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By The Angles90 Editorial Team · Published 11.10.2026 · Last updated 11.10.2026
The closest lat pulldown alternatives are pull-ups or chin-ups, pull-ups on straps or rings, and a pulldown against an elastic band anchored above your head. A 2026 review of 23 electromyography (EMG) studies (Di Fonza et al., Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, published 08.12.2026) calls pull-ups and chin-ups the closed-chain counterpart of the lat pulldown, and a 2019 meta-analysis of eight training trials (Lopes et al., SAGE Open Medicine) found no superiority of either elastic resistance or conventional equipment, such as weight machines and dumbbells, for upper-limb strength gains. Below are six options, what the research measured for each, and what you need to set each one up.
Angles90® has been building pulling equipment since 2018, starting with a handle co-developed with the strength training ergonomics faculty at TU Munich. This guide stays with the movement. For the machine exercise itself, see our neutral grip lat pulldown guide.
A lat pulldown alternative is any exercise that loads the latissimus dorsi, the broad muscle of the back known as the lats, by drawing the arm down and in toward your body. According to the 2026 review, the lats extend, adduct and internally rotate the upper arm, which is that motion. The same review points out that no pulling exercise works the lats to the complete exclusion of the muscles around them, so each option below shifts the emphasis and isolates nothing. For a muscle-by-muscle look at the vertical pull, our pull-up muscles guide goes through what lab studies measured.
One rule carries over from the machine to the pulldown-style options: pull toward the front of your body, not behind your head. The review found the front pull the best-supported pulldown set-up, and it reports no consistent lat advantage for the behind-the-neck version.
Choose by what you already own. The table pairs each setup with an option, summarizes what the research found and shows how much weight that evidence can carry, which differs a lot between the six.
| If you have | Start with | What the research found | How much weight it carries |
|---|---|---|---|
| A pull-up bar | Pull-up or chin-up (option 1) | Closed-chain counterpart of the pulldown, with broadly similar lat activity across grips (Di Fonza et al., 2026) | Four pull-up studies, about 84 people in total |
| A bar plus straps or rings | Strap pull-up (option 2) | No significant difference in lat, biceps or rear-shoulder activity compared with a bar pull-up (Snarr et al., 2017) | One study of 15 people |
| A band and an anchor point | Banded pulldown (option 3) | No difference in upper-limb strength gains versus conventional equipment (Lopes et al., 2019); similar muscle activity when effort is matched (Guzmán-Muñoz et al., 2026) | Eight small trials with mixed exercises and populations |
| A cable pulley with weights or bands | Pulley pulldown (option 4) | Same pull path as the machine; technique findings come from pulldown research in general | No direct study found |
| A low bar, straps or rings | Inverted row (option 5) | Highest lat and upper-back activity of three rows, and a horizontal pull rather than a vertical one (Di Fonza et al., 2026) | Preliminary: one study of seven men |
| Dumbbells, a band or a cable | Straight-arm pulldown (option 6) | May be more back-focused than the pullover, which leans toward the chest (Di Fonza et al., 2026) | A handful of small studies |
Pull-ups and chin-ups are the closest substitute: the 2026 review describes them as the closed-chain counterpart of the lat pulldown, meaning your body moves toward a fixed bar instead of a bar moving toward you. In a 2013 study that compared chin-ups with lat pulldowns directly (Doma et al., Sports Biomechanics), the biceps and the erector spinae along the spine were more active in the chin-up during the pulling phase, and the lats and biceps were more active than the chest in both exercises.
Grip changes the lats less than you might expect. The review reports broadly similar lat activity across pull-up grips in four studies, so grip can be chosen for secondary goals such as how much the biceps take part. Our guides to neutral grip pull-ups and different pull-up grips cover each hand position, and our chin-up guide includes a five-step progression toward your first rep.
Lat activity did not differ significantly between strap pull-ups and bar pull-ups in the one study that tested it. In a 2017 study in the Journal of Human Kinetics, 15 resistance-trained men and women performed traditional, suspension-device and towel pull-ups at the same grip width. Lat, biceps and rear-shoulder activity did not differ significantly between them. Only the middle trapezius did, and it was lower in the towel pull-up. The authors concluded that every version gave enough stimulus, by the thresholds used in the literature, to support gains in strength and muscle.
That study used a different suspension device and did not test A90 products. If you want straps for this option, the A90 Sling Trainer is TÜV-certified at 550 lbs (250 kg) per strap.
A banded pulldown is the simplest way to copy the pulldown path with no machine: anchor a long band above your head, kneel or sit facing it and pull your elbows down toward your ribs. Strength gains did not differ significantly between the two in the 2019 meta-analysis, which pooled eight randomized trials with 224 people aged 15 to 88 and found no superiority between elastic bands or tubing and conventional equipment for upper-limb strength. The authors rated the trials as moderate quality, and the trials covered mixed exercises, populations and loads, so read it as support for bands in general rather than for this exact exercise.
Three practical points come from the 2026 review of elastic resistance bands (Guzmán-Muñoz et al., Journal of Clinical Medicine, published 09.12.2026). First, a band exerts minimal force when slack and more as it lengthens, so the start of the rep is the lightest part, and the review says investigators recommend pre-stretching the band, shortening it or combining bands to offset that. Second, band color is not a reliable guide to load because color codes are not standardized across manufacturers, so progress by how far you stretch the band and how hard the set feels. Third, the review lists secure anchoring, checking the band for wear, avoiding excessive pre-stretch and controlling the return as the precautions specific to bands, and it notes that eye injuries from band recoil appear in case reports, although no incidence figures exist.
