Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Photo by Don Tai
There’s really not much to the lat pulldown rope, sometimes called a triceps rope. A lat pulldown rope attaches to a strength training cable machine, high up, so you can pull downward and exercise your latissimus dorsi, or lower back muscles. Common exercises include the lat pulldown and face pulls. It is just a rope with an attachment point in the middle. Here’s how I made mine.
Lat Pulldown rope or triceps rope, is a pretty simple device. It attaches to a cable machine for strength training.
The store bought versions use thick black nylon rope. At the ends are two bulbous semi circular black plastic caps, so your hands do no slip off the rope. In the middle is a a chrome “T” attachment which allows the rope to freely slide. Perpendicular to the rope is an attachment plate, where you can use a carabiner to attach to the cable machine. Retail cost is about $30CAD.
This is not a sophisticated piece of equipment. It does need to be strong enough, which for me is about 70 lb. In my lifetime I do not expect to exceed 100lb. One problem with commercial retail versions is that it is not sufficiently long. When in use the rope is not sufficiently long enough to allow you full arm extension range of motion at the bottom of the pulldown, where each end goes to the side of your body. Some people, therefore, use two lat pulldown ropes together for greater length. I thought it best to simply make a longer one.
I do like the black colour of the commercial versions but could not find black polypropylene rope at the big box hardware stores. They only sell white. Paracord and other coloured nylon rope were not sufficiently thick or strong enough. The nylon rope I bought is 1/2″ diamond braided, with a breaking strength of 352 lb. I doubled up the rope, so the breaking strength is 704lb. The rope was hot cut with a soldering iron to prevent fraying. It is marine safe, but for strength training purposes will never hit water. In the middle I used a steel shackle with a breaking strength of 400lb, $2.28CAD.
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Photo by Don Tai
I could not find anything similar to the black half balls on the ends, so I decided to make a paracord knot at each end. These knots turned out to be 2.25″ wide, dense, and sufficiently large to prevent my hands from slipping off the rope. The knots cannot be easily compressed. Since the ropes were doubled, I added a wooden ball at the very end, which will prevent the knot from ever coming undone. Doing the knot took some time, as the double 1/2″ rope was thick and awkward to handle. Each knot took 21.5″ of rope, even longer than the usable portion of the rope. I also was careful to not twist the ropes, in order for the knot to be as flat as possible. The knots took time to tighten. As you use the rope the knot will self-tighten.
Many Youtube videos using the lat pulldown rope show the rope fraying where the center metal rope holder rubs against the rope, so I added a piece of bicycle inner tube to the middle for abrasion resistance.
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Photo by Don Tai
Overall the lat pulldown rope is 39″ long, with a usable 16″ on each side, or a total 32″. The rope balls are very tight and 2.25″ in diameter. In use the carabiner clips in easily and the ropes are solid. At a breaking strength of 700lb, the rope is plenty strong. I will never be able to break this rope during strength training.
There is no maintenance required on this rope. You can check that the knots are intact. After you remove the shackle, the rubber protector can be moved sufficiently to inspect the middle of the rope for fraying. The rubber protector can be replaced by undoing a knot, though this will be difficult. If the rope gets dirty it can be washed by hand or machine, and should dry quite quickly. Since the shackle is metal, you can add a magnet to the side of your cable machine and stick the lat pulldown rope to it when not in use.
I took more time designing this lat pulldown rope than making it. The build was quite easy and quick. The materials for this rope are also quite inexpensive. If you need one you should build one for yourself. By building one yourself you can customize it to the length of your arm and width of your body. If the rope breaks, which at 700 lbs will never happen, you can easily replace it.
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Shackle end. Photo by Don Tai
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Knot ends. Photo by Don Tai
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Knot ends. Photo by Don Tai
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Knot ends. Photo by Don Tai
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, home made, 39″ long. Photo by Don Tai
Lat pulldown rope, or triceps rope, for use on a cable strength training machine, Possible exercises
