Traction upper block It is considered one of the fundamental exercises in bodybuilding and fitness. Used for accentuated elaboration latissimus muscles back, additionally involved upper part chest, to a lesser extent - biceps and deltoids. To perform the exercise, use special simulator, which is an exact copy of a pull-up and has a movable crossbar.
Vertical block thrust is an analogue of classic pull-ups, but it has its own advantages. Firstly, the training design with additional weights allows you to perform the exercise with more emphasis than pull-ups. Secondly, individual selection of weight allows you to perform the movement much more technically and easily, without jerking and unnecessary cheating.
Benefits for beginners
The lat pull-down is an excellent exercise for beginner athletes who, due to weakness, shoulder girdle cannot perform pull-ups with own weight. However, there is more hidden here important point for beginners: by doing this exercise, they will quickly learn to feel and engage the latissimus dorsi muscles, while minimizing the help of the biceps, which in 90% of cases does the main work when back training occurs.
Benefits for professionals
For a professional athlete, the lat pulldown is an indispensable exercise when it is necessary to work out everything muscle fibers back, and the strength to perform heavy basic exercises There were no technical issues left without violation. The second advantage is that only this exercise allows you to perform pulldowns to the lower chest at an unusual angle; it is very difficult to repeat such a movement on a pull-up.
Preliminary preparation and initial position of the athlete
1. Before starting the exercise, you must make sure that all working parts of the simulator are in good condition. Pay special attention to the cable, which is the connecting link between the handle and the weight. Do not ignore the above recommendations: this will help prevent unexpected injuries.
2. Take a sitting position. When you begin the exercise, make sure that the cable moves strictly in a vertical position, with a slight deviation towards the athlete’s shoulder girdle allowed. To achieve maximum concentration, you need to fix your hips under the T-shaped stop and adjust it in advance to your height.
3. Some professional bodybuilders perform the exercise from the floor to maximize stretching of the latissimus muscles. The starting position is not sitting, but kneeling. Instead of an emphasis, use a barbell or ask a training partner to fix their legs while performing the exercise.
For beginners, we recommend using a supinated grip and a classic straight handle. First, work with a standard hand position shoulder-width apart, after you learn to feel the latissimus muscles and perform the exercise flawlessly, adjust your grip to the individual characteristics of your body. The main thing is to ensure comfortable movement of the shoulder and wrist joints.
5. Regardless of the grip used and the selected handle, the forearms should always be kept parallel and not use the maximum width. It is forbidden to perform the exercise behind the head; to prevent injury, all movements should be directed towards the chest.
Let's move on to the exercise
1. You need to look slightly upward and make a smooth movement of the handle towards the upper section of the chest or slightly lower. Select the range of motion purely individually; the main rule is to eliminate any discomfort in the shoulder and wrist joints.
2. While performing the positive phase of the movement, you can lean back a little, while your back should remain perfectly straight, with a slightly arched lower back. If during the exercise there is a need to slouch your back and additionally use your abdominal muscles, it means that the load is excessive and you are already tired. Due to hunched shoulders, you will not be able to bring your shoulder blades together and transfer correct load latissimus dorsi muscles.
3. The back must be kept arched throughout the entire exercise. Always focus on the collarbones: if you cannot pull the handle at least to this area, then you are using excessive weight, which will not allow you to bring your shoulder blades together and effectively work your back.
4. Once you reach the bottom position, be sure to pause briefly and hold the handle: this will ensure maximum concentration and engage additional muscle fibers in your back. Return the handle to starting position smoothly and under control, avoid jerking and sudden movements. When returning to the starting position, do not straighten your arms completely, but make sure that the latissimus muscles receive maximum stretch.
5. Control your breathing: exhale during the negative phase and inhale during the positive phase. As you repeat, you can increase your breathing rate, but continue to follow the above recommendations.
6. And don't make the most common mistake: tilting your head forward while your arms are in the starting position.
Partner insurance
The lat pulldown is considered a secondary exercise, with the only chance of injury being when the cable breaks and you hit yourself with the handle. However, at some moments, the help of a partner will really be relevant. Firstly, when your strength is already at its limit, but the latissimus muscles require a continuation of the banquet, a partner will help you do a couple of forced repetitions, without violating the technique. Secondly, he will immediately make a remark if the block pull is performed inadequately.
Use the above recommendations and remember: to maximize the size of your latissimus dorsi, you need to be consistent with your form and increase your training weights at least once every two weeks.
We know that one gigantic view of the back is not enough; more detail is needed. Therefore, isolated exercises come to our aid.
