Sliding Floor Pulldown
An equipment-free vertical pull that uses floor friction for resistance by sliding your bodyweight across a smooth surface.
TrainsLats
NeedsBodyweight
The movement
2 stages
Start
01 Start
Kneel with your hips back and arms extended on sliders or a towel.
02 End
Drive your elbows to your ribs, sliding your hands back.
How to do it
Setup
- Lie face-down on a smooth floor with your arms extended straight overhead and your palms flat on the ground.
- Keep your legs straight and your core tight so your body moves as a rigid unit.
Execution
- Press your hands into the floor and drive your elbows down to your sides to pull your entire body forward.
- Slide forward until your hands are level with your chest.
- Push through your hands to slide yourself backward to the starting position.
BreathingExhale as you pull your body forward, inhale as you slide back.
Getting it right
Form cues
- Pull your elbows down to your sides exactly as you would during a pull-up.
- Keep your hands planted firmly on the floor and pull your body to them.
Common mistakes
- Bending the knees or piking the hips, which breaks the rigid bodyline and adds drag.
- Using a surface with too much or too little friction, making the movement either impossible or completely effortless.
Worth knowing
- Ensure the floor surface is smooth enough to slide on without snagging skin. You can place a towel under your torso or hands to adjust friction.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
Pure bodyweight training struggles immensely with vertical pulling when there is no bar or sturdy ledge available. The sliding floor pulldown solves this by rotating the movement 90 degrees: instead of pulling yourself up against gravity, you pull yourself horizontally across the floor against friction.
The mechanics perfectly mirror a traditional lat pulldown or pull-up, making it one of the only ways to heavily load the lats without equipment. The difficulty is entirely dictated by the friction of the floor and your clothing. If it is too easy, add friction by removing the towel or wearing a cotton shirt on a wood floor; if it is too hard, wear slippery clothing or use sliders under your torso.