Close grip vs wide grip pull downs

[Nukeman78]

I was wondering if I should alternate and do both. Does anyone find any differences between the two regarding muscle development?

 

[RAIDEN]

I have had better lat development using close grip underhand. Don't remember last time I used wide grip.

 

[Nukeman78]

Never tried under hand I'll give that a try on Tuesday thanks

 

[tightglutes]

Both . The close grip will help with adding thickness to your middle back. Wide will bring lat development.

 

[GiantSlayer]

Elbow position is key. Changing the grip tends to change your elbow position and that's what makes the difference, provided you have learned not to use your biceps.

 

[kbordner]

I change grips every back day same for chins.

 

[BrotherIron]

Wide for upper, middle lat. Close for more bicep involvement and lower back development.

 

[PillarofBalance]

The narrow grip tends to bring in more bicep for me, which I kinda prefer. Why not get a 2-for. That way I can skip doing curlz

 

[TheClap]

Not familiar with the "underhand" part but I too get much better width from close grip. You gotta look up and flare your elbows out to the sides while focusing on bringing your elbows down and back rather than the grip. It's a real mind muscle connection exercise for me. You can pull almost exclusively with your biceps or you can really hit the lats.

Wide grip for thickness. Though I don't do traditional wide grip pulldowns anymore. My PT taught me to do them further back from the pulldown machine to strengthen mid traps and sub-scapular muscles to increase shoulder stability. So I guess I do more of a pull down/back when I do wide grip.

 

[Nukeman78]

Thanks for all the good info

 

[GiantSlayer]

[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6k3iE46HaU[/video]

This video does not directly address grip width but it talks about elbow position.

 

[rawdeal]

Don't worry about the grip . . . . at first.

Consider how the arms "track" down from overhead to wherever they come close to your torso, they can both travel thru a semi-circle that is all in front of you, or they can each travel thru 2 separate semi-circles out to the sides, and the effect on your back will be different. Notice that using a 2 hands over the bar grip, even when the hands are moved in close together, tends to still flare the arms out, you pretty much need an underhands or parallel grip to get the arms tracking in front of the torso, and those narrow "triangle" grips still flare you out a bit. Even an underhand grip on a straight bar with the hands close together flares a little unless you move the hands out, just watch where the arms "track" when you choose pulldowns and rows.

Notice too (three?) that if you alternate back workouts, you might want to pair rows and pulldowns with that where-do-the-arms-track idea in mind. Like, pair an arms-in-front pulldown with an arms-outwards row in one workout, alternated with a workout where the arms in the pulldowns and rows do the opposite.