Cable Rope Straight-Arm Pulldown

How to do it

Setup

1. Attach a rope attachment to the high pulley of a cable station.
2. Grasp each end of the rope with a neutral grip (palms facing inward).
3. Take one to two steps back to create tension on the cable.
4. Hinge slightly forward at the hips with a flat back, soft knees, and arms extended forward overhead with a slight bend in the elbows.

Movement

1. Brace your core and initiate the movement by sweeping your hands downward in a wide arc toward your thighs.
2. Maintain the fixed, slight bend in your elbows throughout the descent without turning the movement into a triceps pushdown.
3. Squeeze your lats firmly at the bottom as your hands reach the sides of your thighs, flaring the rope slightly apart for a deeper contraction.
4. Slowly raise your arms back along the same arc to the overhead position, feeling a full stretch in your lats before beginning the next repetition.

Breathing

Exhale as you pull the rope down toward your hips; inhale as you slowly return to the stretched starting position.

Cues

• Pull with your elbows, not your hands.
• Keep the elbows frozen in a soft bend.
• Chest tall and proud at the bottom squeeze.

Common faults

Bending and extending the elbows during the movement, turning it into a triceps extension.

Lock a slight bend into your elbows from start to finish so that only the shoulder joint moves.

Using excessive body momentum or swinging the torso back and forth.

Maintain a stable hip hinge and braced torso throughout each rep, moving only the arms.

Safety

• Ensure the cable attachment is fully secured to the carabiner before initiating load.

Muscles

• Latissimus dorsi prime mover
• Teres major prime mover
• Triceps, long head synergist
• Rear deltoid synergist
• Pectoralis major, sternal head synergist
• Rectus abdominis stabilizer

Joints

• Shoulder: Extension, Flexion
• Shoulder blade: Depression, Downward rotation
• Elbow: Isometric stabilization
• Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization

Details

Movement

Pull

Modality

Hypertrophy, Strength

Mechanics

isolation

Force

pull

Laterality

bilateral

Kinetic chain

open

Level

beginner

Equipment

Cable machine

Record

Repetitions and Load

Load

external, weight stack

Related

• variation of Cable Straight-Arm Pulldown
• substitute for Cable Straight-Arm Pulldown
• substitute for Machine Pullover
• substitute for Dumbbell Pullover

Sources

• wger: Straight-arm Pull Down (rope Attachment), by tuckerm (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

cable-rope-straight-arm-pulldown.json