When using cables, you can easily change the angle and weights, and keep constant tension on a muscle. This makes them an incredible tool for back training.
Here are 10 best cable back exercises:
- Wide-Grip Cable Row
- Single-Arm Cable Row
- Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
- Single-Arm Lat Pulldown
- Chest-Supported Cable Row
- Straight-Arm Cable Pulldown
- Lying Cable Pullover
- Cable Shrugs
- Cable Face Pull
- Prone Cable Row
Don’t miss as I share the steps to hit the correct form, which can help prevent injury and maximize gains. Plus, I’ll share exclusive tips I’d share with my clients.
As a personal trainer, these are a staple in my training and my clients. I regularly include most of these exercises every week.
Cables are very user-friendly, which makes them great for beginners. And you can easily adjust the weights and the angles of different exercises, which makes them also great for more advanced lifters.
By the end of this article, you will understand the best exercises, and I’ve even thrown in some sample cable back workouts and the muscles worked today.
Table of Contents
1. Wide-Grip Seated Cable Row
Wide-grip rows are a staple in so many programs, and that should not change just because you are using cables. The wide-grip cable row targets more of the lats than other cable row variations, making it an excellent option for anyone looking to add size or strength to the lats.
It’s one of the best exercises with a cable machine.
How To Do It
- Set a wide straight bar attachment to the bottom of a cable stack and sit in front of the stack, holding the bar with a pronated (palms facing down) grip about 1.5x shoulder width. Place your feet against the cable pulley stack to support yourself.
- Lean back so that your torso is 90 degrees to the floor, and allow your arms to remain fully extended in front of you.
- From here, row the bar towards your lower ribs by driving your elbows back. Aim to keep a 30 to 45-degree angle between your upper arm and torso.
- Once the bar reaches your torso, control the load back to the starting position. Keep your torso position consistent throughout the set.
Pro Tip: As you row, make sure to keep your shoulders down and back. Doing this increases lat activation and ensures you’re hitting the target muscle correctly. If you shrug your shoulders, you’ll no longer work the lats as effectively.
Not sure which cable attachment you should be using for cable rows? Check out What Attachment To Use For Cable Rows? (5 Options).
2. Single-Arm Cable Row
Single-arm cable rows are one of the best cable exercises. The unilateral aspect is hugely beneficial for training each side independently because it helps ensure you’re training each side evenly without your dominant side overcompensating for the weaker one.
The single-arm cable row works the lats, rhomboids, traps, rear delts, and biceps to a small degree.
How To Do It
- Set a single-arm attachment to the bottom of a cable stack (I like a D-handle) and sit in front of the stack, holding the handle with a neutral grip. Place your feet against the cable stack to support yourself.
- Lean back so that your torso is 90 degrees to the floor, and allow your arm to remain fully extended.
- From here, row your elbow back and down while keeping it close to the side of your torso.
- Once your upper arm aligns with your torso, control the load back to the starting position. Keep your torso position consistent throughout the set.
Pro Tip: You’ll likely find that you can use more weight or do more reps on your dominant side. To make sure you’re working both sides evenly, perform your sets with your non-dominant side first, and only use a weight with which you can complete all reps in your program on your non-dominant side.
Read on for more rear delt workouts to work the back of your shoulders.
3. Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
Vertical pulling is a fundamental part of effective back training, and wide-grip pulldowns are one of my favorites. Like other wide-grip row variations, the wide-grip cable pulldown engages the lats more effectively than close grip pulldowns.
It also works the rhomboids and, to a lesser extent, the biceps.
How To Do It
- Set a wide, straight bar attachment to the top of a cable stack. Grip the bar about 1.5x shoulder width with a pronated (palms facing down) grip.
- Sit on the floor, place your feet against the cable stack to support yourself, and lean forward slightly.
- From here, pull the bar towards your chin as vertically as possible, tracking your elbows down in line with your torso.
- Once the bar reaches your chin, control the load back to the starting position. Keep your torso position consistent throughout the set.
Pro Tip: Always pull the bar to the front of your body, and don’t pull it to any spot lower than your chest to avoid shoulder discomfort. Behind-the-neck lat pulldowns have been shown to be less effective than pulling the bar in front of you. You also risk injuring your shoulders if you’re not careful because behind-the-neck lat pulldowns stress the shoulder joint and rotator cuff muscles more.
