Exercise Profile
- Target Muscle Group
- Exercise TypeStrength
- Equipment RequiredMachine
- MechanicsCompound
- Force TypePull (Bilateral)
- Experience LevelBeginner
- Secondary Muscles
Abs, Biceps, Shoulders, Upper Back
Lats

Reverse Grip Lat Pull Down (Underhand) Overview
The reverse grip lat pull down is a variation of the lat pull down and an exercise used to build the muscles of the back. While the exercise will primarily target the lats, you will also notice a fair amount of bicep and middle back activation.
The back is a muscle group that requires a fair amount of variation. So, experiment with several different angles and hand positions to maximize your back muscle growth.
The reverse grip hand positioning will naturally make the biceps become more involved in the exercise.
The reverse grip lat pull down can be performed during your back workouts, upper body workouts, pull workouts, and full body workouts.
Reverse Grip Lat Pull Down (Underhand) Instructions
- Attach a wide grip handle to the lat pulldown machine and assume a seated position.
- Grasp the handle with a supinated grip (double underhand) just inside of shoulder width.
- Initiate the movement by depressing the shoulder blades and then flexing the elbow while extending the shoulder.
- Pull the handle towards your body until the elbows are in line with your torso and then slowly lower the handle back to the starting position under control.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Reverse Grip Lat Pull Down (Underhand) Tips
- Keep some tone through your abdominals as you pull the bar into your body to ensure you don’t arch excessively through the spine.
- Don’t allow momentum to dictate the movement, control the weight throughout the entirety of each rep.
- If you feel your biceps being overused and your back remaining under active, consider utilizing a false grip (i.e. don’t wrap the thumb around the dumbbell).
- Don’t allow the head to jut forward as you pull.
- Similarly, ensure the shoulder blade moves on the rib cage. Don’t lock the shoulder blade down and just move through the glenohumeral joint.
- Allow the shoulder to internally rotate and shrug slightly at the top of the movement. You will obviously reverse the movement and depress the shoulder blade before you pull with the arm.
3 Comments
go with shoulder width ( not too much wide grip )
Hi, when doing this exercise with a closer grip, i feel even the traps are used and are worked up..Am i doing the exercise wrong?
Right sir