Lying Cable Face Pull

Description

Lie face up on a bench under a high pulley and pull a rope down to your forehead to train your rear delts and the muscles between your shoulder blades. The rear delts do most of the work. Your middle traps pull the shoulder blades together, the infraspinatus (a rotator cuff muscle) turns your arms out as your hands finish beside your head, and the upper traps help a little. The bench holds your torso, so you can't lean back or sway as on a standing face pull. Use it as a warm-up before pressing, or when you rock on the standing version.

How to Perform

1. Clip a rope to the top pulley of a cable column (a lat pulldown station works).
2. Set a flat bench lengthwise in front, one end against the column.
3. Lie face up with your head at the column end so the rope hangs straight down over your face. Knees bent, feet flat on the floor.
4. Reach up and take one rope end in each hand just above the stoppers: palms facing each other, thumbs toward the pulley, wrists straight.
5. Start with your arms straight up above your shoulders and the plates lifted off the stack. If they touch down, slide the bench or use a higher pulley.
6. Press your shoulders down, away from your ears, then pull the rope toward your forehead as your elbows bend and travel out to the sides, down toward the floor.
7. As the rope reaches your face, pull the ends apart until your hands sit beside your temples, upper arms level with your shoulders and elbows bent about 90°.
8. Squeeze your shoulder blades into the bench for a second, then take 2–3 seconds to return along the same path to straight arms, plates still off the stack.
9. After the last rep, let the stack down with your arms straight before you let go or sit up. Let go early and the rope whips up past your face.