Looking for an alternative option to lat pulldowns? Check out my favorite lat pulldown alternatives you can do with dumbbells, cables, and resistance bands.
4. Single-Arm Lat Pulldown
Another staple exercise in my programs is the single-arm pulldown. I find lifters often manage to stay more consistent and vertical in their range of motion compared to bilateral movements due to not having to work around the fixed bar.
The single-arm cable pulldown works the lats, traps, rhomboids, rear delts, and biceps.
How To Do It
- Set a D-handle attachment to the top of a cable stack. Hold this with a neutral or supinated (palm facing upwards) grip – use whichever allows you to feel your lats more during each rep.
- Sit down on the floor and place your feet against the cable stack to support yourself. Lean forward slightly.
- From here, pull your elbow down in line with your torso until your elbow reaches your side.
- Control the load back to the starting position, fully extending your arm and allowing a stretch of your lats. Keep your torso position consistent throughout the set.
Pro Tip: You may not want to do single-sided work to avoid spending too much time in the gym. But the benefit of doing unilateral work is that one side is resting while the other is working, so you can theoretically do 3-4 sets of single-arm cable pulldowns in the same amount of time (or maybe even less) than it takes you to do bilateral pulldowns.
Still not quite feeling your lats in your vertical pulls? Our article How To Activate Your Lats More During Pull-Ups (5 Tips) will be able to help you.
5. Chest-Supported Cable Row
Chest-supported rows are a great option for after deadlifts where you may not want to load your lower back further.
They are also useful for those with tendencies to cheat their rowing movements by using a lot of upper body momentum, as the chest support makes these harder to cheat.
The chest-supported cable row works the lats, traps, rhomboids, and biceps.
How To Do It
- Set a straight bar to the bottom of the cable stack and place an adjustable bench 2-3 feet away from the stack. Set the bench to a 45-degree incline.
- Grip the bar with a pronated grip (palms facing down) around 1-1.5x shoulder-width apart, walk around the bench, and sit on it facing it.
- Starting with your arms fully extended, row the bar towards your sternum, keeping your upper arm at a 30- to 45-degree angle to your torso.
- Row until you contact the underside of the bench and control the load back to the start position.
Pro Tip: Add an isometric hold to add more variety to the chest-supported cable row. This means pausing once the bar is at the underside of the bench for an extended period. My favorite way to do them is to utilize a 1:1 ratio of the number of reps you do to the pause length. For example, if you’re doing sets of 12, you’d pause for 12 seconds at the end of each set.
Back feeling a little tight? Here are some exercises that can potentially help strengthen your low back: 9 Best Exercises for Lower Back Workouts
6. Straight-Arm Cable Pulldown
This is one of my favorite exercises for training the lats, and I think they are a useful tool for those who often have trouble engaging their lats in other exercises like pull-ups.
How To Do It
- Set a rope or straight bar attachment to the top of a cable stack and take a pronated grip.
- Step back 2-3 steps and lean to a 45-degree torso angle, extending your arms overhead.
- Keeping your arms straight, pull the rope/bar down towards your hips – I like to think about driving my wrists to my pockets.
- Once you reach your hips, control the load until your arms are extended overhead again.
Pro Tip: You can do this movement with two rope attachments (one in each hand) instead of one to increase your range of motion. Moving your muscles through a greater range of motion means more muscle fibers are stimulated, which can produce greater hypertrophy gains.
Like this exercise? Here are 14 exercises that will also help with pullups: 14 Best Pull Up Alternatives
7. Lying Cable Pullover
Like the straight-arm pulldown, the cable pullover is another great option for isolation exercises for the lats. It’s more effective than a dumbbell pullover because it keeps the lats in constant tension.
How To Do It
- Set a rope at the bottom of a cable stack, with a flat bench 2-3 feet away from the stack.
- Lie with your back on the bench with your head closest to the cable machine and grip the rope with a neutral grip – it may be easier to have someone pass you the rope.
- Start with your arms overhead so your biceps are close to your ears or as far back as your shoulder mobility allows. While still feeling the tension in your lats, pull the rope towards your eyeline while keeping your arms straight.
- Pull until you reach your eye line and potentially until your arms are over your chest – stop pulling if you feel the load shift from your lats to other muscle groups.
- From here, lower the load back overhead while keeping control of the movement.
