Pull movements – Exist on two planes of motion that should be worked to avoid imbalance: vertical and horizontal
Lat. pulldowns (vertical pull): Adjust lat. pulldown machine so that feet are squarely on the ground and knee rest would be resting somewhat snugly across your legs/knees, but loose enough that you’re able to stand up after you’re done your set in order to place the weight back down.
When grabbing hold of the bar, aim to put your index finger across the top of the curve/indentation on each side of the bar. Once you’ve done so, sit down (still holding the bar), lean
very slightly backward, tip your chin very slightly upward (you don’t want to lean back a lot or crank your neck up) so that the bar clears your face on its descent.
Once you’ve done this, pull the bar down toward your chest. When you’re doing this it’s important to make sure that you’re not pulling the bar down directly in front of your chest, but that you’re pulling it more into your mid-chest. Try to lightly touch the bar to your chest before returning to the beginning of the movement.
You should
not be leaning back
as you pull, set up while you're at the top of the first movement, then remain in that position as your back muscles contract along with your biceps in order to bring the bar down into your mid chest...some people really make this exercise dangerous by swinging their entire body into the movement, which not only defeats the purpose of the exercise, but puts them at a high risk for injury. Also, some people claim that sitting facing outward is more effective, however, by doing this your reaching beyond your natural range of motion and putting excessive pressure on the back of the neck, so it's best to sit facing the machine.
One arm dumbbell row (horizontal pull): Pick up a dumbbell and head over to a free bench. From there, put one knee down on the bench, one knee off to the side of the bench (back and outward). Lean forward and place one hand flat on the front of the bench. Before starting you should make sure that your back if flat (not rounded) and that your shoulders are square (not one lower/higher than the other). Begin with the hand holding the dumbbell hanging down beside the bench (again, watch your shoulders are square), then row the dumbbell up by driving the elbow upward (elbow flexion), squeezing your shoulder blade trying to use the corresponding back muscles (largely the mid trapezius, infraspinatus, teres major, upper lats and rhomboids/overall muscles of the mid back) to move the majority of the weight (though you will also feel tension in your bicep, but don't want the bicep to dominate over the back muscles).
I know most people have probably seen these exercises before, but for those who need the visual/don't know the names, this is a lat. pulldown machine:
And this is what a one arm DB backrow looks like:
