By Nadia Popescu, Strength & Conditioning Writer · Updated 6 October 2026
The close grip lat pulldown is a cable pulldown done with your hands close together, usually on a V-bar handle with your palms facing each other, though a narrow overhand or underhand grip on a straight bar counts too. Compared with the classic wide-grip version, it lets your elbows travel down in front of your body rather than out to the sides, which gives you a longer pull and a stronger, more comfortable position for a lot of people's shoulders.
It's my go-to pulldown for anyone whose shoulders grumble on a wide bar, and it's a handy way to load your lats heavier than you could with bodyweight chin ups. If you want the full rundown on the standard exercise, read our lat pulldown guide. This page sticks to the narrow versions: how to set them up, what changes, and when they're the better pick.
There are three ways to do a close grip pulldown, and each one shifts the feel slightly.
You'll need a high pulley with a V-bar or straight bar. A dedicated lat station works, but so does any multi gym with a top pulley and a thigh pad.
Breathe out as you pull and in as the handle goes back up.
Chest up to meet the handle
The best cue I've found for the close grip is to bring your chest up to meet the handle as your elbows drive down. It keeps your upper back arched, stops you curling forward over the V-bar and makes the lats do the pulling instead of your arms. If your chest caves at the bottom, the weight's too heavy.
The close grip pulldown trains the same vertical pulling muscles as any pulldown, with a bit more help from your arms.
Gym wisdom says wide grips build width and close grips build thickness. The research doesn't really back that up. A 2025 study had 40 trained men pull at 70% of their max across seven pulldown variations, including narrow pronated, narrow neutral, supinated and wide grips, and found no significant difference in lat activation between any of them (Electromyographic analysis of lat pulldown grip variations). A 2026 review of 23 EMG studies came to a similar view, finding the effect of grip width on the pulldown inconsistent, while pulling the bar to the front of your body did matter (narrative review of latissimus dorsi EMG).
So the real differences come down to feel and mechanics rather than which part of your back grows:
| Close grip | Wide grip | |
|---|---|---|
| Elbow path | Down and in front of the ribs | Down and out to the sides |
| Range of motion | Longer, handle reaches the sternum | Shorter, bar stops at the upper chest |
| Biceps involvement | Higher | Lower |
| Shoulder comfort | Easier for most people, especially neutral grip | Can pinch if you go too wide |
| Load | Usually a little heavier | Usually a little lighter |
My take: if wide pulldowns leave your shoulders sore or you never feel your lats at the bottom, switch to the V-bar as your main pulldown and keep the wide grip as a secondary option. If you're happy on the wide bar, there's no evidence you're missing out, so add the close grip for variety rather than because you need to.
It's kinder to the shoulders. A neutral grip keeps your upper arm in a more natural position than a wide overhand bar, which is why it's a common swap for people with cranky shoulders.
You get a longer pull. The narrow hand position lets the handle come right down to your chest with your elbows behind your torso, so your lats work through more range per rep than on a wide bar.
It builds towards chin ups. The narrow underhand version trains the same pattern as a chin up with a load you can adjust in 2.5kg to 5kg steps, which makes it a sensible stepping stone if you can't yet lift your own bodyweight.
It adds back and arm work in one move. With the biceps doing more, it's an efficient pick for short sessions where you won't have time for separate curls.
Leaning back too far. Once your torso drops past about 30 degrees, the pulldown becomes a row and you lose the vertical pull. If you need to lie back to move the stack, the weight's too heavy. A seated cable row is the right exercise for that horizontal pattern.
Curling the handle down. Because your biceps are in a strong position on a close grip, it's easy to turn the rep into an arm curl. Lead with your elbows and keep your wrists straight, almost like your hands are hooks.
Shrugging at the top. Letting your shoulders ride up to your ears at the top of each rep takes the lats out of the start of the pull. Keep a slight downward pull on the shoulder blades even at full stretch.
Dropping the head forward. Some people duck their chin to get the handle past their face. Lean back slightly and lift your chest instead, so the handle comes down in front of your nose rather than your head going round it.
Rushing the way up. Letting the stack slam back up wastes the stretched part of each rep. Take two to three seconds on the return.
Single-arm cable pulldown. Attach a D-handle to the high pulley and pull one arm at a time, either seated or half-kneeling. You'll notice if one side is weaker, and you can rotate your torso slightly towards the working side for an even bigger stretch. Do the weaker arm first and match the reps on the stronger side.
Band pulldown at home. Loop a resistance band over a sturdy door anchor or pull-up bar, kneel underneath and pull both ends to your chest with your hands close together. It won't match a heavy cable stack, but it's a good warm-up or a way to train the pattern when you're away from the gym.
Chin up. The bodyweight version of the narrow underhand pulldown. Once you can pull roughly your bodyweight on the cable for 6 to 8 reps, try a few chin ups. If you're not there yet, negative pull ups and band-assisted reps bridge the gap.
Straight-arm pulldown. A useful finisher straight after close grip pulldowns because it hits the lats with almost no biceps involvement. Our straight-arm pulldown guide covers the setup.
Home gear. If you're training at home, a compact multi gym with a high pulley and V-bar handles all of these. The HOMCOM 65kg multi gym is one budget option we've looked at, and the best multi gyms roundup covers sturdier machines with heavier stacks.
A simple way to pair it: open your back session with wide grip pulldowns for 3 sets, then follow with 3 sets of close grip pulldowns and finish with a row. Add weight once you can get the top of your rep range on every set with the chest-up position intact.
It mainly works your lats, the large muscles down the sides of your back. Your biceps and brachialis do more of the work than they would on a wide grip, and the lower traps, rhomboids and rear delts help control your shoulder blades. Your core braces to keep your torso still through each rep.
Neither is better for your lats. A 2025 EMG study of 40 trained men found no significant difference in lat activation across seven pulldown grips, including narrow pronated, narrow neutral and wide versions. Pick the close grip if it feels stronger on your shoulders and gives you a longer range, and use both across a training week if you like variety.
The most common choice is a V-bar (also called a double D-handle or close grip row handle), which puts your palms facing each other about 15cm apart. You can also hold a straight lat bar with your hands roughly shoulder-width apart, either overhand or underhand. If your cable machine only came with a long bar, the narrow grip on that bar works perfectly well.
A small lean of around 10 to 20 degrees helps the handle clear your face and lets you pull to your upper chest. Leaning further than that turns the movement into a row and usually means the weight is too heavy. Set the angle at the start and hold it, rather than rocking back to get each rep moving.
Choose a weight you can pull for 8 to 12 controlled reps with a short pause at your chest. Most people can handle a little more on a close neutral grip than a wide overhand grip, but don't chase numbers at the cost of range. Once you hit 12 clean reps on every set, add the smallest plate increment your stack allows.
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