As you go heavier on pushdowns, you have to adjust your body position and form to counterbalance the load in order to actually perform the exercise.
Similar to curls, at the midpoint of the exercise, the load is outside of your base of support, forcing you to change your base of support to compensate...which also changes the exercise, which can make it less effective.
This method is a very simple to fix that.
All you have to do is increase your body mass by wearing a loaded dip belt.
This more effectively counterbalances the load, allowing you to maintain a vertical body position even with heavier weight.
It doesn't make your triceps any stronger...it just allows you to maintain better form while performing the exercise, making it more effective.
In the demo here, I've 3 45-lb plates (135 lbs) on the dip belt while doing pushdowns.
Ordinarily, the weight I'm using on the pushdowns would force me to lean forward and get into a lunge position to lean into the exercise (increasing the base of support).
With this added weight, it's not necessary.
Exercise form is exactly the same as with regular pushdowns.
When I do pushdowns, I like to allow the upper arms to come up a bit so that when I bring them back down to vertical, I'm involving the long head of the triceps more (which performs that small downwards movement, known as adduction).
If you prefer to keep the upper arms locked into vertical, that's absolutely fine, too.
And that's literally all there is to this method...just make yourself heavier and it'll instantly allow to you use heavier weight with better form.
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