Cable Back Exercises: 8 Moves for a Bigger, Stronger Back

The best cable machine back exercises are the lat pulldown, seated cable row, single-arm cable row, straight-arm pulldown, face pull, cable pullover, kneeling single-arm pulldown and high cable row. Build your sessions around a pulldown and a row, then add one isolation move for the lats and one for the upper back. That covers every part of your back with a single machine.

Cables have one big advantage over free weights for back work: the tension never drops off. A dumbbell row goes slack at the bottom. A cable row doesn't. Below are the eight moves, what each one hits, the cues that matter, and a workout that strings them together.

Why train your back on a cable machine

Your back is a lot of muscle doing different jobs. The lats pull your arms down and back. The mid traps and rhomboids squeeze your shoulder blades together. The rear delts and rotator cuff pull your arms out and rotate them. Free weights cover some of this well, but gravity only pulls one way.

A cable lets you set the line of pull to match the muscle. High pulley for vertical pulls, waist height for rows, face height for rear delts. You can also swap handles in seconds, which matters more than people think, because a rope, a V-bar and a single D-handle each change how your elbows travel.

It's also easier on your lower back. Most cable pulls are done seated or kneeling, so you can train your back hard on the day after heavy deadlifts without loading your spine again.

The 8 best cable back exercises

1. Lat pulldown

Targets: lats, teres major, lower traps, biceps.

The lat pulldown is the cable version of a pull-up and the main vertical pull in this list. Our guide to the lat pulldown machine covers setup in more detail.

1. Set the thigh pad so your legs are locked in tight.
2. Grab the bar overhand, a little wider than shoulder width.
3. Lean back about 10 to 15 degrees and lift your chest.
4. Drive your elbows down towards your back pockets until the bar reaches your upper chest.
5. Let the bar rise slowly until your arms are straight and you feel a stretch in your lats.

Grip width matters less than gym folklore says. In a study of 15 trained men, lat activation was similar across narrow, medium and wide grips, and they lifted slightly more with the narrow and medium grips. Forearm position matters a bit more: a separate study found an overhand grip produced more lat activity than an underhand grip. So go overhand, pick a width that feels strong, and stop worrying.

2. Seated cable row

Targets: mid traps, rhomboids, lats, rear delts.

The seated cable row is your main horizontal pull. Use a V-bar or close-grip handle to start. See our full seated cable row guide for handle options.

1. Sit with your knees slightly bent and feet braced on the platform.
2. Sit tall with your chest up and arms straight in front.
3. Pull the handle to your lower ribs, leading with your elbows.
4. Squeeze your shoulder blades together for a one-second pause.
5. Return under control and let your shoulder blades move forward at the end.

The common mistake is rocking. A little torso movement is fine. Swinging back 30 degrees to move the stack is not, because your lower back takes over.

3. Single-arm cable row

Targets: lats, mid back, obliques (anti-rotation).

Working one side at a time shows up imbalances quickly and lets you pull your elbow further behind your body. Our single-arm cable row guide covers both the standing and seated version.

1. Set the pulley at waist height and attach a D-handle.
2. Stand in a split stance, opposite foot forward from the working arm.
3. Start with your arm long and your shoulder reaching slightly forward.
4. Row the handle to your hip, keeping your elbow close to your side.
5. Don't let your torso twist open as you pull.

Pulling to the hip rather than the chest shifts the work towards the lower lats.

4. Straight-arm pulldown

Targets: lats, teres major, long head of the triceps.

This is pure lat isolation. With your elbows locked, your biceps can't help, which makes it a good exercise to do before pulldowns if you struggle to feel your lats working.

1. Attach a rope or straight bar to a high pulley.
2. Step back, hinge slightly at the hips, arms straight out in front at head height.
3. Keep a soft bend in the elbows and sweep the handle down to your thighs.
4. Squeeze your lats hard at the bottom.
5. Return slowly until your arms are just above shoulder height.

If your triceps are doing the work, you're bending your elbows. Lock them.

5. Face pull

Targets: rear delts, mid traps, rotator cuff.

Face pulls train the small muscles at the back of your shoulders that rows tend to miss. They're cheap insurance for anyone who presses a lot.

1. Set a rope at upper chest to face height.
2. Grip the rope with thumbs pointing back towards you.
3. Pull the rope towards your forehead, splitting the ends apart.
4. Finish with your hands beside your ears and elbows high.
5. Hold for a second, then return slowly.

