Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown
lats
What moves the load, and what it costs
3.5MET
Lats is the prime mover, with the biceps, upper back assisting. The most comfortable pulldown for most shoulders and elbows, and a sensible default if you only do one variation.
Cue: Palms facing each other, elbows tracking forward rather than out.
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·FILED UNDER WEIGHTS, 8–15 REPS·REVIEWED JUL 2026
SHARED AXIS · SEVEN VALUES FROM ONE TABLE · HIGHLIGHTED ROW IS THIS MOVEMENT
The compendium files neutral-grip lat pulldown under a category, not a lift. Read the ladder as position, not precision: this is heavier work than sitting quietly by a factor of 3.5, and middling for conditioning work.
Turning that MET value into a real energy cost
- Map the movement to a published category. The compendium measures categories of conditioning work, never individual lifts, so neutral-grip lat pulldown is filed under Resistance training (weight lifting), multiple exercises, 8–15 repetitions at varied resistance.
- Take the category's MET value — 3.5. One MET is the cost of sitting quietly, so this is 3.5 times resting metabolism.
- Multiply by 3.5 to get millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the unit the MET is actually defined in.
- Multiply by your bodyweight in kilograms and divide by 200. The result is kilocalories per minute of work.
- Count working minutes only. Under load, not under the roof — a set of eight is about 25 seconds of the hour you were there.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200 Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown: 3.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal/min
SOURCE·ACSM metabolic equation + 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·REFERENCE BODY MASS 70 KG·REVIEWED JUL 2026
What is actually doing the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| LatsLatissimus dorsi | Prime mover | Pulls the upper arm down and back towards the ribs (shoulder extension and adduction) and rotates it inwards. It is the prime mover in every pull-up and pulldown. |
| BicepsBiceps brachii and brachialis | Synergist / stabiliser | Bends the elbow, and (biceps brachii only) turns the palm upwards. It also crosses the shoulder, which is why the incline curl feels different from the preacher curl. |
| Upper backRhomboids and middle trapezius | Synergist / stabiliser | Draws the shoulder blades together and towards the spine (scapular retraction). Every horizontal row loads it; every pulldown loads it less. |
The prime mover produces the movement against the resistance; synergists assist and stabilisers hold a joint still without moving it. An exercise trains the whole muscle it loads — there is no way to work only part of a muscle, and no exercise removes fat from the area around it.
Set up, then earn the rep
Cable machine, Machine. Every rep should look like the first one. The moment it stops looking like the first one, the set is finished.
PATTERN · PULL
- Set the thigh pad so your legs are pinned and you cannot rise off the seat.
- Take the handle and sit tall with a slight backward lean of 10 to 20 degrees, chest up.
- Palms facing each other, elbows tracking forward rather than out.
- Pull the shoulder blades down first, then drive the elbows towards your ribs until the bar reaches the top of your chest.
- Squeeze for a beat, then let the bar return all the way up until the arms are straight and the shoulder blades rise.
- Keep the torso angle the same on every rep — if you lean further back to finish, the weight is too heavy.
Where this one breaks down
Not theory. These are the faults you correct on a gym floor, and the correction that actually works.
Leaning back further as the set gets hard.
It turns a pulldown into a bad row and hides the point at which the set should have ended.
Pulling behind the neck.
It forces the shoulder into extreme external rotation with load and offers nothing the front version does not. Pull to the chest.
Not letting the arms straighten.
The stretched position is where the lat does its best work. Let the shoulder blades travel up at the top of every rep.
Regress it, or progress it
Regress — earn it first
Nothing on this site regresses it further: this is already near the entry point of its pattern. Take load off, shorten the range, or slow the tempo — in that order.
Prescription: load, reps, rest
Read off the goal, then hold the technique constant as the load climbs. Derived from the movement's mechanics, not invented for this page: a compound lift loads several joints, so it tolerates heavy loads and needs long rests.
| Goal | Sets | Reps | Rest | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3–5 | 3–6 | 3–5 min | Heavy loads need long rests. Cutting rest to two minutes turns a strength set into a conditioning set. |
| Muscle size | 3–4 | 6–12 | 90–180 sec | Take most sets to within one to three reps of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle matters more than the exact rep number. |
| Endurance / fat loss | 2–4 | 12–20 | 45–75 sec | Lighter loads and shorter rests. Fat loss is decided by the diet; this preserves muscle while it happens. |
| First month | 2–3 | 8–10 | 2 min | Well short of failure, same weight every set, until the movement looks the same on the last rep as the first. |
Time under load, in kilocalories
Read these as minutes of work, not minutes in the building. A set of eight takes about twenty-five seconds; the rest of the hour is rest, chalk and queueing.
Mapped category: Resistance training (weight lifting), multiple exercises, 8–15 repetitions at varied resistance — 3.5 MET. That is the published category this movement is filed under, not a measurement of this specific lift.
Worked at 3.5 MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal per working minute for a 70 kg adult. Scale it by your own bodyweight; the equation is linear. The full activity dataset lives at BurnLab.
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·CATEGORY VALUE, NOT A PER-EXERCISE MEASUREMENT·REVIEWED JUL 2026
If the rack is taken
Substitutes train the same prime mover through the same pattern with different kit. Computed from the muscle and pattern data on this card, not hand-picked to fill a grid.
Where it sits in a week
One movement is not a programme. The twelve templates put these in order, including 6 that need no gym at all.
The questions that come up on the floor
What muscles does the neutral-grip lat pulldown work?
Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown is a compound movement in which the lats is the prime mover, assisted by the biceps, upper back. Pulls the upper arm down and back towards the ribs (shoulder extension and adduction) and rotates it inwards. It is the prime mover in every pull-up and pulldown.
Is the neutral-grip lat pulldown good for beginners?
Yes. It rates 1 out of 5 for technical difficulty on this site — learnable in a single session with no coaching. Start with the lightest sensible load and two or three sets of 8–10.
What can I do instead of the neutral-grip lat pulldown at home?
The band lat pulldown is the nearest home-friendly version. Where a bodyweight substitute does not exist, progress by slowing the tempo and using single-limb versions instead of adding load.
How many sets and reps of the neutral-grip lat pulldown should I do?
For muscle size, 3–4 sets of 6–12 with 90–180 sec rest. For strength, 3–5 sets of 3–6 with 3–5 min rest. In your first month, 2–3 sets of 8–10, stopping well short of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle group matters more than the exact rep number in any of these ranges.
Does the neutral-grip lat pulldown burn fat from the lats?
No. No exercise removes fat from the area it trains — spot reduction has been tested repeatedly and does not happen. Training the lats builds the muscle underneath; where body fat is lost from is decided by an overall calorie deficit and by your genetics, not by which exercise you chose.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the sources page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
SOURCE·Published exercise references·MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION·REVIEWED JUL 2026
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