Using the Lat Pull-Down Exercise Machine at the Gym

Video Transcript

"Hi I’m personal trainer Michael Angelo on behalf of Expert Village. And we’re here at Extreme Fitness in Laurel Springs, New Jersey and we’re going to demonstrate how to a lat pull down machine. On a lat pull down machine you want to make sure that your seat is adjusted properly, just move your seat down to the bottom of the machine and you want to be at a level that when you sit down your feet are flat on the floor and your knees are under the pad. Now the proper way to grip the bar is thumb and forefinger is at the very edge where the curve is and you sit down and put your feet under. Now common mistakes that people make is they will do too much weight and they’ll pull down like this risking their low back injury and they’ll pull down like this or they’ll come down another common mistake is they’ll come down this way, very bad for the low back, not targeting the muscle the way you want it to be targeted. Now the proper form is to have your feet flat, you’re back straight and you’re going to use the lat muscles which are your upper back muscles to pull the weight down towards your upper chest, squeeze and come back up. This is the proper way to do it and your injury risk is very low and your results are going to be very high. The point of doing exercises is obviously to get results and not get hurt in the process. now notice I come all the way down to the top of my chest, I don’t come all the way down to the bottom. So doing proper form, you’ll start to feel the lat muscles doing most of the work when you’re coming down to the top of the chest and squeezing it out. That’s the proper way to do a lat pull down machine. "