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Close-Grip Lat Pulldown — back compound exercise in the LIFTAG library

Close-Grip Lat Pulldown

Compound · Weight × reps

Attach a close neutral-grip handle, secure your thighs, and sit tall beneath the high pulley. Begin with your arms overhead, then drive the elbows down close to your sides until the handle approaches the upper chest. Return slowly to a comfortable reach and let the shoulder blades rotate upward. Avoid leaning far backward or pulling the handle to the stomach by turning the movement into a row. The close grip usually allows a longer elbow path and more elbow-flexor contribution than a wide bar, but it does not isolate the lower lats; choose the handle width that fits your shoulders and wrists.

IN THE APP

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Scan the machine's QR tag and this exercise opens ready to log: sets, rest timer, PRs, and your whole progression for Close-Grip Lat Pulldown.

FOUND ON THESE MACHINES

HOW TO DO CLOSE-GRIP LAT PULLDOWN

  1. Clip a V-handle or a close-neutral attachment. Same thigh pad as any pulldown — you still need it, even though the handle looks like a row.
  2. Start with the arms long and the shoulders reached up. Neutral palms, wrists straight, not curled around the handle.
  3. Pull the handle to the upper abs / lower sternum. Elbows graze the torso and drive toward the back pockets, not out into a wide pulldown.
  4. Stretch long at the top. If you keep a pumped 90° elbow the whole set, you turned it into a biceps hold.

COMMON MISTAKES

  • Biceps-curling the V-bar. If the shoulder angle never changes and the elbows stay put, the biceps did the set. Think elbows down and in, chest up.
  • Logging it as a seated cable row. Same handle, opposite direction. This is still a vertical pull. Rows belong on seated cable row.
  • Mixing close-grip and wide-grip on one slug. The loads are different and so is the range. LIFTAG has both. Use them or the chart lies in week six.
  • Leaning so far the handle hits the belt. A little lean is a pulldown. Hitting your belt buckle with a 45° rock is a row with extra steps. Sit up and drop the pin.

VARIATIONS

PROGRESSIONS

  1. Light V-bar, full stretch, handle to the sternum, no rock.
  2. Build 8–12 before you load it like a row.
  3. Chin-ups or close-grip pull-ups once this is easy and the biceps are not the limiter.

PROGRAMMING NOTES

Close-grip pulldown is a good main vertical pull when chin-ups are the long-term goal, or a back-off after them. Three to four sets of 8–12. Note V-bar vs close overhand if you switch attachments. Rest like a pull, not like a curl — the LIFTAG timer still belongs on this lift.

EQUIPMENT ALTERNATIVES

  • Chin-up — Take it to the bar when you can. Log extra weight if you add a belt.
  • Lat pulldown — Straight bar when the V-handle is missing or the elbows want more flare.
  • Seated cable row — If what you actually wanted was a horizontal pull with that same handle.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Open Close-Grip Lat Pulldown in LIFTAG, or tap the NFC tag / scan the QR code on the machine at a partner gym. Log each working set as weight × reps. The rest timer starts after you save the set, and PRs plus estimated 1RM update automatically.

MORE BACK EXERCISES

Lat PulldownLat PulldownWide-Grip Lat PulldownWide-Grip Lat PulldownChin-upChin-upPull-upPull-upStraight-Arm PulldownStraight-Arm PulldownConventional DeadliftConventional DeadliftSeated Cable RowSeated Cable RowBarbell Bent-Over RowBarbell Bent-Over Row