Pro Tip: This movement can easily turn into more of a triceps movement if you’re not careful. You may have the urge to bend your elbows, but doing this will take the emphasis off the lats and put more of it into the triceps. Keep your arms straight (though not fully locked out) throughout the movement to ensure the focus remains on the lats.
If you have limited shoulder mobility, check out Front Squat Mobility: 17 Must-Do Exercises. Many of the mobility drills in this article can help you improve your shoulder mobility.
8. Cable Shrugs
Shrugs are useful for strengthening the upper traps, which are often overlooked. So, doing shrugs with cables keeps the muscles in a constant state of tension. This forces them to work harder and is beneficial for muscle building.
How To Do It
- Set a straight bar attachment at the bottom of a cable stack, and take a grip outside shoulder-width apart.
- Stand straight up, holding the bar in front of you against your legs.
- Shrug the bar upwards by elevating your shoulders up and back. Keep your arms fully extended throughout the movement.
- Hold a pause at the top of the movement and control the load back down.
Pro Tip: Cable shrugs are excellent for building the upper traps but don’t effectively target the middle traps. To work more on the middle traps, avoid the cable stack and hold the bar rope attachment behind your back. When your arms are behind you, you have less of a tendency to roll your shoulders forward, which prevents the emphasis from being placed on the upper traps.
9. Cable Face Pull
Cable face pulls are one of my favorites for training the upper back and rear delts. They’re an excellent movement for overall shoulder health because they help increase muscular stability in the upper body. They can also help improve your posture.
How To Do It
- Set a rope at the top of a cable stack and take a pronated grip (palms facing downwards). Take a couple of steps back from the cable machine and extend your arms fully in front of your face.
- Pull the rope towards your eyeline by driving your elbows out at a nearly 90-degree angle. This keeps the loading in the target muscles (the rear delts and traps) rather than acting like a normal row variation (which would work more of the lats and rhomboids).
- Hold a brief pause at this end range of motion before controlling the load until your arms are fully extended.
Pro Tip: Using momentum, arching your back, or leaning too far back is easy when doing cable face pulls. To avoid these issues, you can do them in a half-kneeling position. This will remove the temptation to rock back and forth as you execute the movement, and you get the added benefit of some core work since your core will have to work harder to stabilize you.
10. Prone Cable Row
Prone cable rows, despite their name, are vertical pulling movements. They’re similar to the chest-supported cable row but can be performed without a bench.
The word “prone” refers to being in a facedown position. By doing cable rows this way, you remove your ability to cheat because you can’t use momentum to lift. This enables you to target the upper back muscles more effectively.
How To Do It
- Set a D-handle at the bottom of a cable stack and get on your hands and knees in front of it.
- Grip the D-handle with one hand while supporting yourself with the other. Make sure the hand on the floor is directly below your shoulder.
- Pull the load towards you by driving your elbow down and back towards your hip until your elbow reaches your torso.
- From here, control the load back to the start position, allowing a full lat stretch.
Pro Tip: Since this movement is difficult to overload, you can also incorporate tempo work to make it more challenging. I recommend taking a 3-second count to pull the cable toward your hip, pausing for 1 second, then taking another 3-second count to return the cable to the starting position.
Related Article: 8 Best Dumbbell Pullover Alternatives (With Pictures)
Best Cable Back Workouts For Muscle Mass
These two routines will show how you can set up each exercise on this list to train your back while using cables effectively.
The primary considerations should include cable exercises that train different back muscles and utilize differing motion and rep ranges.
Effective back training will prioritize progressions in load, reps, or sets over time and different ranges of motion. These cable workouts should include an even number of vertical and horizontal pulling movements.
Cable Back Workout #1
- Wide-Grip Cable Row: 4 Sets of 6-8 Reps. Leave 1-2 reps in reserve for each set and increase load when you hit 8 reps on each set.
- Cable Shrugs: 3 Sets of 10-12 Reps. Leave 1-0 reps in reserve and hold a pause at the top of each rep.
- Single-Arm Cable Pulldown: 2 Sets of 8-10 Reps. Leave 2-3 reps in reserve on each set and progress load for the second set if you hit 10 reps on the first.
- Cable Pullover: 2 Sets of 12-15 Reps. Leave 2-3 reps in reserve for each set and aim for 15 reps on each set.
