Are you doing Lat Pulldowns behind your neck?

[access]

I still see people (guys and gals) doing lat pulldowns behind their neck and it takes all of me to not say something. Some younger guys in the gym will ask me questions and I am happy to help them or anyone out if I am able but I don't like to just up and tell someone something but lat pulldowns behind the neck are a no no.

I am guilty like most of doing these for years and I now have a shoulder issue which I am sure I can partially blame on this exercise. I decided to look into this a little more.

Anyway the problem is that your getting you shoulder into a very unnatural and awkward position doing pulldowns with the bar coming to the base and back of your neck. Your shoulder joint (glenohumeral) is set for mobility and not purely stability. When you pull the lat bar down behind your neck your placing your shoulder into a severe rotating motion, this in itself is completely unnatural for this joint and can cause injury. This joint isn't particularly stable to begin with and now your placing it into a really stressed mode. The external rotators (smaller stability muscles) now become heavily involved and also become under stress. You do this movement without weight and you can feel how stressed your shoulder is, so imagine what your doing once you add some hefty weight into the equation.

Another important issue here is that of your neck. In order to do this exercise your craning your neck forward and down. Add some weight and your forcing your neck forward even further and therfore stressing it also. There are multiple smaller muscles and tendons which attach to the shoulder, skull and neck located in this region. These are for the most part very delicate and easily strained. I see people lunging up and down with the lat bar, sometimes with excessive weight on it and their neck arching forward at the same time. I am sure you can see how this is an injury waiting to happen. One last issue worth noting (and I agree is unusual but can and does happen) is the cable breaks while doing this exercise. Not too difficult to see what the result of this might be if it were to occur.

So are we shortcutting oursleves in terms of safety over workout if we do this exercise with a front pulldown to the chest? Answer is absolutely not. Numerous studies have detailed that this exercise (wide and close grip) is just as effective at working the latissimus dorsi, teres major and rhomboid be it from the front or behind the neck range of motion. So I think you can see that it makes a whole lot of sense to do this from the front..period.

[willy222]

i keep telling paul222 this but he wont listen

[access]

Originally Posted by willy222

i keep telling paul222 this but he wont listen

Well send him over to have a read and hopefully we can change his mind!

[Sammyboy]

fine read m8, im glad for i doing them infront of my head

[Gator_Mclusky]

Great post!

[Smiley]

So that true also for press behind the neck?

[dagar]

I usually do both together but your right, my shoulder hurts like hell after it. Great post as usual. I will eliminate it from my repertoire. Let me ask you something access, are there any excercises for traps besides shrugs?

[Garra]

Originally Posted by dagar

I usually do both together but your right, my shoulder hurts like hell after it. Great post as usual. I will eliminate it from my repertoire. Let me ask you something access, are there any excercises for traps besides shrugs?

Try hanging highs i usually supplement my shrugs with this exercise, massive pumps

[Garra]

well, just one question....

lat pulldowns behind the neck is sort of a simulation for wide-grip pullups for those of us who cannot support our own body weight.

However, i seem to experience the same shoulder issue when doing the pull-ups. Shouldnt the two then cause the same injuries?