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By The Angles90 Editorial Team · Published 10.06.2026 · Last updated 10.06.2026
A neutral grip lat pulldown is a pulldown with your palms facing each other, usually on parallel or V-shaped handles, pulled down to your upper chest. It trains the same muscle as the overhand bar, and the research suggests the grip matters less for your lats than the usual gym advice assumes. In a 2025 study of 40 men with at least five years of resistance training experience in the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology (published 09.11.2025), lat activity did not differ significantly across seven pulldown variations, neutral grips included.
Angles90® has been building pulling equipment since 2018, starting with a handle co-developed with the strength training ergonomics faculty at TU Munich. That history is why we pay attention to the part of a pulldown people rarely think about: the handle sets your hand angle before the first rep. Below you'll find the form, what each grip did in the studies, and a way to choose that doesn't lean on the old wide-grip rule.
Lock your thighs under the pad, attach parallel or V-shaped handles, and set your hands about one shoulder-width apart before you pick up any weight.
Researchers describe grip width against biacromial distance, the span between the outer points of your two shoulders. In the 2025 study, a narrow grip was one times that distance and a wide grip was 1.5 times. Start at one times. Pick a load you can pull for every rep without swinging. The lifters in that study used 70% of their one-rep max for five repetitions, which is a reference point for a working set, not a rule.
Sit tall, start with your arms long, and pull the handles to your upper chest by driving your elbows down toward your sides. Return slowly until your arms are straight again.
Two seconds up and two seconds down is the cadence the lifters in the 2025 study followed, paced by a metronome. The faults to watch for are swinging your torso to move the stack, shrugging toward your ears, and cutting the stretch short at the top. If you have to swing to finish a rep, lower the weight.
In the research they load the lats about equally, and they differ mostly in how much weight you can use and which helper muscles do extra work. Three studies are worth knowing:
Two cautions apply to all three. They tested men only, and they measured muscle activity, not muscle growth over months. The 2010 result also sits against the 2025 one, so overhand versus underhand is not settled for the lats. The 2025 authors point to small samples and short training histories in the older work.
| Grip | Hands | What the studies reported | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral, shoulder-width (parallel or V-handle) | Palms facing each other | No significant lat difference from six other variations (2025). In the lowering phase, neutral grips appeared to blunt the usual drop in biceps activity, which the authors suggested may come from forearm orientation (2025) | You want a simple, upright setup and a hand position you can repeat on every rep |
| Overhand, shoulder-width to 1.5 times | Palms facing away | The heaviest six-rep-max loads in 15 men, with lat activity similar to the wide grip (2014). More lat activity than underhand in 12 men (2010) | You train on a straight bar and want to move the most weight |
| Overhand, wide (2 times shoulder width) | Palms facing away, well outside your shoulders | A six-rep-max about 3 kg lighter than the narrow grip, with similar lat, trapezius and infraspinatus activity (2014) | You prefer how it feels and can accept a lighter load |
| Underhand, shoulder-width | Palms facing you | Less lat activity than overhand in 12 men (2010), no significant lat difference in 40 men (2025). The 2025 authors describe biceps activity as more variable than lat activity here | You'd like your biceps better placed to help |
| Wide overhand with a 30° lean | Palms facing away, torso tilted back | More rear deltoid activity than the upright wide overhand or wide neutral version, with no lat difference (2025) | You want extra rear-shoulder work and can control the lean |
Choose by load, by the helper muscles you want involved, and by how controlled the rep feels, because the studies found little difference in lat activity between grips.
That ordering is our own synthesis of the three studies, and it ranks the variables that moved above the one that didn't.
A fixed handle sets your hand angle before the rep starts and keeps it there. A freely rotating handle lets you set the angle, or change it, as you pull.
Every grip in the table holds your hands at one angle for the whole set. Our starting point at Angles90 is that arms rotate slightly as they pull, so we build handles that turn with you. The A90 Grips are dynamic training grips: a pair of freely rotating handles on straps. On a pulldown station you attach them to the cable in place of the bar, then hold them neutral, palms-down or palms-up, or let them rotate mid-rep. Each handle and strap is certified for 400 lbs (180 kg). There are four ways to hold them, which we call ERGO, POWER, POWER+ and FOREARM. We designed them as a handle that adapts to you, not the opposite.
When customers describe how they use them, the story that comes up most is an upgrade to equipment they already own: the pulldown station, the rowing machine, the bar they've trained on for years. The detail they describe most precisely is changing hand position inside one rep rather than committing to a single grip for the whole set.
No station at home? The A90 Cable Pulley is a compact pulley system built for training at home, and our guide to the A90 Cable Pulley covers how people set it up. Pulling horizontally instead? Our seated cable row guide covers the same handle decision for rows, and the guide to different pull-up grips covers it on a bar. If your grip gives out before your back does, the grip strength training guide is the place to start.
It trains your lats, the muscles that extend, adduct and internally rotate your shoulder, with help from your trapezius, rear deltoid, infraspinatus and biceps. In the 2025 study, lat activity held at roughly 45% to 50% of maximal voluntary contraction across a full rep in every variation tested, neutral grips included.
There isn't one best grip for the lats. In the studies, lat activity was similar across grip widths and, in the largest study, across grip types. Pick by load, by whether you want extra rear-deltoid or biceps work, and by comfort and control. Shoulder-width to 1.5 times shoulder width let lifters move the most weight in the 2014 study.
For the lats, the research doesn't show that it is. The 2025 study found no significant lat difference between its neutral and overhand variations, and the older overhand-versus-underhand result didn't test neutral handles. Choose the one that feels more controlled.
Yes. Pulldowns are one of the pulling movements customers use them for. Attach them to the cable in place of the bar, then hold them neutral, palms-down or palms-up, or let them rotate through the rep. Each handle is certified for 400 lbs (180 kg).
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.
Sit tall, lock your thighs under the pad, and pull neutral handles to your upper chest by driving your elbows down, then return over about two seconds. The studies found little difference in lat activity between grips, so choose by load, by the helper muscles you want involved, and by comfort and control. If you'd like to set your hand angle yourself, or change it mid-rep, see how the A90 Grips fit the pulldown station you already train on.
