Back · Cable
Lat Pulldown
The lat pulldown is a cable movement in which the seated lifter pulls an overhead bar down toward the upper chest against a selectable weight stack.
Also called Pulldown, Machine Pulldown, Back Lat Pulldown, Lateral Pulldown. orcatrain matches these names when you search the movement catalogue.
How is the lat pulldown performed?
The lifter sits at the machine with the thighs secured under the pads and takes an overhand grip on the bar, arms straight overhead. The bar is pulled down toward the upper chest by driving the elbows down and back, then returned under control until the arms are straight again and the shoulder blades rise with the bar. The torso stays close to upright rather than swinging back to help the pull.
What does the lat pulldown train?
The lat pulldown trains the same vertical pulling pattern as the pull up, but against a selectable stack rather than bodyweight. That is its whole value: the load can be set below bodyweight for someone building toward a first pull up, or driven above it, and it can be adjusted in small increments — which bodyweight cannot.
How does orcatrain score the lat pulldown?
Log the weight selected on the stack. Because stacks vary between machines and some are geared through a pulley ratio, the figure is a consistent basis for tracking your own progress rather than a load comparable across gyms. Scored on its own; not part of the headline total.
Every scored set is turned into an estimated one-rep max, and that estimate is scored with the DOTS coefficient against your bodyweight and sex — so a set is comparable with your own past work and with lifters of a different size. Sets above ten repetitions are recorded but not scored: the estimate is a curve fit that stops being honest past that point, so orcatrain returns nothing rather than a confident guess. Weights are stored in kilograms.
Track your progress on Lat Pulldown.
Movement names and groupings come from Strength Level, where you can also see their strength standards for this movement. DOTS is computed by orcatrain itself.