In this article we will analyze one of these exercises, namely one-arm lat pulldown. Its main feature is that it perfectly “cuts through” the outer contours of the latissimus muscles.
Muscles involved
- Lat
- Big round
- Diamond-shaped
- Middle trapezoid area
Execution technique
- Attach the D-handle to the end of the block, take it in your hands and move away to a distance at which your arm is fully extended.
- Take a starting position in which your leg is set back and your body is tilted at an angle of 30-45 degrees. Hold the handle with a neutral grip.
- Using an isolated force of the latissimus muscle, begin to pull the handle towards the belt. At the same time, try to move your elbow straight back.
- At the end point of the exercise, pause for 1-2 seconds and slowly return to the starting position.
- If you do not have enough hand strength during the exercise, use a gymnastics belt or gloves with a hook on the palm. A weak grip is, of course, bad, but there are other exercises to train it. In this case, hand weakness should not limit the intensity of the one-arm pull while standing on the block.
- From time to time, switch the D-handle to a cable handle or perform two-arm rows with a neutral handle. At the same time, move your elbows strictly back, do not let them “move apart” in different directions.
Video instructions:
"Correct execution of one-arm rows while standing on a lower block"
Purpose of the exercise: Development and relief of the middle and internal sections of the pectoral muscles.
Execution:(1) Lie down on horizontal bench between two lower blocks. Grasp the cable handles and bring your arms overhead, palms facing each other. (2) With your elbows slightly bent, swing your arms out to the sides in a wide arc until your pectoral muscles are fully stretched. Then return to the starting position, raising your arms in the same wide arc, in a hugging motion. You can stop at the top of the movement or cross your arms slightly to contract the inner pecs as much as possible.
Reduction of arms on the peck-deck machine
Purpose of the exercise: To increase the size of the midsection of the pectoral muscles and identify muscle fiber bundles. Hand trainers are not the best best choice for building mass, but they are very useful for creating relief and isolating muscles.
Execution: Many gyms have "peck-deck" machines that simulate hand curls with free weights. When using these mechanisms, try to achieve the greatest range of motion by stretching the muscles to the maximum with the arms extended, and then creating an additional isometric contraction of the muscles when the arms are in the closed position.
Pullovers with dumbbells on straight arms
Purpose of the exercise: Development of the pectoral muscles and expansion of the chest.
This is the best exercise to increase chest volume. It works the pectoral muscles and also improves the definition of the serratus anterior muscles.
Execution: Place the dumbbell on the bench, then turn around and lie across the bench with your feet on the floor. Grab a dumbbell with both hands and hold it directly above your chest, pressing your palms against the inside of the top plate. (2) Keeping your arms straight, gently lower the barbell down in a wide arc behind your head, feeling the stretch in your chest. When you have lowered your arms as far as you can, return to the starting position. Try not to help yourself with your thigh muscles. Keep your hips as low as possible during the movement to ensure maximum chest expansion.
Thrust to the floor on the upper block
Purpose of the exercise: Development of the serratus anterior muscles.
Execution: Get down on your knees and grab the handles or rope loop attached to the cable from the top pulley. (2) Keeping your arms overhead, bend your torso forward and downward, creating a pulling force using your latissimus dorsi muscles. Continue this movement until your elbows touch the floor. Then return to the starting position, straighten your arms above your head and feel the latissimus dorsi muscles stretch. Pulldowns on a pulley device should be performed carefully, without trying to work with maximum weight. At the end of the series you should experience a strong burning sensation in the serratus muscle area; The abdominal muscles are also subject to additional stress.
One-arm lat pulldown
Purpose of the exercise: Development of the serratus anterior muscles.
Execution:(1) Kneel down and grab the cable handle attached to the overhead pulley with an overhand grip. (2) Using a pulling force from the latissimus dorsi muscles, move the elbow toward the knee. Intentionally tense the serratus chest muscle, achieving its full contraction. Then slowly return to the starting position. The success of this exercise depends on strict technique. Perform the movement slowly and under full control, focusing on contracting the latissimus dorsi and serratus muscles. After completing the series for one arm, repeat the exercise with the other arm.
Back muscles, like other large muscle groups, in terms of growth in strength and mass, respond best to free weights(barbell, dumbbells) and strength training. Only powerful strength work with heavy weights in barbell rows, dumbbells, pullovers, etc., is able to create a truly athletic look to the back, giving it thickness and detail.
But if so, then what to do with block exercises? After all, they also have a number of advantages and are very diverse. From time to time, every now and then, questions arise about the need for block exercises for the back, are they needed at all and in what order should they be performed? To understand the unique effectiveness of block exercises, you need to study in more detail the biomechanics of their movements and the various execution options.