- Cable Face Pull: 3 Sets of 10-12 Reps + 1 Drop Set. Leave 1-2 reps in reserve on each set and increase load for the following sets if you hit 12 reps on any set. Perform a drop set to failure after the third set with 70% of the load.
Cable Back Workout #2
- Wide-Grip Cable Pulldown: 1 Set of 10 Reps + 3 Repeat Sets. Perform a set of 10 with 1-2 reps in reserve, then perform three more sets with the same load, leaving 1-2 reps in reserve each set, regardless of rep count. Aim to progress loading each week for 4-6 weeks.
- Chest-Supported Cable Row: 3 Sets of 8-10 Reps. Perform each set 1-2 reps from failure. Progress load when you hit 10 reps across all 3 sets.
- Single-Arm Cable Row: 2 Sets of 10-12 Reps. Perform each set 2-3 reps from failure.
- Cable Prone Row: 3 Sets of 12-15 Reps – Push each set 0-1 rep from failure. Increase load when you hit 15 reps per set.
- Straight-Arm Cable Pulldown: 1 Set of 20 Reps + 2 Drop Sets to failure. Perform a set of 20 reps with 1-2 reps in reserve, then perform two sets to failure with 75% and 50% of the initial loading.
Muscles Worked During Cable Back Workouts
The goal of back workouts with cables should be to target the entirety of your back.
Here are the muscles worked during back workouts with cables:
- Latissimus Dorsi (Lats): The largest muscle in the back, aiding in shoulder joint movement and back flexibility.
- Trapezius (Traps) and Rhomboids: Located in the upper back, trapezius helps maintain posture and head movement, while rhomboids stabilize shoulder blades.
- Rear Deltoids: Muscles at the back of the shoulders and upper arms for arm extension.
- Biceps: Located in the front of the arm, assisting in arm bending during cable row movements.
Wondering how much training you actually need for your back? Check out my article Are Rows And Pull Ups Enough For Back And Biceps? to find out.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Best Cable Row for Mid-Back?
Wide Grip Seated Cable Row, Single-Arm Cable Rows, and also Seated Supinated Cable Rows are all great for targeting the mid-back.
Are Cable Pulls Good For The Back?
There are different types of cable pulls, but anytime you’re pulling you are working your back in some capacity.
What Are the Benefits of Using Cable Machines for Back Workouts?
Cable back workouts offer versatility, easy setup, increased range of motion, and constant tension (mechanical tension is vital for hypertrophy), making them ideal for adding size and strength.
How Can You Effectively Train Your Back With Cables?
To effectively train your back with cables, mix horizontal and vertical pulls, use single and double-arm movements, and vary rep ranges for full muscle engagement. Discover more exercise options in this article.
Additional Cable Machine Workouts
- 12 Best Cable Crossover Alternatives (With Pictures)
- 11 Best Cable Crunch Alternatives (With Pictures)
- 3 Cable Glute Workouts For Mass (Complete Guide)
- 3 Cable Shoulder Workouts For Mass (Complete Guide)
- 15 Best Seated Row Alternatives (With Pictures)
- 18 Best Upper Body Pull Exercises
References
- Sperandei S, Barros MA, Silveira-Júnior PC, Oliveira CG. Electromyographic analysis of three different types of lat pull-down. J Strength Cond Res. 2009;23(7):2033-2038. doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181b8d30a.
- Burd NA, Andrews RJ, West DW, et al. Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. J Physiol. 2012;590(2):351-362. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200.
- Signorile JF, Rendos NK, Heredia Vargas HH, Alipio TC, Regis RC, Eltoukhy MM, Nargund RS, Romero MA. Differences in Muscle Activation and Kinematics Between Cable-Based and Selectorized Weight Training. J Strength Cond Res. 2017 Feb;31(2):313-322. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001493.
- Goldberg AL, Etlinger JD, Goldspink DF, Jablecki C. Mechanism of work-induced hypertrophy of skeletal muscle. Med Sci Sports. 1975 Fall;7(3):185-198.
About The Author
Jacob Wymer is a powerlifting coach and PhD Candidate in Biomechanics and Strength and Conditioning, researching the application of barbell velocity measurements to powerlifting. He is involved in powerlifting across the board, from athlete to meet director. Jacob runs his coaching services at EST Barbell. You can also connect with him on Instagram.
