Single-Arm Cable Cross-Body Pulldown

oec:single-arm-cable-cross-body-pulldown

A unilateral cable exercise that targets the posterior shoulder and upper back by pulling the arm across the body in a high-to-low sweeping motion.

Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.

Also called: Unilateral Cross Body Cable Pull Down, Cable Cross-Body Pulldown, Single-Arm Cross-Body Cable Pulldown, Cross-Body Cable Straight-Arm Pulldown

How to do it

Setup

Adjust the cable pulley to a high position above head height.
Stand at a slight diagonal or side-on to the cable column with a stable, staggered stance.
Reach across your body with the working arm and grasp the handle or cable end using a neutral or light overhand grip.

Movement

Maintaining a fixed, slight bend in the elbow, pull the cable diagonally down and across your body.
Sweep your arm backward past your torso, focusing on squeezing the posterior shoulder and lat.
Pause briefly at peak contraction.
Slowly reverse the movement along the same path under control until you feel a gentle stretch across the rear shoulder.
Complete the desired number of repetitions before switching sides.

Breathing

Exhale as you pull the cable down and back across your torso; inhale as you return the weight to the top.

Cues

Keep the elbow angle locked throughout the rep.
Lead the movement with the back of the shoulder.
Brace your core to prevent twisting through the torso.

Common faults

Turning the movement into a row by flexing and extending the elbow.: Keep a soft, fixed elbow position so the motion is driven entirely by the shoulder joint.
Excessively rotating the spine to heave the weight down.: Brace the abdominal wall and keep the hips and torso square, moving only the arm and shoulder blade.

Safety

Select a controllable load to maintain scapular and spinal stability throughout the set.

Muscles

Rear deltoid prime mover
Latissimus dorsi prime mover
Teres major synergist
Infraspinatus synergist
Rhomboids synergist
Obliques stabilizer

Joints

Shoulder: Extension, Horizontal abduction
Shoulder blade: Retraction, Depression
Elbow: Isometric stabilization

Details

Movement: Pull, Shoulder raise isolation
Modality: Hypertrophy, Strength
Mechanics: isolation
Force: pull
Laterality: unilateral
Kinetic chain: open
Level: beginner
Equipment: Cable machine
Record: Repetitions and Load
Load: external, weight stack

variation of Cable Single-Arm Lat Pulldown
substitute for Cable Single-Arm Cross-Body Lat Pulldown
substitute for Cable Single-Arm Lat Pulldown

Sources

wger: unilateral cross body cable pull down (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

single-arm-cable-cross-body-pulldown.json