These are the best lat pulldown alternatives for a stronger, defined back

Your lats or latissimus dorsi muscles are large triangular-shaped back muscles that get a serious workout with the lateral pulldown, hence the name. The lats are sometimes called the wing muscles you see on a muscular back. Sculpting and strengthening your lats is a part of achieving the desirable V-taper look — a defined male physique with a wider upper body and broader shoulders that taper down to a smaller, muscular waist and abdominal area.

I love how the lat pulldown feels like I’m engaging most of my upper back and shoulders, including the rotator cuffs. One of my favorite benefits is that this simple move improves shoulder stability; plus, sometimes my shoulders get a little achy, and a few rounds of lat pulldowns genuinely tend to provide some relief. 

While I do like the classic lat pulldown on the machine, there are other ways to hit those same muscle groups and help you build a bigger back. Targeting your back from multiple angles with various exercises engages all of those muscle fibers in your lats. If the machine is taken at the gym, you want to work out from the comfort and privacy of home, or you just feel like switching up your exercise schedule, you can choose from several effective lat pulldown alternatives that are similar to the original.  

What is the lat pulldown?

The lat pulldown is a resistance training exercise where you use a machine and pull the bar down towards your chest from a seated position. This compound strength training movement works multiple muscle groups at the same time, including those lats. There are different variations of this exercise, including the wide-grip and the narrow-grip lat pulldown. Interestingly, research shows that changing how you grip the bar emphasizes different muscle groups. 

An underhand, shoulder-width grip lat pulldown is similar to a chin-up and better engages your traps and biceps, whereas the more popular wider, overhand grip is similar to the grip you’d use for a pull-up. The overhand grip emphasizes your lats even more, including the lower lats.

How to do the lat pulldown

Here’s how to do the lat pulldown:

1. You sit on the pulldown machine with your feet planted flat on the ground. 
2. Adjust the knee pads if needed for proper support. Your knees should be at a 90-degree angle firmly under the pads.
3. Hold the bar with an overhand grip, a little wider than shoulder-width apart, and fully extend your arms. 
4. Engage your back and core and carefully pull the bar down to your chest. 
5. Hold the position for a moment before slowly extending your arms to allow the cable to pull the bar back up to the starting position. 
6. Repeat until you complete the set.

You can aim for about two or three sets of eight to 10 reps with a suitable weight.

What muscles are worked?

The overhead pulling motion of the lat pulldown recruits several major muscles in your back, shoulders, and arms. Your latissimus dorsi muscles in your back are the primary players, but they also work alongside other muscles, including your:

• Pectoralis major in your chest.
• Lower and middle trapezius in your back.
• Brachialis muscles in your upper arms beneath your biceps.
• Brachioradialis muscles on the lateral side of your forearms.
• Teres major in your shoulder joints.
• Rhomboids, which are a group of muscles that help you move your shoulder blades.
• Infraspinatus refers to the thick triangular muscles at the back of your shoulders.
• Rear deltoid muscles in your shoulders.
• Biceps in your upper arms.
• Hand and wrist flexors.
• Abdominals.

On another interesting note, your lat muscles in your back assist with respiration, so it’s a good idea to add lat-strengthening moves to your routine; you might even breathe better.

The importance of strong lats

Your lats are large muscles spreading across a big area of your back, and they tend to show more as they become stronger and more defined. Strong lats don’t just have an aesthetic appeal; your lats are also the most powerful pulling muscle in your upper body. When you’re pulling open doors, pulling the bed sheets over the mattress, or pulling furniture around, you’re using these major muscle groups in your everyday functional activities.

Moves like the pull-up, deadlift, and lat-pulldowns are worthy exercises that deserve a place in your pull-day routine. Your lats help you move your arms back, so they’re a key player in vertical pulling moves like lat pulldowns and horizontal pulling moves like the dumbbell row. These important muscles also assist with shoulder adduction, extension, and medial rotation. 

The best lat pulldown alternatives

Lat pulldowns are an excellent lat-bulking move, but the main downside is that you can’t perform them without the lat pulldown machine. That’s where lat pulldown alternatives come in. Experienced fitness enthusiasts like Tyler Path share how horizontal and vertical pulling exercises where your arms are tucked closer to your body make a huge difference when it comes to those lats.

