When it comes to working out, we all have our favourite exercises, or exercises that we are reluctant to undertake and which we tend to avoid.
As I have outlined in a previous article people tend to avoid exercising those body parts that they cannot see easily in a mirror. This in turn can then lead to the heavy rotational exercise of certain body parts over the exercising of others which may well be deserving of attention and which can lead to a certain imbalance in the overall physique.
It is thus important when exercising to be aware of this body balance principle to maintain a rounded physical aesthetic.
Today, in this article, I want to look at how best to use cables in the gym when exercising the upper body taking into account the above principles to achieve a satisfactory outcome and to reduce the risk of injury.
So today, let’s take a look at a video showing low pulley bent over lateral raise exercises!
The muscles used in this workout:
Trapezius, rhomboid, deltoid, teres major/minor, infraspinatus (though mainly we will be working the deltoid in this example).
Or of course you can also say that this workout is concerned with the back of the shoulders!
All of the above muscles are important, particularly because of their position in the body, as they are at the crossroads of a typical upper body workout. As such it will help for these muscles to be strong (or stronger) for when you workout your back or chest muscles.
Technique used in this workout:
First stand with your feet apart, legs bent (a little) and lean forward from the waist.
While doing so, try to keep your back as flat as possible.
Next, breath in and rise your arms horizontally to the side.
When done, be sure to breath out once your effort in the exercise is complete.
It is a little complicated to get the motion right at first, so start with light weights on the cable.
Ideally you should clearly feel the back of your shoulders responding to the repetition, so when undertaking the exercise my advice would be to privilege a long set (12 or 15 repetitions, for example) and to use a slow motion until you are comfortable with the exercise and feel confident with the movement.
You can then build up in terms of weight and resistance from here and set your own number of repetitions against the weight used.
Finally, if you want to roll this routine into a combination exercise, I would suggest doing so with front barbell raises (or indeed with a low pulley exercise).
Voila.
You have now integrated a cable routine into your exercise programme!
Julien