Go light. Most people load face pulls too heavy and turn them into a lean-back row.

6. Cable pullover

Targets: lats, teres major, serratus anterior, chest.

The cable pullover puts the lats under load in a deep stretched position, which a pulldown doesn't do as well. Lie on a flat bench with your head towards a low pulley, holding a rope or straight bar overhead.

1. Lie on the bench with the cable coming from behind your head.
2. Start with your arms extended back past your head, elbows slightly bent.
3. Pull the handle up and over in an arc until it's above your chest.
4. Keep the elbow angle fixed throughout.
5. Lower back slowly into the stretch.

Don't chase weight here. Control at the bottom of the arc is the whole point.

7. Kneeling single-arm pulldown

Targets: lats, especially the lower fibres.

Kneeling side-on to a high pulley lets you pull the elbow down and in towards your hip, a line that bilateral pulldowns can't match.

1. Set a D-handle on a high pulley and kneel facing it, or side-on.
2. Reach up with one arm so your lat is fully stretched.
3. Pull your elbow down to your side, aiming it at your hip.
4. Turn your palm to face you as you pull if that feels stronger.
5. Let the arm rise fully before the next rep.

Pair this with the single-arm row for a session that works each side on its own.

8. High cable row

Targets: upper back, rear delts, mid traps.

A high cable row sits between a row and a face pull. The cable comes from above and you pull to your upper chest with elbows flared to roughly 45 degrees.

1. Set the pulley just above head height with a rope or wide bar.
2. Sit or kneel facing the machine with your arms reaching up and forward.
3. Pull the handle towards your upper chest, elbows wide.
4. Squeeze your shoulder blades back and down.
5. Return slowly to a full reach.

It's a good finisher for upper back thickness and works well on machines without a seated row platform.

Sample cable-only back workout

This runs about 50 minutes and suits anyone who has been training for a few months. Do it once or twice a week.

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
Lat pulldown	3	6 to 10	2 min
Seated cable row	3	8 to 12	2 min
Single-arm cable row	2 per side	10 to 12	90 sec
Straight-arm pulldown	2	12 to 15	60 sec
Face pull	3	15 to 20	60 sec

Put the heavy compound pulls first while you're fresh. That ordering follows the ACSM resistance training position stand, which recommends multi-joint exercises before single-joint ones and an 8 to 12 rep range for novices. When you can beat the top of the rep range by one or two reps, add a plate.

Want a second back day? Swap the seated row for a high cable row, the single-arm row for the kneeling single-arm pulldown, and the straight-arm pulldown for the cable pullover. Two sessions like this add up to about 24 hard back sets a week, or 30 if you count face pulls. That's the high end. A meta-analysis on weekly training volume found more weekly sets produced more muscle growth, but the gains only come if you recover, so drop a set from each exercise if your pulling numbers stall.

Common mistakes on cable back exercises

Pulling with your arms. Think about your elbows, not your hands. If you picture driving the elbows down or back, your lats and mid back take more of the load.

Shrugging. Shoulders creeping up to your ears hands the work to your upper traps. Set your shoulder blades down before every rep.

Cutting the stretch short. Most of the benefit of a cable sits in the stretched position. Let your arms go fully long at the end of each rep.

Too much body English. Leaning back hard on pulldowns or swinging on rows means the weight is too heavy. Drop it by one plate.

Using a home cable machine for back training

Home cable machines vary much more than gym ones, and the pulley ratio is the spec that catches people out. Many towers and functional trainers run at 2:1, so the handle moves twice as far as the stack and you feel roughly half the listed weight. That's great for face pulls, single-arm rows and straight-arm pulldowns. It can run short on heavy lat pulldowns and seated rows once you're past the beginner stage.

Look for these before buying:

• A 1:1 option or a heavy stack. For pulldowns and rows you'll want at least 60kg of effective resistance at the handle within a year of steady training.
• A low row footplate. Without one, seated cable rows get awkward and you'll end up bracing against the frame.
• Lots of pulley heights. Face pulls, high rows and kneeling pulldowns all need different settings.
• A lat bar and handles included. Buying attachments separately adds up.

Our best cable machine UK guide compares current options, and the home gym hub covers racks, benches and the rest of a garage setup.

Recommended reads

• Face pulls: how to do them properly
• Straight arm pulldown guide
• Bells of Steel Cable Tower review
• The best back exercises