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Cables defy gravity and increase variety to your workout
Cable exercises are a great way to implement variety into a workout. Cables are usually attached to a type of universal machine or can be a standalone machine. Cable machines can be used as an entire home workout gym as hundreds of exercises can be performed with hand grips, bars or leg attachments. Cables are not effected by gravity and can be complementary to dumbbells.
Exercises
| Picture | Name of Cable Exercise | ||||
 | Weighted Cable Ball Crunch Start by leaning backward on the ball and grabbing a cable. Now with your body firmly planted on the ground for support, raise the weight and complete a crunch (as shown). Breath... | ||||
 | High to Low Woodchoppers Start by standing perpindicular to the cable machine while the cable is place in the top position. Now with both hands, grab the cable and bring it across your body from the top t... | ||||
 | Low to High Woodchoppers Stand upright with the cable perpindicular to your foot. Now with two arms grab the weight and use ONLY your abdominals to do the twisting. You may find that your shoulders are d... | ||||
 | Cable Crunches Attach a rope to a high pulley. Grab the ends of the rope in each hand and kneel down in front of the pulley. Your hands should be at the sides of your head. From this posit... | ||||
 | Close Grip Pulldowns Using a narrow grip handle, put your knees underneath the pad, and lean back slightly. Pull the handle down smoothly until it touches the top of your chest. Now extend your arm... | ||||
 | Lat Pulldown Using a wide bar, hold it with a wide comfortable grip, while putting your knees underneath the pad. Pull the bar down smoothly until it touches the top of your chest. Now extend... | ||||
 | Seated Row To begin the seated row take hold of the handles of your favorite bar (it could be like the one shown). Sit with your back straight while keeping your legs bent and feet against t... | ||||
 | Straight Arm Pulldowns Stand upright and grab the weight out in front of you with your arms fully extended. Lower the weight keeping your arms straight until they are just about by your side. Let the w... | ||||
 | Lying Cable Curls Start by lying on a bench with your arms straight up holding a straight bar attached to a cable. With your back flat on the bench lower the weight using your biceps keeping your e... | ||||
 | One Arm Cable Curls Start with a cable in one hand standing perfectly erect. Now raise the weight while keeping your elbow into your side and breathing out on the way up. Breathe in on the way down ... | ||||
 | Cable Curls Stand facing a low pulley with a straigth bar attached to it. Grasp the bar with a shoulder width grip and arms extended down. Keeping the upper arm rigid, curl the bar up un... | ||||
 | Lying Down Cable Curls Start by lying down on a mat with a cable between your legs. Now while maintaining keeping your back firmly on the ground, lift the weight using your biceps and brachialis. This ... | ||||
 | Cable Crossovers Take hold of handles attached to overhead pulleys. Have your arms parallel with the floor, palms down, and a slight bend at the waist. Bring your arms down in an arc fashion ... | ||||
 | Upward Cable Crossovers Take hold of handles attached to low pulleys. Have your arms point towards the bottom of pulleys, palms forward. Bring your arms up in an arc fashion until your hands meet in f... | ||||
 | Cable Pullovers Primarily used to 'expand the rib cage' this exercise can be performed by lying down on a bench and then grabbing a rope from behind your head which is then brought infront of your... | ||||
 | Cable Bent-Leg Deadlift To begin the Cable Bent-Leg Deadlift stand with your feet shoulder width apart and while keeping your back straight bend at your knees to pick up the cable (with an alternate hand ... | ||||
 | Cable Side Bends Start by grabbing a cable with your torso bent to the side as shown. Now raise the weight and use your opposing oblique muscle to do the action of contracting. Exhale until you a... | ||||
 | Side Raises Kneeling down with the cable behind your body, keeping your head and back straight, raise the weight to your side with a slight bend in your arm (until it is level with the ground)... | ||||
 | One Arm Reverse Pulldowns Start by standing up with your back and head straight. Grasp a single arm bar, and hold it with your palm facing you. Now, with your other hand holding something for support, bri... | ||||
 | Tricep Pulldowns Stand while grasping a bent bar used for this exercise, keeping your back and head straight. Now lower the weight while keeping your elbows tight close to your body. your back sh... | ||||
 | Angled Cable Triceps Extension Stand in between two high pulleys with single handles. Grasp the right handle with your left hand and the left handle with your right hand. Hold the handles in front of your ... | ||||
 | Cable Incline Pulldowns Start by sitting as shown with the bar of your choice to do the pulldowns. Now with your elbows in tight to your body lower the weight and extend the bar/rope until it is fully ex... | ||||
 | Overhead Cable Extensions Stand in front of a high pulley with a rope attached to it, facing away from the pulley. Hold an end of the rope in each hand with your arms bent and hands above your head. B... | ||||
 | Incline Cable Triceps Extensions Place an incline bench in front of a low pulley, facing away from it. Attach a rope to the pulley and sit down on the bench holding the ends of the rope in each hand with your... | ||||
Forum Discussions
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