Straight-Arm Cable Pulldown

Setup

Attach a straight bar to a high cable pulley. Stand facing the machine with feet shoulder-width apart, grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width, and step back slightly with arms extended overhead at about a 30-degree angle from your torso.

How to do it

1. Keep your arms completely straight throughout the entire movement with just a slight bend in the elbows
2. Pull the bar down in an arc toward your thighs by contracting your lats, not by bending your arms
3. Stop when the bar reaches your upper thighs or just below your waist
4. Control the bar back up along the same arc path until your arms are overhead again
5. Maintain a slight forward lean from the hips and keep your chest up throughout

Watch out for

• ✗Bending the elbows significantly during the movement, which turns this into a tricep pushdown instead of a lat exercise
• ✗Using momentum by rocking the torso excessively rather than keeping a stable upper body position
• ✗Shrugging the shoulders up toward the ears instead of keeping the shoulder blades down and back