Straight Arm Pulldown

Also known as: straight arm lat pulldown, cable straight arm pulldown, straight arm cable pulldown, stiff arm pulldown, standing cable pullover

In SetGrip: Cable Straight Arm Pulldown

Secondary muscles
Delts, Biceps
Body part
Back
Laterality
Bilateral (both sides together)
Category
Strength

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Locking your elbows into a soft, fixed bend turns the pulldown into a pure lat movement: the bar sweeps from overhead to your thighs and the biceps never get a chance to take over. Load stays light to moderate for sets of 10 to 15, which makes it a sensible way to groove lat tension early in a back session.

How to do the Straight Arm Pulldown

  1. Attach a straight bar to the high pulley of a cable machine.
  2. Stand facing the machine with your feet shoulder-width apart.
  3. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip, keeping your arms straight and your palms facing down.
  4. Engage your lats and pull the bar down towards your thighs, keeping your arms straight throughout the movement.
  5. Pause for a moment at the bottom, then slowly return the bar to the starting position.
  6. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tip: Pull the elbows toward your hips, not the bar toward your chin.

Muscles worked

Primary

Lats · Back

The lats pull the upper arm down and in, and you should feel a stretch at the top of the rep and a squeeze at the bottom along the sides of the back.

Secondary

  • Delts
  • Biceps — The biceps bend the elbow and take a bigger share with an underhand grip; if they tire before the lats, widen the grip or use a neutral handle.

Common mistakes

  • Rowing the bar — a slight lean is fine but if the torso swings past 30 degrees you are rowing, not pulling down; sit tall and let the elbows travel straight down.
  • Pulling behind the neck by accident — unless you are deliberately training the behind-the-neck version light with good shoulder mobility, bring the bar to the top of the chest and no further.
  • Starting with the arms — initiate by pulling the shoulders down away from the ears, then let the elbows follow.
  • Stack slamming on the return — control the bar all the way back up until the arms are straight and the lats are stretched.

Where it fits in a workout

Pulldowns go after pull-ups or as the main vertical pull if you cannot do pull-ups yet. Superset with a straight arm pulldown or cable row on the same stack.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Variations and alternatives

Similar exercises

Without cable

Easier and harder

When to talk to someone

  • Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
  • Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
  • Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.

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More exercises

Sources

  1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
  2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
  3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
  4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.

Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.