Lat Pulldown

The lat pulldown is a back exercise that predominantly works the muscles in the middle back but as a secondary muscle group also works the Biceps.

The lat pulldown is a great strength exercise that is also very versatile, you can carry out the lat pulldown with a two handed grip on a bar or a single handed grip using a cable column. The lat pulldown also lets you use different grips to hit different areas of the middle back muscles.

Wide grip

Hold the bar with a pronated (overhand) grip just past should width apart and pull the bar down to the back of the neck.

Narrow grip

Hold the bar with a supinated (underhand) grip about 4 inches (10 cm) apart and pull the bar down to your collar bones in front.

Lat Pulldown

Equipment - Cable column or lat pulldown resistance machine.

Preparation - Sit with a straight back and the bar/single grip in front of you at a height that requires your arm/arms to be straight.

Movement - Take hold of the bar/single hand grip with your chosen grip and keeping the back straight pull the bar/single hand grip to the required position (rear of neck or front collar bone as per grip) then return to your starting position where your arm is nearly straight in a slow and controlled manner.

Reps/Sets 8 to 12 reps for 4 sets (2 sets of each grip is desired)

Narrow Grip Lat Pulldown Video

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown Video

Skull Crushers

Skull crushers, also known as lying tricep extensions or french extensions are a strength exercise used to train the Triceps.

Skull cruchers are probably the best exercise for training the Triceps as it hits every part of the Triceps from the Lats to the elbow giving you a full Triceps workout.

If your looking to support your bench press and also give your arms a bit more thickness then skull crushers are the exercise to do. If you carry out this exercise as part of your triceps workout then you are sure to start seeing an increase in size and strength in a short period of time.

Skull Crushers

Equipment - Barbell or EZ Bar of desired weight

Preparation - Lie flat on a bench holding your bar with an overhand grip and your elbows bent so the bar is above your head in roughly the 10:00 o'clock postion of a clock. Make sure your elbows are tucked in.

Movement - Bring the barbell/EZ bar down toward your forehead making sure that your elbows do not move throughout the movement. Once the bar is down near your forehead engage your Triceps to push the bar back to the starting position, again making sure your elbows do not move.

Reps/Sets 8 to 12 reps for 4 sets

Skull Crushers Video

One Rep Max Calculator

The one rep max is an important part of strength training, basically the one rep max is the heaviest amount of weight a person can carry out one rep with perfect form. Essentially the one rep max determines a persons strength.

The one rep max is used in Power lifting where power lifters are compete by lifting the heaviest weight they can for one repetition in the bench press, squat and dead lift.

One difficulty with the one rep max is that many people do not know what their max weight to lift is and are uncomfortable trying to lift alot more than usual even with the support of someone spotting them.

To help support your training I have built a one rep max calculator in Excel, this uses the most common of all formulas which is









but there are two other common formulas which return very similar results.

By understanding what the maximum weight you can lift is you can really get a better understaning of your training schedule and train for what you want to achieve (strength or physique).

Some that are new to training may find their one rep max is not actually as high as the calculator tells them, this will be because their body is not quite used to lifting heavy weight and will not respond well under the pressure of the heavy weights.

Click here to get your free one rep max calculator.