Levels of sensation, various body parts

Deadly Ferret

Deadly Ferret

Deadly Ferret

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One of the exercises I currently have in my routine is Lat Pulldown. I started on about 40kg in mid-Jan, probably a little lighter than I could have managed as I'm now upto 70kg. I'm happy with the progress, as I must be gaining strength and a bit of muscle in the right area, but the thing I don't understand is that I have never really felt 'hit' in the lats.

I've had a friend compare my form to that shown in the ExRx demonstration, and he says it's a perfect match, so I'm going to assume that's not the problem. When I do the exercise though, I tend to feel it most in the anteral and rear deltoids, and a little in the upper biceps.

I have a similar experience with the seated row. I only notice 'the burn' on my biceps, nowhere in my back. Obviously that made me wonder about form, but again my friend says it's fine, and he used to be a competitive rower. As with the pulldown, there's been a significant upping of the weight since I started serious training in mid-Jan.

Is this normal?
 
A Mind muscle connection is very difficult to get right. It's easier on certain muscles such as the pecs and quads. As for the lats on the pulldown I would drop the weight slightly for a session and just try really squeezing the lats.

If you've ever seen a bodybuilder pose and 'stretch' out his lats then maybe try doing this as you have to focus and will feel the lats tension.
 
Deadly Ferret said:
One of the exercises I currently have in my routine is Lat Pulldown. I started on about 40kg in mid-Jan, probably a little lighter than I could have managed as I'm now upto 70kg. I'm happy with the progress, as I must be gaining strength and a bit of muscle in the right area, but the thing I don't understand is that I have never really felt 'hit' in the lats.

I've had a friend compare my form to that shown in the ExRx demonstration, and he says it's a perfect match, so I'm going to assume that's not the problem. When I do the exercise though, I tend to feel it most in the anteral and rear deltoids, and a little in the upper biceps.

I have a similar experience with the seated row. I only notice 'the burn' on my biceps, nowhere in my back. Obviously that made me wonder about form, but again my friend says it's fine, and he used to be a competitive rower. As with the pulldown, there's been a significant upping of the weight since I started serious training in mid-Jan.

Is this normal?
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While the form you display may be like the form on the vids, it does not mean you are doing the same thing.

as with any back exercise, you need to imagine that your hands are hooks, then start the movement with your back, pulling back the shoulder blades, then start bringing the arms into play by bending the elbows, allowing the shoulders and bi's to start working.

Sometimes its hard to imagine the above, so you can practice it...

lat pull down - start at the top of the rep, pull your shoulder blades down. slowly let it back up, do it for reps. thats the starting motion that you want.

seated rows - get the tension, then pull the shoulder blades back and squeeze.

Partials are excellent when used right.
 
It takes a little while to get used to it but once you can isolate and concentrate on using the muscle you're trying to hit. I find doing the reps really slowly and concentrating on the muscle movements helps a lot to actually give you that burn.
 
Thanks very much. I'll try to compare that method with how I currently do it, see what differences there are, then adapt to the new way.

Thinking about what has been said, I might have been putting too much power into the movements of various exercises from my arms. I've noticed a big increase in the both the visible length and the circumference of my biceps, and I had assumed that was due to them being synergists in several of the exercises I do, but I'm now worried that I might have been unknowingly over-asserting them in some of them.

I'm next due to train back & lats in about a week, so I'll report back about how I get on. Thanks again. :)
 
Your back is at its strongest when fully contracted, pause for a second at the bottom of the lift when doing any back exercise and you'll feel it a lot more.

Pause and squeeeezeee :D
 
As Morba says, focus on the shoulder blades to get that "squeeeeeeeze" in the upper and mid back.

On lat pull down try "thinking" about bringing your elbows down rather than your hands - that slight shift in mental focus should help you use your back more than your arms.
 
Forget pulldowns, instead do chins. If you can only manage one rep, it's still far better than doing more reps with pulldowns. Or use an assisted chin/pullup machine, if you have access. I hate machines, the simpler the exercise the better, the exception being assisted chin/dip machines. I've used two (Gym80 & Powertec) and they were superb. Far more effective than pulldowns.
 
Mike_T said:
Forget pulldowns, instead do chins. If you can only manage one rep, it's still far better than doing more reps with pulldowns. Or use an assisted chin/pullup machine, if you have access. I hate machines, the simpler the exercise the better, the exception being assisted chin/dip machines. I've used two (Gym80 & Powertec) and they were superb. Far more effective than pulldowns.
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struggle to do 1 rep, while swinging and kicking your legs OR controlled motion.... I know which I would choose.
If you have to do chins but cant do any or only a couple, then also do negatives, or stick a V (seated row handle) bar over the chin bar and do a palms in version.
Also, static holds (at top middle and bottom(but not lock out) phases) are good.
 
Morba said:
struggle to do 1 rep, while swinging and kicking your legs OR controlled motion....
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I don't get this 'swinging' thing. I’ve personally never experienced ‘swinging’ with chins, and there’s no chance of that using an assisted machine. Use strict form - I've never found it difficult.
 
If you are only going to manage 1 rep though I would suspect your form would be dodgy and may well be swinging about. surely the assisted chins generally removes a lot of the core muscles you use in a chin and it effectively becomes a lat pulldown anyway.
 
heeeed said:
If you are only going to manage 1 rep though I would suspect your form would be dodgy and may well be swinging about. surely the assisted chins generally removes a lot of the core muscles you use in a chin and it effectively becomes a lat pulldown anyway.
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You’d think so, but for me personally, it was very un-pulldown like, in both execution and results. Lats were seriously pumped after – pulldowns didn’t come close to that. Ultimately less stabilizer muscles are used, no doubt, but it’s much much closer to unassisted chins than pulldowns.
 
Do you really think that someone who can do 1 single very strict pullup / chin would not be able to do more?
 
When doing any back exercise or chest exercise in fact - here's a weird bit of advice to help. Imagine that there is a pencil (vertical) right between your Pecs of Lats and you have to hold that pencil with them for say 1/2/3 seconds. So at the top of your exercise really squeeze that pencil in place ;)
 
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