Cable Exercises: How to Use This Machine to Build Muscle

Are you avoiding the cable crossover machine at your gym or fitness studio? Most people have become more comfortable with lifting dumbbells, swinging the kettlebell, and treadmill workouts while overlooking strength cable exercises. Unlike most machines, this one can strengthen your whole body from head to toe. So, if you have been avoiding cable exercises because you don't know how to use the machine, you came to the right place. 

Here we’ve rounded up a list of cable exercises that will get you started. 

1.       Cable Chest Press

If you want an alternative workout from the traditional Bench press, Standing Cable Chest Press got you. Without any doubt, cable chest press is one of the most common practices for building stronger, bigger, and leaner chest muscles for both men and women.

How To: Set the pulleys and cable at shoulder height, then grab the handles in front of you, while setting your feet in a staggered stance. Extend your arms until they are straight, then bend your elbows to pull the handles back to your chest.

2.       Cable Pull-Through

If you love traditional Deadlifts, then you might have found an alternative to it. Standing cable pull-through is an excellent exercise for strengthening your posterior chain without putting too much pressure on your lower back.

How To: Step a few feet in front of the cable crossover machine, facing away from it, with your feet shoulder-width apart, then hold the cable between your legs with both hands. Hinge forward to lower torso towards the floor while keeping your upper chest up and shoulders down. Extend your hips to pull the cable and return to the starting position.

3.       Cable Crossover/ Cable Fly

It is where the cable crossover machine got its name. The standing cable crossover is the most common exercise performed using the cable crossover machine. This exercise primarily targets chest and shoulder muscles.

How To: Adjust the pulleys and handles high enough above your shoulder height, then stand between the two cables and grab the handles with an overhand grip. Bend your knees slightly to lean forward and pull your hands down in front of your body until your hands meet, while squeezing your chest, and slowly release back to the starting position.

4.       Low cable crossover

Also referred to as the excellent muscle definer, low to high cable crossover is meant to engage your upper chest muscles and deltoids.

How To:  Place the pulleys on the lowest point of the cable machine on both sides, then grab the handles while facing out and your feet wider than shoulder-width apart. While keeping a staggered stance and your core tight, pull the weights until they are in line with your upper chest, then release in a controlled manner to initial position.

I hope with these cable exercises ideas, you will give cable crossover machine some love the next time you visit the gym. If you want to grab one for your commercial or home fitness studio, you can order online from Fitness Equipment Empire and receive it wherever you are.