In fact, the uniqueness of the blocks lies in the fact that they allow you to work the muscles at the most unimaginable angles, while maintaining tension in the muscles throughout the amplitude trajectory. Such movements with 
you can’t repeat it with free weights, which means this alone speaks of the indispensability of block exercise machines.
The next important question is when to put blocks in your program, at the beginning, at the end, or distribute them evenly, and also, is it possible to periodically conduct only block training? As a rule, block exercise machines are classified as isolating exercises that work on muscle relief and their separation; such work is usually carried out at the end of the workout, after basic movements. However, there are options here that powerfully engage the lats or lower back, while the payload is in no way inferior to free weights or pull-ups. For example, rowing the upper block while sitting or rowing the lower block to the waist while sitting. This means that these exercises can sometimes replace classical training or place them in your program along with free weights, at the beginning, end or middle. Periodically (2-3 workouts in a row) you can conduct pure block training, this will serve as a refreshing variety and upon returning to free weights there will be a breakthrough in results, since the body, having rested from a heavy “base”, will be involved in work with renewed vigor, increasing performance classes.
Block exercises for the back:
Upper block pull. It is the most effective exercise, after pull-ups, for developing the latissimus muscles, primarily for their expansion, which gives them a look reminiscent of the swollen hood of a cobra. It is enough to look at such Olympia champions as and to understand how cool the lats in the “cobra hood” style look.
The upper block pull provides effective tension on the lats throughout the entire trajectory of the amplitude of movement, while, thanks to the strong stabilization of the body, concentration on work target muscles may be absolute. If you perform the deadlift a little slower than your normal rhythm, especially slowing down during the negative phase of the repetition, muscle burn in the lats will increase significantly, and with it, efficiency. The key to results in this exercise is the sequence of execution and regular changes of grip. The lat pull-down works best if you do it first, periodically replacing the pull-ups with it. The grip changes every two workouts (2 workouts with one grip, 2 with another, etc.). Along with the usual wide grip, works great here and reverse grip, performed with 
middle position of the hands. This option thickens the lats, making them more powerful, and also gives a great workout to the biceps.
It perfectly develops the lower and middle region of the lats, and this option can be a full replacement for the T-bar row or performed after it, as a supplement (it all depends on the training weight and approaches; in a single execution, the working weight and approaches are greater). At the point of maximum muscle contraction (block at the waist), it is important to pause for a second, statically tense the lats and squeeze the shoulder blades together. This additional tension will increase over and over again and at the end of the approach will significantly add payload and will increase muscle development.
. This exercise allows you to train each side of your body separately, which corrects possible imbalances in muscle development, and also fully develops small stabilizer muscles. The one-arm pull-down is not performed at every workout, but only periodically, as an addition at the end of the back program. The basics here are dumbbell bent-over rows or one-arm hummer rows. It is these exercises that you should focus on for strength results, sometimes supplementing them with block training.
One-arm block pull can be performed with a straight body (standing facing the machine) or with rotation (rotation) while pulling the block towards you. If you perform this option with turning the body, then you need to stand sideways to the simulator (with your non-working hand) and at the same time as the block approaches you, do 
additional rotation of the body so that at the maximum point of contraction the block is in almost the same position as if you were performing a deadlift facing the machine. This option simultaneously engages the rear deltoids and will be a good variety in training for both the back muscles and deltoids.
While the regular row effectively develops the lats, this variation works with an incline for the middle and upper back, as well as the trapezius muscles and rear deltoids. In this exercise you should not use too much heavy weight, since the entire emphasis is held by the lower back and the load on it increases. The working weight should be moderate, with independent execution without “cheating” and jerking for 10-15 repetitions.
. This is a very effective multifunctional exercise for developing the back (especially the upper and middle) and shoulder girdle. Due to the constant tension in the muscles, both large muscles and small stabilizer muscles are thoroughly worked out here. You can pull the lower block, in which case the emphasis of the load will significantly shift towards the trapezoid. If you pull the upper block, then the main work will go to the middle part of the back. In any case, both here and there, the rear bundle of deltas is fully involved, which will be a new stimulus for growth for it.
. Another original and very effective exercise for the lower and middle back. This option can fully replace the T-bar and conventional barbell rows, since it provides constant, continuous muscle tension throughout the entire range of motion of the block. It is better to perform it more slowly, especially in the negative phase of the repetition, while fully extending your arms to stretch your lats as much as possible. In terms of stretching, the standing lat pulldown is one of those exercises where you can fully stretch the muscles during the set.
