Fit to Print Volume 24 Issue 1 March 2015 | Page 26

Avenger

from page 7

can possibly perform for the back
muscles, but for many people—most
people—it’s very difficult even to do a
single bodyweight pull-up (let alone a full,
effective set). Many people's shoulder
structure simply can't handle a pull-up
due to pre-existing injures, and many
people simply are just not strong enough
for this exercise. Here's where the
Avenger Pulldown comes in: it puts you in
a safe and effective position, it reduces
the possibility of injury, and it really
targets the muscles you want to
strengthen. Even if you can do effective
pull-ups, it would be good to incorporate
this machine and add variety to your
training.

master and use to recruit every possible
muscle fiber I have on each and every
rep, flexing the working muscles and
creating the change.
Carefully selected machines like our
Avenger Pulldown are great tools to
work with for everyone, whether you
are a beginner or are highly advanced.
One of the most common errors I see on
the Pulldown is that people put the seat
down too low, and the weight hits the
ceiling. I also see people lean back way
too far and pull too much with their
arms. If you're driving the weight and
hitting the ceiling do not continue the
set, but stop, adjust the seat higher,
and don't lean back so much. You want a
pulldown movement, not the rowing
movement that results from incorrect
adjustment and poor form. You want to
lift your rib cage high, keep your chest
up, stretch forward, and then, as you
drive the elbows down, retract your

every rep. If you don't, you won't get full
contraction of your lats.
Do drive with your elbows.
Do take a light grip. A tight grip will lead
to your arms taking over the movement.
Do maintain a nice, smooth rhythm
through the range of motion.
Don't bend your wrists when you grip the
handles.
Don't hunch forward or lean back. Sit up
straight with ribcage up high, stomach in
and your chest up high.
Don't round your shoulders. If you are
rounding your shoulders and they are
coming forward, you're defeating the
purpose of the movement, and your
posture will actually get worse, not
better.
Don't overload the pulldown with weight.
I see this often…people loading the
machine with too much weight. You don't
need a ton of weight to perform your sets
properly and get results.

TJ Lynch demonstrates...

Grip handles in the Neutral Position.
Some people are close-minded or antimachine, and I can understand why as
most machines on the market today are,
in my opinion, not very good. The strength
curves are off, they feature poor
adjustability, and usually there is a lot of
friction.
But some negativity comes from a user's
lack of understanding and not taking the
time to find proper settings and
developing a good feel for the machine.
My advice is to give the machine some
time and get a few workouts on it before
you automatically pronounce it a bad
machine. When you really know how to
use it correctly you will absolute