If you can’t access the machine, you want to work out at home, or you just feel like trying something different while still hitting the same muscle groups, it’s time for some other options. Read on for the best lat pulldown alternatives.

Resistance band lat pulldowns

You can use resistance bands anchored to a pull-up bar or door to simulate the resistance and motion of the lat pulldown machine. This variation only requires a resistance band and a way to anchor it overhead. 

Perform this move in the same way as the original, but you pull the bands down to your chest instead of pulling the bar on the machine.

Pull-ups

The pull-up mimics the pulling motion; all you need is a pull-up bar. Instead of pulling the bar down, you’re pulling your body weight up. The pull-up works the major muscles in your back and fine-tunes your grip strength.

How to do pull-ups:

1. Grip the pull-up bar with your hands shoulder-distance apart.
2. Pull your entire body up to the bar until your chin is level with or just over the bar.
3. Lower yourself back down with control until you reach the starting position.
4. Repeat until you complete the set. 

Face pulls

Face pulls are another pulling exercise excellent for correcting posture and boosting upper back power. You’ll also hit your rotator cuffs, rear deltoids, and upper parts of your trapezius. You’ll need resistance bands for this movement.

How do face pulls:

1. Fasten the rope handle on the cable pulley machine slightly higher than your head.
2. Take a step or two back and grip the ropes with an overhand grip.
3. Keep your elbows up high and pull the rope towards your face. (Rotate your arms so your arms come up as you get close to your head.)
4. The goal is to pull the rope handle until your hands are on either side of your head at the end of the movement.
5. Carefully return the rope to the starting position.
6. Repeat until you complete the set.

Dumbbell rows

As the name suggests, you’ll need one or two dumbbells for the dumbbell row, depending on which variation you choose. You can perform the standing variation in a lunge position or bent forward with your feet about shoulder-distance apart. You can also kneel on a bench for support if you’d prefer. Engage your lats throughout this move for the best results.

How to do the one-arm dumbbell row:

1. Start in a lunge position with your left foot forward and your right foot back.
2. Hold the dumbbell in your right hand.
3. Lift or pull the weight up to your chest, making sure your elbow is bent at a 90-degree angle.
4. Try to engage your core throughout this movement.
5. Lower the weight back down.
6. Repeat until you complete the set.

Dumbbell pullover

The dumbbell pullover isolates your lats and trains shoulder extension. You’ll fire up your pecs in your chest, triceps in your arms, posterior deltoids in your shoulders, and more. Both the traditional and the decline dumbbell pullover work your lower chest muscles.

How to do a dumbbell pullover:

1. Hold one dumbbell with both hands and lay with your back flat on the bench.
2. Your feet should be flat on the floor, and the bench should support your head and upper back.
3. Hold the dumbbell with both hands and straighten your arms up so the weight is above your chest in the starting position.
4. Slowly take the weight back overhead as far as you can, bending your elbows and moving the weight until your upper arms are next to your ears.
5. Return the weight back to the starting position.
6. Repeat until you complete the set.

Seated cable rows

The seated cable row is a seated compound rowing exercise, and you’ll need to use a weighted horizontal cable machine with a bench and footplates. I love how this move engages and stretches your lats and rhomboid muscles between the shoulder blades. You can also try the single-arm seated cable row. Seated cable rows light up your traps, and you’ll feel it in your biceps, triceps, and forearms. Your glutes and hamstrings help stabilize you. 

How to do a seated cable row:

1. Start sitting on the bench facing the machine with your knees bent and your feet resting on the foot plates for stability. You can rest your feet firmly on the floor if there aren’t any foot plates.
2. Hold on to the cable attachment that’s usually shaped like a triangle or a bar, and begin with your arms extended straight out in front of you.
3. Engage your core and start to row the cable and weight back toward your lower torso.
4. Try to keep your back straight and squeeze your shoulder blades together as you row.
5. Carefully return the handle back to the starting position. 
6. Repeat until you complete the set.

