Lat Pull Downs?

I agree that pulldowns should be done in the front.  Sitting here, just putting my arms behind me to where I would do a pull down behind my neck, and I can tell its not a comfortable position for my shoulders.

Further, behind the neck requires a wider grip.  Typically, a wider grip will recruit your biceps less--unless your a bodybuilder (and probably even then), I think its best to recruit as many different muscles in the motion as possible.  An extreme wide-grip pulldown isolates the lats much more, and you wind up needing to do curls or something else which targets your biceps.  With a medium-grip front pulldown, you can work out both your lats and biceps, and be done in half the time (along with other benefits of compound movements).

It sounds like the consensus is to do them to the front. 

I have a related question.  When I do them, they seem to target the muscles in my arms rather than emphasizing the back as they should.  Am I possibly doing them incorrectly?  I tend to lean back slightly on the bench and pull the bar straight down to my chest.  I do some with a wide grip and some with a narrow grip.  I can't seem to target my back well enough, however...

Are your palms facing towards you or away?  If your palms are facing towards you, your biceps are in a stronger position, and you should be able to do more work with less stress on them.  (Think of doing curls with your palms towards you or away; typically one can lift much more with palms towards them).

You might also consider getting a different exercise.  Does your gym have a t-bar row?  Or surely it has a cable row, meaning you sit and pull the weight in front of you to your chest?  As we have been discussing, all exercises don't work for all people.  I never really liked the lat-pull down; I much prefer doing pull-ups after some t-bar rows, these seem to hit my back and bicep very well.

They better be facing away. Quick test: with palms facing away from you, reach your hands all the way up. Got that? Now, with your hands still all the way up, turn your your hands so your palms are facing towards you. Good luck with that.

I had the same problem, a guy at my gym helped me out. Try sitting a little straighter, you may have to lower the weight, and when you pull down try to imagine you are trying to squish a grape between your shoulder blades. Helped me out!!

Being able to hold your arms above your head at a certain position and hanging on a bar/pulling on a bar are separate things.  A lifter's biceps are in a much stronger position with palms towards him/her, and the OP was that this person's biceps are feeling the lift too much.  So if he puts his biceps in a stronger position, they will be stressed less. 

Amen brother, the only time a bar goes behind my head is for squats........and even then it will not be all the time