What is there not to love about cable exercises? From fast angle and weight changes to resistance not being dependent on gravity, cable training allows you to train an exercise under tension through the full range of motion.
Yet how many of us regularly take the traditional shoulder press and combine it with a cable machine? The standing cable shoulder press enables you to train the shoulders in a different manner than with a barbell.
It is lower impact, and allows more variation in wrist position throughout the movement if you are lacking in shoulder mobility. You can do drop sets much quicker than trying to get weight off the barbell mid-set. The cable shoulder press enables a more natural range of the scapular plane and shoulder.
If you’ve got a home gym, but no cable setup, maybe now is the time to take a step up. If space is an issue at home, check out the ultimate in folding power racks, the Lightning F35. Or if you’ve got more room to work with, have a look at the best-selling F22 power rack.
Exercise Breakdown
When it comes to the standing cable shoulder press, you are still reaching the same muscles as with the barbell shoulder press. More specifically, the anterior and lateral deltoids, the triceps and upper chest. Yet the key difference is that these muscles are kept under tension for the duration of the movement. The role of gravity is minimized. This translates into a harder workout and more intense burn in the target muscles.
Start Position
- Let’s assume you’ve done a proper warm-up which included some shoulder mobility and activation exercises (see the attached table for shoulder warmup guidance). Next, you’ll need to work with a double stack cable machine with both pulleys set at a low to medium height position.
- Attach a single handle to each pulley and select the appropriate weight. Grab the handles and stand between the two cable stacks. You should position yourself as close to the weight as possible to allow for the most natural vertical path for the cable.
- Raise your arms to at least a 90 degree position with palms facing forward. Your legs should be straight and knees locked. Your pelvis should be in a neutral position.
Execution
- Pull your shoulder blades back and down and inhale deeply. Squeeze your abdomen to help increase stability. Exhale as you push both handles upward and over your head. If you can, touch both thumbs together at the top part of this movement.
- Focus on externally rotating your shoulders as much as possible to keep the shoulder muscles rather than the chest muscles activated. Your wrists should be kept at their approximate position above the elbow throughout the cable shoulder press.
End Position
- When you have held for 1 second at the top, inhale as you slowly return your arms to the start position. If your goal is building bigger shoulders, return the weight as slowly as possible. Research shows that exercises performed to fatigue can produce greater increases in rates of muscle protein synthesis than the same movement performed rapidly. (Burd, et al., 2012)
- Reset and continue with further repetitions until you have completed the set. You should aim for 8-12 reps per set if you are seeking hypertrophy rather than increases in strength.
It’s important to avoid leaning forward or arching your back as you push the handles over your head. Don’t worry if you can’t touch thumbs at the top of the movement. Over time your shoulder mobility will improve and you will increase the range of motion further.
Common Mistakes
- Engaging the trapezius muscles
When the weight gets heavy, especially later on in a set, the tendency is for your trapezius muscles to engage and lift your shoulders to help you complete difficult reps. Do your best to avoid this. Concentrate on keeping your shoulder blades pulled back and down and your chest up. If you find the traps are becoming involved, drop the weight and complete the remaining reps properly.
- Avoid dorsiflexion of the wrist
Focus on keeping the wrist in a neutral position. Allowing your wrist to extend will increase the strain on the joint and potentially cause injury. Dorsiflexion accounts for most wrist problems in athletes. (Linscheid, Dobyns, 1985) Aside from that, you want to train your wrist to hold steady in the neutral position so that it can be carried over to other movements such as the bench press.
- Leaning over
It’s important to keep your body straight along an axis from your knees, through your hips to your shoulders. If you start to bend forward you will reduce the effect of the weight on your shoulders and even risk injury. If the weight is too heavy, just pause, drop the weight a few levels and finish out the set. Being able to adjust weight so quickly is one of the great advantages of training with cable machines.
Muscle Engagement
Primary target: Anterior Deltoid
Secondary target: Pectoralis Major, Clavicular; Triceps Brachii; Lateral Deltoid; Coracobrachialis; Middle Trapezius; Lower Trapezius; Serratus Anterior; Inferior Digitations
The deltoid is a large triangular shaped muscle so named because it resembles an inverted Greek letter, delta. It comprises three distinct parts: the anterior, lateral and posterior. The anterior deltoid connects to your clavicle and is responsible for helping to move your arm forward.
When you perform the standing cable shoulder press you are primarily targeting your anterior deltoid. Although cable training does remove some of the need for the stabilization muscles to work, the standing cable press still requires a lot of stabilization of the arms, especially as you approach the top of the movement.
You are also engaging your middle and lower trapezius for the full duration of each repetition because these muscles help keep your arms stable in the overhead position. There is also activation of the lateral deltoid.
Summary
The standing cable shoulder press should be part of every lifter’s shoulder development program. It could form part of your warm-up routine or even a way to exhaust the shoulders after a few sets of the barbell overhead press. Because the cable moves on a fixed plane, there is less risk of accident when you are fatigued when compared to training in that state with a barbell.
Most lifters utilize the standing cable shoulder press for hypertrophy, aiming to building solid and strong front deltoid muscles. However you can still work on strength training, and this is especially favored by lifters who have suffered a shoulder injury or just lack the necessary mobility to complete a barbell overhead press to the same standard.
You May Also Like
- How To Do The Cable Front Raise?
- How To Do A Cable One-Arm Lateral Raise?
- How To Do A Cable Rear Delt Row?
References
Burd N., Andrews R., West D., Little J., Cochran A., Hector A., Cashaback J., Gibala M., Potvin J., Baker S., Phillips S. (2012). Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. (2012) Journal of Physiology, January (2):351-62. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3285070/
Linscheid R., Dobyns J., (1985). Athletic injuries of the wrist. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research,198: 141-151 https://journals.lww.com/corr/abstract/1985/09000/Athletic_Injuries_of_the_Wrist.21.aspx
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