Many trainers (myself included) tend to steer people away from the machines in favor of free weights. There are a bunch of reasons machines aren’t the best, but the main objection of pros is that they provide too much structure, cheating your core and other stabilizer muscles out of a much-needed workout. There’s one major exception to the “no-machines” rule, though, and that’s the cable machine. Here’s why:
It’s Functional
“The cable machine allows you to recreate all of your bodies’ basic functional movements with added weight: push, pull, squat, twist, bend,” says Mike Clausen, fitness and performance exercise specialist and owner at DIAKADI: Fitness Performance Life in San Francisco. “It allows you to do both isolation exercises focusing on one body part, and create compound exercises involving multiple body parts.” However, because movement can be so fluid, having good form is essential. Start light and practice getting a full range of motion, with good posture, before loading up the weight. The cables also have a tendency to yank you back, so it’s essential to build up good control before you go heavy.
MORE: 8 Kettlebell Exercises That Sculpt Your Entire Body
It Defies Gravity
When using free weights, the resistance on your muscles is always in the direction of gravity, which is why you need to bend over to row properly or lie on your back to do a chest press. But with cables, the resistance is in the direction of the cable pull. “With the variations of settings and variable adjustments, you can target any muscle at any angle and you can move through all planes of movement: sagittal, frontal, and transverse,” says Clausen. You also get resistance throughout the entire range of motion—during the pull or push and during the release—which help you build muscle even faster. Pretty cool, right?
It’s Crazy-Versatile
With a few speedy changes to the height, handle type, and weight stack, it’s a cinch to change up the cable machine. “This allows you to quickly move from one exercise/body part to the next, thereby making your workouts more efficient,” says Clausen. You can also do exercises bilaterally (using both sides at the same time), unilaterally (one side at a time), and alternatingly, which are increasingly more challenging. Not only that, a simple adjustment to the cable height can target muscles differently. For example, in a chest press, pushing from a low angle works the upper chest, while pushing from a high setting works the lower chest.
MORE: 7 Reasons to Try High-Intensity Interval Training
It Works the Back Muscles
The action of pulling is par for the course with a cable machine, and it’s one of the most important movements for strengthening the back. “By using the cable machines, desk jockeys can find and fire up their back muscles—lats, traps, rhomboids—that are being stretched out during the day,” says Clausen. Translation: Using the cable machine can help reverse the shoulder slouch caused by too much sitting.
Never used the cables before? Try this move:
Cable Squat to Row
An awesome compound, multi-joint exercise, this move works both your upper and lower body. Start with two standard handles aligned at sternum height. Hold the cables with hands facing each other and sit back into a deep squat (A). As you stand, row the handles in so your elbows graze your sides (B). “The great thing about this is people can go slow, or they can power through the movement for strength or cardio benefits,” says Clausen.
And if you want even more cable machine action, have a go at our 15-minute, total-body cable workout.
MORE: How to Work Your Back When You Don't Have Gym Equipment
—
Amy Roberts is a certified personal trainer.
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