Rows or pulldowns? Lifters argue about it like you have to choose, but they are not competing for the same job. Pulldowns build width, rows build thickness, and a complete back needs both. Trying to pick one is like asking whether you should train the front or the back of your arm. Here is why you train both, and how.
They Build Different Things
This is the whole point. Pulldowns and pull-ups pull the weight down from overhead, which builds the lats and gives you width, the sweep from your waist out to your shoulders. Rows pull the weight in toward your torso, which builds the mid-back, traps, and rhomboids, the thickness you see from the side. One gives you the V from the front, the other gives you the dense, three-dimensional look from the side. You cannot get both from one direction of pulling.
What Happens If You Only Do One
Lifters who only pull down build width but look flat from the side, with no thickness between the shoulder blades. Lifters who only row build thickness but have no sweep, so the back looks blocky with no taper. Both are incomplete backs, and both are completely avoidable. The fix is not more of your favorite. It is adding the direction you have been skipping.
How to Train Both
Put at least one vertical pull and at least one row in every back workout. Lead with whichever is lagging while you are fresh. If your width is behind, start with pulldowns or pull-ups and chase the lat stretch. If your thickness is behind, start with rows and chase the squeeze. Two movements, two directions, every back day, is the simplest way to make sure neither half gets neglected.
Make Each One Count
The two directions also have two different key cues. On vertical pulls, own the stretch at the top, reach tall and let the lats lengthen before you pull. On rows, own the squeeze at the end, pull the weight in and pull your shoulder blades together, then hold for a beat. Width is built in the stretch, thickness is built in the squeeze.
The Gegns Gym Way
The Gegns Gym Back Training Manual trains both directions in every session, the stretch on the pulldowns and the squeeze on the rows, so the back grows wide and thick at the same time. Stop choosing between rows and pulldowns, and train the back the way it is actually built.
Build a Wider, Thicker Back
Stop training your back with your arms. Our Back Training Manual builds real width and thickness by teaching you to actually feel the back work, the way we train it at Gegns Gym. Join the test group and the waitlist now.
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