For lat growth
For lat growth, the two are close. Plate-loaded pulldown rates slightly higher: more stretch, easier to progress.
Chest-supported row keeps more of the work on the lats.
Both are good choices, and they train the lats differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed. (Fonseca et al., 2014; Costa et al., 2021)
The research score comes from these, scored by hand from the studies. Lifter scores appear once an exercise has 10 ratings. How scores work
Chest-Supported Row. Same idea with dumbbells: no momentum, no lower-back fatigue.
Plate-Loaded Pulldown. A plate-loaded pulldown on a fixed path: full overhead stretch and easy to load in small steps.
For lat growth, the two are close. Plate-loaded pulldown rates slightly higher: more stretch, easier to progress. Chest-supported row keeps more of the work on the lats. Both are good choices, and they train the lats differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed.
About the same: both are easy to learn.
Chest-supported row needs dumbbells and a bench, so a home gym covers it. Plate-loaded pulldown needs a machine, so for most people it’s a gym exercise.
About the same: both rate Excellent for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric.