Chest Workouts With Cables and Pulley Systems

Working out your chest with a cable pulley unit involves pulling or pushing cables which are attached to a stack of weighted plates. The weighted plates serve as the resistance that your chest has to overcome. Your chest muscle, which is anatomically called your pectoralis major, is responsible for squeezing your arms together toward the center of your body.

  1. Before Hitting the Cables

    • You can incorporate your chest cable workout into your routine two to three days per week, scheduling one or two days of rest in between each session. Before each workout, participate in a dynamic warm-up to increase body temperature and blood flow and lubricate your shoulder joints. Determine what type of workout program you want to follow. When you’re just starting out, complete one to two sets of 10 to 12 reps. After you’ve been training consistently for a month, bump up your workout by increasing the weight you’re lifting and do two to three sets of eight to 10 reps.

    Standing Flies with Cables

    • Most cable exercises for the chest involve positioning yourself in between two cable pulley towers. For standing chest fly, which is commonly referred to as cable crossover, Set each cable unit to a high position so that the handles are positioned over your head. Stand with your feet together and hold the handle attached to the cable on each side. Push your hips back to bend over slightly. Begin with your arms held out wide with your palms facing the floor, and then squeeze your arms together towards the centerline of your body as if you’re going to give someone a hug. Control your arms back out as they return to the starting position. Your elbows should remain relatively straight throughout the entire movement. A different version of the exercise involves setting the cables so that they’re in a low position and then bring your arms upward to the height of your chest as you simultaneously squeeze them together.

    Cable Flies while Lying

    • The lying cable fly exercise involves positioning a flat bench perpendicular between the two cable pulley towers, with the cables set to a low position so the handles are just above the floor. Grip each handle and lie on your back on the bench. Begin with your arms out to your side with your palms facing upward and elbows primarily straight. Keeping your elbows in a locked position, squeeze your arms together and then control them back out to where they started. You can also perform lying cable flies on an incline or decline bench to emphasize the upper and lower chest, respectively.

    Pressing the Cables

    • With a pair of cables, you can perform standing chest press. Stand with your back to two cable units. With the cable handles in each hand, get into a staggered stance, one foot in front of the other. Hold the handles so your elbows are bent and your hands are just outside your chests. Your palms should be facing the floor. Press the handles in front of you, extending your arms fully, and then control your hands back to the starting position. With your shoulders internally rotated as they are during the pressing exercise, your chest is responsible for pushing the cables away from you.

    Using Cables Effectively

    • When using cable pulleys to train, place the pin in the weight stack to select the amount of resistance you want to lift. You want the resistance to be appropriate based on your strength levels. Be sure each unit is set to the same resistance. To see developments, you want to make each set challenging to complete. Position your body or the flat bench right in the center of the pulley units so that when you’re doing each exercise and your arms are spread apart, there’s always tension on the cables.