Lat pull down movements versus pullups/chinup varieties...

[Deicide]

Lat pull down vs. Pull up? Which wins? I want to try lat pull downs out after almost doing only pull ups/chin ups for the last 2 and a half years because I was convinced that they are just plain 'better' but somehow I feel the muscles more in my back when I do lat pulldowns...any comments?

[NoCalBbEr]

chins are the best. pullups uses more arms to finish the rep.  Lat pulldowns are the easier way to do it b/c with chins the lightest you can go is bodyweight. Not many people can lift their own bodyweight.. I think that doing both is the way to go  or do one one week and the other the way after that.  always try things ou

[WOOO]

i find pullups very challenging and i think they work the back very well... the trick is to go to full extension and to do them slowly to limit inertia

[Bluto]

most would say pull ups are a superior exercise, that being said every pro use lat pulldowns and very few use pull ups.

no need to pick one over the other, so many variations to choose from... pull ups, negative pull ups, reverse lat pulldowns, lat pulldowns with a v-bar etc etc

[JasonWojo]

I prefer rack chins to conventional chins or pulldowns.

[SirTraps]

pullups are the best-that is really related to bodyweight-when i was down in weight-pretty cut i could do dips and chins all day long-im heavy right now about 235-its a different ballgame, i dont even do chins anymore they tore my elbows to shreds (i use a narrow grip)

[Bluto]

yes light weight guys really need to hit pull ups differently if it gonna do them a lot of good. some seem to like to boast about how many they do but it's not like they challenge themselves.

some dont do them very strict either, and use too much momentum

[powerpack]

As I train at home most of the time I do chins, BUT I definitely get a better pump in my lats from lat pull downs.

[Cap]

I would do both but you could make a conscious effort to feel the back muscles during chins/pullups.  I try to do them the way Milos described them; do as many chins as possible using your lats to pull you up and then when your lats start to fail you start using your delts and arms.  Believe me this is possible and you continue to get stronger.  Try this workout for pullups.  It will get you stronger.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps

Do that.  When you can do that go up to 6, then 7, etc and pyramid back down.  If you can go up to 10 you should be able to do 20 strict dead hang pullups.

[shiftedShapes]

to make pull ups harder just try to push back and away from the bar as you go up.  This will hit the lats like you wouldn't believe