L-LPT Powertec Leverage Lat Pulldown
The Powertec Leverage Lat Pulldown was phased out in 2008. So I only sold a handful over the years. It was a quirky machine. For starters why opt for leverage over the traditional lat pulldown cable machine?
Leverage machines are nearly always cheaper than their cable counterparts. They are much simpler to manufacture. For the gym owner, they are much easier and cheaper to maintain. No need to replace gym cables. No gym pulleys that can break.
Leverage Lat Pulldown Exercise
But the most important reason to make a leverage lat machine over a cable machine was that they are two different exercises in my opinion. I do not think we put in enough effort to highlight this. People would jump on to a leverage lat pulldown and use the same form as they would on a cable lat pulldown.
Performing this exercise in this fashion did not feel right. The actual lever arm moved in an arc. If you pulled straight down you would not get consistent resistance. The body position needed to be adjusted to follow the path of resistance.
When facing toward the machine you needed to lean forward. Performing the exercise this way could actually engage the lats more when squeezing at the bottom of the range. You could also do lat pull downs facing away from the machine. With this exercise you had a mimic a behind the neck chin up.
Early versions of this machine actually had the leg locks facing away from the machine
Official Powertec Leverage Lat Pulldown Promo
The Powertec Leverage Lat Pulldown/Tricep allows you to work the lats without the friction of cables and pulleys. The result is a movement that replicates the motion of a chin-up but with the control that is common to all Powertec Leverage Gym Equipment.
The dual lever setup ensures that there is constant tension through the entire range of motion. The swivel close-grip bar allows you to perform several different variations of lat pulldowns.
The Powertec Leverage Lat Pulldown/Tricep also has the ability to perform tricep pushdowns.
The Final Word
The more I write about these old Powertec machines the more I miss them. Plus I deeply regret that I did not have the tools and knowledge that I do now. With hindsight I should have been banging out videos like crazy.
The Leverage Lat Pulldown was not for everyone. On the Powertec Multi System some people absolutely loved the leverage lateral pull down. While others favoured a leverage multi gym with a cable lat pull machine. With education and proper demonstration I think we could have won more people over the leverage side.
With the post pandemic inflation really hitting gym equipment prices hard, I think there is definitely a market for these great little leverage machines. You could really build an impressive little gym on a tight budget with these units. I know plate loaded machines are not everyone’s cup of tea. But with the growing popularity of powerlifting and general strength training, more people are accustomed to changing weight plates.