
You could have yours made with 14 gauge tubing and 1/4″ plate and it would be strong enough. The heavier, bulkier design is a personal stylistic preference (mine is made with 7 gauge tubing and 1/2″ plate). I am well aware these are extremely overdesigned for the kind of loads they will be used for. If you make or have one made, please share a photo of you using it on social media, and tag me in it and include a link to this page. I can also provide a DXF file of the center part by request. Drop sets are also done very conveniently since youre using a weight stack. great way to finish off a set of pulldowns.
#Cable pulldown for free
I made these because I wanted them for my home gym. I am currently far too busy writing books and recording videos to get involved in making and shipping equipment Instead, I am giving you the drawings for free so you can make your own or hire a shop to make one for you. Ill hit the cable pulldown for reps when Im looking for more of a hypertrophy response, as well as for other possible techniques like extending my sets by switching to a closer grip or even a chin up grip after failing.
#Cable pulldown how to
How to Perform a Cable Pushdown To perform the cable pushdown, start using a resistance that can be done for three sets of 815 repetitions, allowing one to maintain proper form throughout the session. After some testing I figured I only needed to raise the angle of the handles a little more, and have already sent the updated drawings to have another made which I expect to have in about a week.įor detailed explanations and demonstrations of how to properly perform front-grip and wide-grip pulldowns and mid and low seated cable rows as well as dozens of other free weight and cable exercises, join the private HIT List forumĪfter picking up the prototype I recorded the following video with a brief explanation of the design. Working all three heads of the triceps is essential for upper arm development, and the cable pulldown provides pretty much exactly that. I sent the drawings to a local machine shop which made the prototype below, which was nearly perfect. While designing the pulldown handle it occurred to me it would also work well for both cable triceps pressdowns and arm curls if I added another attachment point opposite the handles, which is why there are two. The close parallel-grip triangle handles are also very poor for seated rows, but I will address that elsewhere later.

So, I decided to design my own handle for front-grip pulldowns with the proper handle angles, based on Ken Hutchins’ design for the SuperSlow Systems and RenEx pulldown handles, and with his input. While the lat pulldown bar works well for wide overhand-grip pulldowns and rows, the straight handle is poor for properly performed front-grip pulldowns (close, underhand grip). In June we received a combination cable pulldown and seated row machine from Rogue Fitness, which came with both a lat bar and a close, parallel-grip attachment.
