won’t keep progressing.
It’s important to incorporate progressive overload. This means your workouts need to continue challenging your muscles more and more over time.
That could be by increasing the weight, reps, and sets. It could be shortening your rest periods. It could be through adding in supersets and drop sets like I did in the workouts above.
One way or another, your workout programming will need to change over time. Not everyone is the most savvy with workout programming. I know I wasn’t at first!
If you have a muscle growth or fat loss goal, you also need to factor in the changes to your nutrition. Working out and doing neutral-grip pulldowns isn’t going to be enough.
In order to change your weight, your diet MUST change.
If you want to lose body fat, you’ll have to eat fewer calories than you burn. You also need to know how much to eat to fuel your workouts and how much protein you need to maintain muscle.
If you want to build muscle, you need to eat more calories than you burn, but not so much that you start adding excess body fat. You also need to eat enough protein to fulfill that muscle growth.
Nutrition is typically the hardest part for people. Not just knowing what to eat but also having the support system in place to stick to it.
…and knowing how to change your diet over time. Yeah, that’s part of making progress, too.
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