A coach shows Jason the lean-away lat pulldown, a reverse bench press that builds upper-back stability for a stronger bench press. You need heavy weight, thoracic extension, and chest contact on every rep. Common mistakes: too light, too fast, and not touching down.
We're going to show you a variation on lat pulldown. It's called lean away lat pulldown, and I particularly like it. I almost think of it as a reverse bench press. So Jason's going to be demonstrating. Now, when we do set up this exercise, one of the considerations we need to make is for load. So right now I don't have enough load on it. So Jason, can you just demonstrate what not enough load on it looks like? Is when he does get into position on lean away lat pulldown, you'll see that he— so he's going to lean, lean, lean, lean, lean, lean, and as he does this, pull into it, he's able to maintain, but again, we need to have a counterbalance. So relax. We need to have a counterbalance at the weight so he's not relying on his abdomen to keep him stable. So there needs to be a bit of resistance here. I'm going to whack you on— let's go 61. So it's going to be able to counterbalance me a bit more. Now I do love this exercise for a few different reasons, but particularly in helping someone's bench press. So getting into position, It's in position, nice and wide. Now he's going to lean away, lean away, lean away, lean away, lean away, pull everything in. Now in this position, I want him to pull himself even more. Jason, so let yourself up again. Now let's do it in two parts. So lean away for me, lean away, lean away, lean away. Keep all this tucked. So on the bench press, right, we want to get all of this tucked under. We want to get into thoracic extension. We want to get the lats nice and depressed. Which is going to— and when we do get into that thoracic extension, we're going to automatically get into that external rotator position, which is super going to keep our shoulders super, super safe. So even more thoracic extended. Now extend yourself up to the bar, Jason, extend yourself up and pull. Extend yourself up even more. Good. And let it stretch and then reset. Good. And again, pull everything down. I'm just cueing in with my hands and getting to that thoracic extension. Good.
More, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.
And again, maybe a little too heavy, but we'll try one more. Extend and pull everything in and pull yourself up into it. Pull yourself up into it.
Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.
Excellent. So we're going to go a little lighter because you can see it's a little lighter. As Jason does this, he's not touching his chest and I want him to touch his chest because again, this is about— this is perfectly complementary for our bench press when we're thinking about the opposing muscle groups that keep us stable on a bench press. Obviously, we're exerting force on a bench press, with our triceps, pecs, and shoulders. But what's keeping everything stable is our upper back. And as we extend the thoracic extension, and like I've said in previous videos, joints move muscles, muscles don't move joints. So let's go again, Jason. We're going to articulate through the joint, getting to that end range of motion. So pulls everything down, lats get depressed into the underpants, thoracic extension. You were a bit quick on that pull. So let's do that again. Stay there. Again, we're going to do this in two parts and then you get into that position. So pulls everything down, gets into position first. So pull yourself into position. Now pull everything down, touching your chest. More, more, exaggerate, exaggerate, and then let everything up. So you can see where Jason's weak. He's weak in that extended, that mid-back position, that thoracic extension. So pull everything in. This is a great exercise for Jason. This would help his bench press, those stabilizer muscles be worked. And pull it in, pull it in, pull it in, pull it in, pull it in more. Be aggressive, be aggressive. Good. And let's just do one more. And remember, that one wasn't a perfect one. I'll just demonstrate a perfect one here. Pull it in, pull it in, pull it in, and pull everything down.
Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, and all the way up.
That's failure, failure. And then we come all the way up. So make sure you're doing those parts. Don't rush through it. If you've enjoyed this exercise and like this variation on the lat pulldown, consider subscribing to my channel. Want more videos to learn how to build your superhuman? Click here or here.
Gonna keep on rollin', gonna creep up the hustle till I see the low.