A band is harder to quantify than a plate, because its load depends on how far it is stretched. Write down the band, the anchor height and your starting distance so you can repeat it.
A pulley setup keeps the machine's movement path: a cable runs from an overhead anchor over a pulley to a handle, and the load is weights or bands. We did not find a study of a portable pulley pulldown, so what carries over comes from pulldown research in general. According to the 2026 review, the two larger pulldown studies found no significant lat difference between narrow, medium and wide grips, in 15 men and in 40 resistance-trained men, and a medium or narrow grip was linked to higher biceps activity.
If you want to build this setup, the A90 Cable Pulley Set is the pulley option we make. The same cable position also works for rows, which our seated cable row guide covers.
The inverted row is a horizontal pull, so it trains the lats from a different angle than any pulldown does. Hang under a low bar, straps or rings with your body straight and pull your chest to your hands. In a study of seven men comparing three kinds of row, the inverted row produced the highest lat and upper-back activity, according to the 2026 review, which calls the result preliminary because of the very small sample.
Setup, foot position and progressions are in our inverted row guide, and our horizontal pull exercises guide compares seven rows side by side.
The straight-arm pulldown keeps the elbows fixed while a band or cable handle sweeps from overhead to your thighs, so the movement happens at the shoulder. The 2026 review says it may give a more targeted stimulus to the back than the pullover, depending on grip.
If you only have dumbbells, the pullover is the obvious choice, and it is a different exercise. In a study of eight men the pullover drew more activity from the pectoralis major, the chest muscle, than from the lats, and in a study of 20 adults the barbell pullover produced higher overall activity than the straight-arm pulldown for most muscles, with the lats and triceps as the exceptions. The review concludes that the pullover is better described as a combined lat and chest movement than as a lat exercise, and it rests this on a small number of small studies, so treat it as a direction rather than a rule.
EMG records electrical activity during a single session. The 2026 review calls EMG amplitude an indirect proxy for neural drive and notes that none of the studies it covered ran a training program that measured muscle growth or strength, so a higher reading is not proof of a better exercise.
Samples are also small and mostly male: the pulldown studies in the review had 10 to 40 participants, and the inverted row finding rests on seven. No study compared all six options in the same people, and the studies differ in load and normalization, so the review advises against ranking exercises across them. Read the table as a map of what was measured and how firm each result is.
A bar fixes your hand position before the first rep. In the pull-up studies the review covers, palms-toward-you grips drew more biceps and chest activity and palms-away grips drew more lower trapezius activity, while lat activity stayed broadly similar across grips. The A90 Grips are dynamic training grips: a pair of freely rotating handles on straps that attach to any bar, so your hands can change position as you pull. Use them on the bar in option 1 or on the pulley in option 4. Each handle is certified for 400 lbs (180 kg), and there are four ways to hold them, which we call ERGO, POWER, POWER+ and FOREARM. We built them as a handle that adapts to you, not the opposite.
Pull-ups or chin-ups, pull-ups on straps or rings, a banded pulldown, a pulley pulldown, an inverted row or a straight-arm pulldown. The table above pairs each one with the equipment it needs and shows how firm the evidence behind it is.
The research does not say that one is better. In a direct comparison, chin-ups produced more biceps and erector spinae activity than the pulldown in the pulling phase, and the lats and biceps were more active than the chest in both exercises (Doma et al., 2013). The 2026 review stresses that acute EMG cannot show which exercise builds more muscle or strength over time.
Anchor a band above your head, kneel or sit facing the anchor and pull your elbows down toward your ribs with your torso still. Secure the anchor, check the band for wear and control the return, as the 2026 band review advises.
You can, but the emphasis shifts. The pullover leaned toward the chest in an eight-man study, and the 2026 review calls it a combined lat and chest movement. Adding a band or a bar gives you options closer to the pulldown path.
A meta-analysis of eight trials found no superiority of either for strength gains (Lopes et al., 2019), with caveats: the trials were small, covered mixed exercises and did not standardize load. The band review adds that load depends on how far the band is stretched, so color alone does not tell you the load.
Not consistently for the lats. The 2026 review found no significant lat difference between narrow, medium and wide grips in the two larger pulldown studies, and broadly similar lat activity across pull-up grips. Grip shifts how much the biceps and the lower trapezius take part more than it changes the lats.
Stop the set. Pain is a reason to get assessed by a qualified healthcare professional before you keep training the movement.
Angles90 products are training equipment, not medical devices. This article is general information about training, not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you are training around pain, an injury or a medical condition, speak to a qualified healthcare professional before changing how you train.
Pull-ups and chin-ups are the closest match to the pulldown. Lat activity on strap pull-ups did not differ significantly from a bar pull-up in one 15-person study, and a banded pulldown gave strength gains no different from conventional equipment in a meta-analysis of eight trials. The pulley pulldown, inverted row and straight-arm pulldown are sensible additions with thinner evidence. If you want to see how a handle that turns behaves on the bar you already own, look at the A90 Grips.
