Cable Straight Arm Pulldown
A step-by-step form guide from the Ægir Iron exercise library: how to do the lift, what to watch for, and the muscles it trains.
- Equipment
- Cable
HOW TO PERFORM
- Stand facing a high cable and take the bar or rope with the arms straight out in front at about shoulder height.
- Hinge forward slightly and keep the elbows locked, or just softly bent, for the whole rep.
- Sweep the arms down in an arc until the hands reach the thighs, feeling the lats shorten.
- Let the arms float back up under control to the start.
FORM TIPS
- The elbows never bend, which is what makes it a lat isolation rather than a pulldown. Bending them turns it into a triceps pushdown.
TARGET MUSCLES
Primary
- Lats
Secondary
- Traps
- Triceps
In the app
This guide covers these exercises in the Ægir Iron library:
- Cable Straight Arm Pulldown
- Cable Rope Straight Arm Pulldown
Log it in Ægir Iron to track your PRs and estimated 1RM, and to see the sets each muscle gets every week. Free for individual lifters.