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FACT CHECKEDThere's a reason why you walk into a gym and the cable machines are all taken like benches on a Monday. This popular piece of gym equipment does everything from giving you great options to train your whole body using a variety of attachments from ropes, d-handles, and straight bars to enabling you to use multiple grips at different angles to better develop your muscles.
When it comes to training biceps and triceps, the cable machine has a prominent place right alongside dumbbells and barbells. One thing it offers, which free weights cannot, is flat resistance, meaning the resistance never changes throughout the range of motion, leading to more hypertrophy.
In this post, we're focusing on utilizing the cable machine to hit your arms. We've got the 11 best cable exercises for the biceps and triceps and a cable arm workout, in addition to a brief anatomy review, benefits, and tips for better activating your arms.
Table of Contents:
We're going to provide a brief arm muscle overview, so you have a solid understanding when you look through the best exercises. If you're ready to get right to the best cable arm exercises, continue scrolling.
The biceps brachii (biceps for short) is made up of two muscle heads, the short head and long head, located on the front side of the upper arm. We'll talk about this more later, but different grips and angles work the different heads, which is why we love the cable machine's versatility.
Biceps Functions:
The triceps is Latin for three and the triceps is a three-headed muscle that sits on the edge of the arm. This muscle, which makes up 60% of the upper arm, consists of a medial head, lateral head, and long head. Similar to the biceps, different grips and angles will work the heads differently.
Triceps Functions:
Note on Forearm Muscles: Your arms also include your forearms, which consist of several major muscles that, for the sake of simplicity, we will call your forearm extensors and flexors. The forearms play an important role in the movement of your elbows, wrists, and fingers.
There are many reasons we love the cable machine, but one of the big ones is its ability to work our biceps and triceps. There is no shortage of excellent cable machine arm exercises, but we've narrowed it down to the best of the best.
The top 11 cable machine arm exercises are:
Are you ready to get your flex on? Then let’s go.
Using a straight bar attachment with an overhand grip the reverse biceps curl trains the smaller forearm extensor muscles that can get overpowered by the larger forearm flexor muscles. Although the extensor muscles are small, training them will go a long way to keeping your elbows healthy.
In addition, the reverse grip curl best activates the long head of the biceps due to the pronated grip.
How to do the Reverse Cable Biceps Curl:
Form tips: The reverse overhand grip is your weakest grip for curls and for this reason, you will use less weight than other variations. It is imperative to keep the wrists in neutral through this exercise.
Best rep range: 8-15
The underhanded grip biceps curl trains both heads of the biceps and the biggest forearm muscles and is by far your strongest grip. This allows you to load up more than any other variation.
When using the straight bar, you can vary your grip in and out to train the short and long head of the biceps (more wide = more short head).
How to do the Underhand Cable Biceps Curl:
Form tips: Keep your upper back tight to prevent leaning too far forward. Vary the width of your grip from set to set to train both the short and long heads of the biceps.
Best rep range: 8-20
For this you can pull the preacher bench to the cable machine or simply set up an incline bench some distance away from the cable machine which simulates an effective bicep curl variation of the preacher's biceps curl.
The preacher curl is a great exercise for the short head as it involves elbow flexion with your elbows out in front of you. If done unilaterally with a stirrup handle, you can strengthen imbalances between your biceps while taking the muscle through a large range of motion.
How to do the Unilateral Cable Preacher Biceps Curl:
Best rep range: 8-12
Form tips: Keep your posterior upper arm glued to the bench at all times. This will put the focus entirely on the biceps.
The cable rope hammer curl needs to be a staple in your cable arm exercises routine because it’s similar to dumbbell hammer curls. The neutral grip is easier on your elbows and shoulders because your shoulder is neither externally nor internally rotated.
Hammer curls train the long head of the bicep and the brachioradialis which is an important and neglected forearm muscle.
How to do the Cable Rope Curl:
Best rep range: 12-20
Form tips: Spreading the rope apart at the end of the movement will give your biceps an extra contraction. If the end of the ropes handles bother you, hold it lower down.
The high cable biceps curl trains the biceps laterally instead of anteriorly. And this exercise great option to target the biceps (both heads, with emphasis on the short head) and grow your arms from a different angle.
Depending on the cable machine you need to be able to fully flex and extend your elbow. If the cable machine is too small, do one arm at a time.
How to do the High Cable Biceps Curl:
Best rep range: 12-15
Form tips: Fully flex and extend your elbows and perform the exercise with tempo to really feel the biceps muscles working.
When you’re looking to spice up your cable curl game, try supine cable curls. This is one of our favorite cable arm exercises because it gives you more stability which drives more action to your biceps. Plus, because you’re lying down, you cheat less, again putting more focus on the biceps.
And you’re training them from a different angle for better muscle development. A standard grip with a straight bar attachment is great for both heads of the biceps, but you can play around with grip width and attachments if you want to emphasize the activation of a specific biceps head.
