Lat pulldown groin muscle...

[Swerdz]

Everytime I do the lat pulldown, I feel like the muscle that is right above the penis, i guess it is the groin muscle is about to pop out of the skin or something. The more weight I add the more i feel it. It's like I'm using that muscle to pull.

Should I force that muscle to remain relaxed or continue to lift like this? I could just start at square one and just force the muscle to stay put, is this the better way to lift?

[tonester]

Everytime I do the lat pulldown, I feel like the muscle that is right above the penis, i guess it is the groin muscle is about to pop out of the skin or something. The more weight I add the more i feel it. It's like I'm using that muscle to pull.

Should I force that muscle to remain relaxed or continue to lift like this? I could just start at square one and just force the muscle to stay put, is this the better way to lift?

That's the only cable machine that I stay away from. You have to brace your knees under the pad and then strain your hip flexors by way of stabilizing your body. As if people need more hip flexor work! You can't relax that "muscle" (actually a bunch of them). It's helping to keep you on the seat. Stupid seat!

I see a possible hernia in your future. Or at least damage to your pelvic floor. That's an injury that takes a while to get over.

Do yourself a favour and make pull ups/chin ups your friends.

[Tyciol]

Some people do need more hip flexor work, actually. Hip flexors are tight for a lot of us because we don't stretch them, not because they're overdeveloped. Some people might overdevelop them by walking around a lot in heavy boots or practicing a bunch of front kicks or situps I suppose... though that's remediable by posterior chain work.

Could you explain the mechanics of how this could herniate his spine or damage his pelvic floor muscles? It's difficult to picture how this would occur. During pulling movements like this the spine is tractioned so what would cause a vertebrae to slip out? In what direction do you think it would slip?

If this guy is doing lat pulldowns and feels any pressure on his thighs then this obviously means he's pulling down more than his bodyweight and is capable of moving on to chins and pulls, this is true.

In that case, it might be better to preexhaust the muscles doing that where you can adopt a different posture (such as knees down, instead of forward) and then when you can't do them anymore you can rep out on a lighter weight on the lat pulldown.

[japhey]

Everytime I do the lat pulldown, I feel like the muscle that is right above the penis, i guess it is the groin muscle is about to pop out of the skin or something. The more weight I add the more i feel it. It's like I'm using that muscle to pull.

Should I force that muscle to remain relaxed or continue to lift like this? I could just start at square one and just force the muscle to stay put, is this the better way to lift?

Be careful! I got a partial hernia a few years ago using the lat pulldown machine. I have never touched one since. Pull-ups are much better anyway.

[mach430]

How long are you working out for and how is your core? My guess would be that you are either doing it wrong (check your form) or your core has not yet developed to the weight you are attempting to pull.

Either way, pullups ftw.