Renegade rows

Renegade rows are an effective alternative to the lat pulldown because they mimic the motion but with a horizontal pull. It’s a more advanced variation of the dumbbell row because you’re holding your body in a plank position and lifting a dumbbell with one hand at a time. This compound move is a strength-boosting, back-building challenge that you can make even harder by adding a push-up into the movement for the push-up variation. 

Renegade rows fire up your upper back, including your lats, rhomboids, and traps, as well as your arms, core, and chest.

You’ll need two dumbbells or kettlebells for the renegade row:

1. Place two dumbbells on the floor about shoulder-distance apart.
2. Start in the plank position, supporting your body weight on your hands and toes. Try to make sure your body is extended in a straight line from your head to your heels, and the dumbbells should be directly under your shoulders.
3. Support your body with the dumbbells or the handles of the kettlebells.
4. Engage your core.
5. Push the left dumbbell into the floor and row the right dumbbell up to your torso.
6. Pull your shoulder back and flex your elbow on the rowing side to bring the dumbbell to your torso.
7. Lower the dumbbell to the floor and now repeat the rowing movement with the left dumbbell.
8. Repeat until you complete the set.

T-bar row

Adding in the T-bar row makes your workout routine more interesting while beefing up your back muscles, including your lats, traps, rhomboids, and your posterior deltoids in your shoulders. You’ll also work your biceps, hamstrings, glutes, core, and forearms. It’s an effective way to improve your posture and allows you to move more weight compared to exercises like the bent-over row. 

Some gyms have the T-bar row machine where you stand on the machine’s platform as you straddle the bar fixed at one end. If you don’t have access to a machine, another option is to fix one end of the barbell into a landmine attachment and load the other end with your weight plates. 

Here’s how to do the T-bar row:

1. Set up the T-bar with your desired weight.
2. Stand on the platform with your feet about shoulders-distance apart. The T-bar should be in between your legs.
3. Bend down low to the same starting position you would use for the bent-over row. Using an overhand grip, hold on to the handlebar.
4. Make sure your hands are a little wider than shoulders-distance apart and engage your core.
5. Bend your elbows and lift the bar up toward your chest with control.
6. Lower the bar back down to the starting position so your arms are fully extended. 
7. Repeat until you complete the set.

Dumbbell Romanian deadlift

The Romanian deadlift, or RDL, is a deadlift variation and a strength training compound movement that lights up your posterior chain, including your glutes, legs, lats, and lower back muscles. You’ll need one or two dumbbells, a barbell, one or two kettlebells, or bands. 

How to do the dumbbell Romanian deadlift:

1. Start in a standing position with your feet about hip-width apart and your toes pointing straight ahead. Hold the dumbbells down in front of your thighs with a closed overhand grip. Your palms should be facing your thighs.
2. Hinge at your hips, engage your core and push your hips back.
3. With a slight bend in your knees, start lowering the dumbbells down along your legs with control. Keep the dumbbells close to your body.
4. Lower the dumbbells down until you feel a sufficient stretch in your hamstrings on the back of your thighs.
5. Bring your hips forward and bring the dumbbells back up to return to the starting position.
6. Repeat until you complete the set.

Additional lat pulldown alternatives to try

Diversify your training schedule with these alternatives:

• Straight-arm lat pulldowns
• Single-arm cable pulldowns
• Inverted rows
• Chin-ups

FAQs

What is an alternative to lat pulldowns?

Some of the best alternatives to lat pulldowns include pull-ups, resistance band lat pulldowns, face pulls, dumbbell pullovers, and bent-over dumbbell rows. Including a variety of moves in your workout routine and switching it up over time generates optimal results.

Can you do a lateral pulldown with dumbbells?

Yes, you can try a dumbbell row, sometimes called the dumbbell lat pulldown. The dumbbell row mimics the same pulling movement and isolates your back muscles in a similar way as the lateral pulldown with the machine, so it’s a good go-to alternative. You can also try the move with resistance bands.

How can you work your lats without a machine?

You can work your lats without a machine by choosing similar alternatives like dumbbell rows, the dumbbell pullover, and pull-ups. Other exercises also work your lats, such as push-ups. Bonus tip: When you’ve mastered the traditional pull-up, try a weighted pull-up to up the ante.