Boulder shoulders are the new biceps. If you want a physique that turns heads, strong, capped delts are a must.
Sure, the barbell builds the base—but the cable machine? That’s your sculpting tool. It lets you isolate, refine, and attack your delts from every angle. Whether you're looking for width, detail, or balanced development, the cable machine delivers.
This guide breaks it down:
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Shoulder anatomy basics
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Why cables are so effective for delt growth
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The 9 best cable shoulder exercises (with instructions)
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A complete shoulder workout using just cables
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Tips to train smarter and grow faster

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Shoulder Muscle Anatomy 101
The "shoulder" isn’t just one muscle—it’s a group made up of three distinct heads:
Anterior Deltoid (Front Delt)
Sits on the front of the shoulder. Helps raise your arm in front of your body and assists with internal rotation. Activated heavily during overhead presses and push-based moves like the bench press.
Lateral Deltoid (Side Delt)
Located on the outer shoulder. Responsible for arm abduction (lifting your arm out to the side). This muscle gives you width—the signature “capped” shoulder look. It often needs extra attention, which is why cable lateral raises are key.
Posterior Deltoid (Rear Delt)
Found on the back of the shoulder. Supports pulling motions and posture. While it gets some work during rows and presses, direct isolation helps it grow evenly and keeps your shoulder joint healthy.
Supporting Cast: Rotator Cuff & Traps
Your shoulders don’t work alone. Two important muscle groups help stabilize and power your movements:
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Rotator Cuff: A group of four small muscles (infraspinatus, subscapularis, supraspinatus, teres minor) that stabilize the shoulder joint.
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Trapezius: Large muscle that spans the neck and upper back. Provides a base for shoulder movement and helps control the scapula.
5 Benefits of Cable Shoulder Exercises
The cable machine offers an incredibly effective way to train the shoulders. Let’s have a look at some other benefits of cable shoulder exercises.
1. Versatility
You can quickly change pulley height, grip, or attachment—making cables adaptable to any exercise style or movement angle.
2. Multiple Angles
Cables allow you to hit your delts from above, below, and side angles with ease. This builds more complete shoulder development.
3. Constant Tension
Unlike dumbbells or barbells, cables apply steady resistance throughout the entire range of motion, increasing time under tension and muscle activation.
4. Precision Isolation
Cables are perfect for targeting smaller heads of the deltoid. You can train to failure safely, especially during lateral and rear delt exercises.
5. Unilateral Work
Cables let you easily train one side at a time. Great for identifying and correcting muscle imbalances between your left and right shoulders.
9 Best Cable Shoulder Exercises
Now let’s build your shoulders. These 9 shoulder cable exercises were chosen for their effectiveness and variety. You’ll train all three shoulder muscles with these awesome cable exercises.
Let's discuss how to perform each
1. Cable Shoulder Press
This pressing movement mimics the classic overhead press but with a unique twist: the cables pull slightly behind your body, forcing you to stabilize more and work through a different angle of resistance.
How to do the cable shoulder press:
- Set up the stirrup at the lowest point
- Stand facing away from cable machine, grab stirrups with overhand grip
- Start with your hands at ear level with your elbows bent at 90 degrees
- Press straight up until your arms are fully extended
- Slowly return to the starting position
- Repeat for desired reps
Note: Make sure to stand tall throughout the movement and refrain from using your leg power to help press the weight up.
Note: You can use various attachments. In the video we posted, the lifters are using dual, single hand attachments. However, you can attach a straight bar for a barbell shoulder press.
Muscles Worked: Front Delt, Side Delt, Triceps, Traps, Serratus Anterior, Pec Major, Triceps
2. Kneeling Shoulder Press (Unilateral/Bilateral)
By kneeling, you eliminate any assistance from your legs and force your shoulders to do all the work. It’s a strict movement that’s especially effective for isolating the front delts.
How to do the kneeling shoulder press:
- Set up stirrup at the lowest point
- Kneel facing toward cable machine, and grab stirrups with overhand grip
- Start with your hands in front of you at your upper chest with your elbows bent at 90 degrees tucked in front of you
- Press straight up until your arms are fully extended
- Slowly return to starting position
- Repeat for desired reps
Note: Don't lean back too far, try to keep your chest up and back straight throughout the movement.
