Seated Face Pull
Also known as: Seated Cable Face Pull, Sitting Face Pull
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Description
Sit on the floor facing a cable station and pull a rope to your face, hands ending beside your head, to build your rear delts and upper back. The rear delts work hardest. Your middle traps squeeze the shoulder blades together and the infraspinatus, a rotator cuff muscle on the back of the shoulder blade, turns your arms out at the finish; the upper traps help a little. With your legs out on the floor, nothing below the waist can help, so it's easier to learn than the standing Cable Face Pull and the setup repeats week to week. Go standing when you want more load.
How to Perform
- Clip a rope to one pulley of a cable station and set it level with your face as you sit on the floor, usually mid-column.
- Take one rope end in each hand with an overhand grip: knuckles up, palms down, hands close together, wrists straight.
- Sit facing the machine, legs out in front, knees slightly bent, heels down. Scoot back until your arms are straight at face height and the plates lift.
- Sit tall with your chest up and lean back about 10–20°. The cable should now run level to the pulley; that lean stays put until the set is done.
- Set your shoulders down, then pull the rope toward your face with your elbows leading out to the sides at shoulder height.
- Split the rope as it nears your face. Your hands finish beside your head at eye level, forearms vertical, knuckles up and back; hold a second with your shoulder blades squeezed.
- Take 2–3 seconds to straighten your arms, plates still off the stack. After the last rep, scoot forward to set the weight down, then let go.
What Muscles Work
Primary Muscle:
Secondary Muscles:
Tips
- Do 2–4 sets of 12–20 reps and stop 1–3 reps short of failure; the set is over when your hands can no longer reach head height. Push the reps up before the load. Once you get 20 in each set with a one-second hold at your face and a still torso, go up one plate (usually 2.5–5 kg) and go back to 12. That plate can be a 10–20% jump on a face pull, so expect a few sessions at each weight. Pulley ratios vary, so compare loads only on the same station.
- It should land in the back of your shoulders and between your shoulder blades, and late in the rep on the back of the shoulder blade as your hands turn up. A burning neck means you're shrugging. If your biceps or lats do most of the work, you're rowing to your chest. A pinch at the front of the shoulder at the finish? Stop with your hands slightly in front of your ears and use less weight.
- Tight hamstrings rounding your lower back on the floor? Bend your knees more, or sit on a low box or flat bench and raise the pulley so it's still at face height.
- Substitutes: Banded Face Pull at home, as a warm-up or as the easier step; Cable Face Pull, done standing, once a 2-second hold at the finish and a 3-second return feel easy and you want more load; Lying Cable Face Pull on a bench when you want your torso fully out of it; Machine Reverse Flyes for rear delts with your chest on a pad and no rotation at the end.
Common Mistakes
- Rowing the rope to your chin or chest. The elbows drop below your shoulders and your lats and biceps take over. Aim the middle of the rope at your nose or forehead and finish with your hands beside your head.
- Leaning further back on every rep to get the weight moving. Set the slight lean before the first rep and hold it there; if your torso still rocks, take a plate off.
- Shrugging, so your shoulders creep toward your ears and your neck carries the load. Pull your shoulders down before each rep, think “elbows wide and back” and lighten the stack.
- Stopping with your hands in front of your face and the rope ends still together. Pull them apart until your knuckles point up and back and your forearms stand vertical beside your head.
- A pulley set for standing, not sitting. Too high and it becomes a pulldown, too low and it becomes an upward row. Set it at the height of your face when seated so the cable runs level.
- Sitting so close that the plates clank down between reps. Scoot back until the weight stays up with your arms straight.
Recommended Exercises
Explore exercises related to Seated Face Pull for shoulders training and similar movement patterns.
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