Very true. The study did not delve further. In the full text the author speculates that the increased EMG activity was perhaps due to the fact that an anterior wide grip requires the humerus to be extended as well as abducted. As a side note, the researcher stated that all of the test subjects were able to use heavier loads during the wide grip anterior than in the other pulldown lifts. The difference, however, was not significant.
For anyone curious: The wide-grip anterior pulldown was performed with an upright posture (not leaning back) with lordosis posture kept in the spine. The bar was pulled from full extension to the top of the chest.
Greater EMG activity means only that: greater activity. The researcher's purpose was to examine how the involvement of the lats, posterior delts, triceps long head, pectoralis major, and the teres major differed between various hand grip positions. The author was in no way concerned with how hand grip positions affected EMG activity differences within the latissimus itself. This was a study conducted by a strength researcher for a strength training journal. Such people are not interested in shaping the lats (building thickness, width from the front, etc.). So, for someone who is looking to shape his lats a certain way this article is only an interesting read. I found it enlightening as the HIT/HD camp points to the supinated grip as being the superior lift for overall lat mass building. I do whole-body routines (which means I do only one lat-focused lift). This research suggests the WGA pulldown may be the better choice over the supinated grip if you have only one lat-focused lift to perform in your workouts (like me!)
Unfortunately I have not found a study wherein a researcher examined how various pulldown grips affected EMG activity WITHIN the lats. Such a thing only us muscle heads and a few insightful physiologists would care to know.
One day though, I hope to see it:
The Journal of Bodybuilding Physiology.
Brian Haycock, are you reading this?