How to do the Supine Cable Biceps Curl:
Best rep range: 8-20
Form tips: Make sure you keep your back flat on the bench and only use your biceps to curl the weight. Start on the lighter side until you get the hang of it.
Similar setup to the supine cable bicep curl except the weight is behind you. Think of a triceps skull crusher but with a cable machine. Because you’re lying down it drives more engagement to the triceps, and you cannot use other parts of the body.
The large range of motion and the pre-stretch before the contraction make this a solid option for building muscular triceps. As for triceps muscle head activation, since your arms will be out in front of you, it emphasizes the long head, but it is also great for the lateral head and medial head.
How to do The Lying Cable Triceps Extension:
Best rep range: 12-20
Form tips: Keep your body glued to the bench to only use your triceps.
Like with all unilateral exercises the unilateral triceps extension will strengthen muscle imbalances between sides if any exist. Using a D-handle attachment, you can perform triceps pushdown with an overhand or underhand grip. Changing your grip and position with the exercise will allow you to effectively train all 3 heads of the triceps.
A V-handle is also good if going overhand as it pronates your hands almost halfway between neutral and overhand, which is easy on the wrists and allows for greater loads.
How to do The Unilateral Cable Triceps Pushdowns.
Note: You can also use a straight bar attachment to do underhand (reverse grip) triceps pushdowns, which will better emphasize your medial triceps head.
Best rep range: 8-15
Form tips: Slight forward lean of the torso hits the triceps more effectively. And remember, cable arm exercises are great because you can hit them from different angles too!
Overhead triceps extension hits all three triceps heads but with a focus on the long head. This is not the strongest triceps muscle (that’s the lateral head) but it is the biggest and adding muscle to this will make your arms look bigger for more flex appeal.
This variation will improve your lockout strength, particularly with any overhead press variation.
How to do The Cable Overhead Triceps Extension:
Best rep range: 8-20
Form tips: While in the split stance lower your head and look at the ground. Spreading the rope apart at the end of the movement will add further tension to your triceps.
This is a difficult exercise to set up seeing you need an adjustable weight bench, but this variation really hits the triceps hard. Because you are angling your body, you’re increasing the ROM and your arms have further to travel to complete the rep,
This means a greater stretch and more muscle-building potential for you.
How to do The Incline Bench Cable Triceps Extension:
Note: For a greater, allow your hands to come behind your head more, this is great for increasing muscle recruitment of the triceps, especially the long head.
Best rep range: 8-12
Form tips: This exercise puts a great stretch on the triceps for more hypertrophy gain, but it is tough on the elbows so let discomfort be your guide.
Unilateral cable triceps kickback is another solid option to further enhance your triceps game.
Similar to the dumbbell version but only better because you have constant tensions throughout the ROM. You have the option not to use any attachment here, it’s a matter of personal preference.
How to do The Unilateral Cable Triceps Kickbacks:
Best rep range: 8-15
Form tips: If grip strength is an issue, use an attachment. When you hinge, feel it in your hamstrings and not your back. And, always keep your upper arms stationary.
Ideally, you will use a variety of training equipment, including dumbbells, barbells, cable machines, and bodyweight exercises, to train your arms. But, if you're looking for a great cable machine workout, you've come to the right place.
This routine utilizes supersets, and the ones we programmed allow for quick transitions between exercises within the supersets.
Superset #1 (3 sets x 8-15 reps each):
Superset #2 (3 sets x 8-12 reps each):
Superset #3 (3 sets x 10-15 reps each):
Superset #4 (3 sets x 8-12 reps each side):
Rest ~60 seconds between sets.
Looking for a program that utilizes the cable machine plus other implements? This is The Ultimate Arm Workout at the Gym.
You've got the best bicep exercises and cable arm workouts! Now it's time to learn how to keep your arm muscles activated when performing them. Notice that different grips will work different parts of your biceps, meaning a variety of grips is important for building arm muscles.
Long Head Biceps Activation (Biceps Peak):
Short Head Biceps Activation (Biceps Width):
Your horseshoe-shaped muscle won't grow itself! Use these activation tips when performing your cable arm exercises for more triceps muscle growth. Similar to your biceps exercises, you should include a variety of grips in your triceps training, so you hit all angles of the muscle.
Medial Head Triceps Activation:
Lateral Head Triceps Activation:
Long Head Triceps Activation:
Besides the perfectly acceptable vanity reason of having some impressive guns, there are important reasons why you should include cable arm exercises in your training routine.
There are 4 major advantages to performing cable arm exercises.
When it comes to isolating muscle for strength and size, having tension is your best bet. Fortunately, the cable machine with its constant tension throughout the ROM is a great option for building a muscular set of arms.
These 11 cable exercises for your arms combined with compound strength moves will give you all the flex appeal you need.
If you're looking for even more great cable exercises, be sure to check out this Bicep Cable Workout, which focuses on building mass and strength in your upper arms. Interested in adding a cable machine to your home gym? Head to our list of the Best Cable Machines on the market today!
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
References:
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