Cable Face Pull

The cable face pull trains the rear deltoids, the rhomboids and the external rotators of the shoulder, three groups that almost every training programme underworks and that almost every desk job shortens. With the rope set at face height, you pull toward your face while spreading your hands apart, so the elbows travel back at shoulder level and the shoulder blades retract and rotate at the same time. That combination is what makes the exercise so widely prescribed for shoulder health: it strengthens the muscles that hold the shoulder back, directly opposing the position that pressing and sitting both encourage. The pulley height decides everything. Set too low, the movement becomes a row and the rear delts lose most of the work. Keep the elbows high and finish with the hands beside your ears rather than in front of your chest.