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Single Arm Lat Pulldown

The single arm lat pulldown targets your lats unilaterally. If you have muscle imbalances this exercise can be helpful in reducing the imbalance.  One of benefits of doing the single arm lat pull down verses the traditional lat pull down is the ability to increase range of motion. With traditional lat pull downs you are restricted to stopping at your chest whereas this exercises allows you to engage your lats through the entire range of motion.

Some tips when doing this exercise:

  • Place your thumb on the same side as your fingers to reduce forearm and bicep fatigue
  • Stretch at the top position
  • Squeeze at the bottom position

 

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The Kneeling Squat

Finding great exercises to target the glutes are essential to any good workout program. Today’s video demonstrates the kneeling squat. The main muscle this exercise targets is the glutes. However, you will also engage secondary muscles including abdominals, lower back, and hamstrings.  You can perform this exercise in a traditional squat rack but for beginners starting with the smith machine helps with focusing on the technique and form of the exercise.

  1. Put a rolled up mat or foam pad on the floor to protect your knees.
  2. Set the bar to a height right around your shoulders.
  3. Slide under the bar position the bar across your shoulders/upper part of your back.
  4. Unracking the weight, push your butt backwards and descend until your butt touches your calves.
  5. With and explosive motion return to the top position and squeeze the glutes at the top. Note: you can also do these slow and controlled but focus on squeezing the glutes at the top.
  6. I recommend 3 sets of 20 reps per set.  It you can do 20 reps easily increase the weight until it is difficult to reach 18 reps.