Muscles Worked: Front Delt, Side Delt, Triceps, Traps, Serratus Anterior, Pec Major, Triceps
3. Bent Over Reverse Cable Fly:
A rear delt essential. This variation allows for a deep stretch and constant resistance—both key for hypertrophy. It’s also more joint-friendly than heavy dumbbell versions.
How to do the bent-over cable reverse fly:
- Set the pulley lower than knee height.
- Reach across your body:
- Grab the right handle with your left hand and vice versa
- Step back, keeping your arms crossed in front of your chest, to get into position.
- Bend at the hips, keeping a flat back.
- Pull the handles out and away from the midline:
- Maintain a slight bend in the elbows.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the end of the movement.
- Slowly return to the starting position.
Note: Focus on the rear delts rather than squeezing the shoulder blades. Keep your core engaged throughout the movement without rounding the back.
Muscles Worked: Rear Delt, Side Delt, Rhomboids, Traps, Teres Minor, Infraspinatus
4. Cable Lateral Raise:
Arguably the best isolation move for the side delts. The cables help maintain tension throughout the lift—something dumbbells can’t do, especially at the bottom of the movement.
How to perform the single arm lateral raise:
- Attach the stirrup or D handle at the lowest point then stand to the side of the cable machine
- You can stand so that the cable runs behind your body (targeting the rear and side delts more), grabbing the stirrup with an overhand grip
- With a slight bend at the elbow lift your arm up and away from your side while exhaling until your arm is level with your shoulder
- Slowly lower to starting position while inhaling
- Repeat for desired reps then switch sides
Note: To avoid bouncing or using momentum, pause briefly at the bottom before raising your arm again. You can also perform this lateral raise with the cable in front of your body if you want to hit the front deltoid a little more.
Note: To further isolate the delt and ensure it’s activated through an entire range of motion, try this alteration. Place your feet near the upright and then hold onto a secure, safe place on the cable tower. Let your body lean away from it so that your body hangs over at an angle. Grab the handle with your outside hand and let it pull your arm in front of your body then perform the lateral raise.
Muscles Worked: Side Delt, Front Delt, Serratus Anterior, Supraspinatus
5. Cable Upright Row:
This pull-based move targets the front and side delts while also engaging your traps. Use strict form and experiment with different grips to find what feels best on your shoulders.
How to do the cable upright row:
- Set the cable at the lowest point then attach a bar
- Grab the bar with both hands using an overhand grip shoulder width apart
- Exhale while pulling up through your elbows so that the cable is close to the body until your elbows are shoulder level
- Inhale while slowly returning to starting position
- Repeat for desired reps
Note: The EZ curl bar can make this exercise more comfortable on your wrists. Try switching up where you grip the bar if shoulder width is uncomfortable for you.
Muscles Worked: Front Delt, Side Delt, Supraspinatus, Traps, Serratus anterior, Biceps
6. Cable Face Pulls:
Great for posture and shoulder health, face pulls hit the rear delts and rotator cuff. A must-have move for long-term shoulder stability and injury prevention.
Check out our article on the Best Face Pull Alternatives for some great variations of this move!
How to do cable face pulls:
- Set up cable at a high point with the rope attachment
- Grab the rope with both hands with your thumbs pointing backwards
- Keeping your elbows below your shoulders pull back and turn slightly to work the rotator cuff. Squeeze your shoulder blades at the end of the movement when your hands are next to your ears
- Slowly return to starting position
- Repeat for desired reps
Note: Pay particular attention to elbow height and don’t allow to go higher than shoulder level.
Muscles Worked: Rear Delt, Side Delt, Teres Minor, Traps, Infraspinatus, Brachialis
7. Cable Y Raise:
This cable shoulder exercise is an amazing exercise to blast all three delts. The cable Y raise will strengthen the external rotators that help to stabilize the scapula. Stand tall and avoid leaning back or rocking to help lift the weight. Start light with this one!
How to do the cable y raise:
- Set the cable at the lowest point with the stirrup attachments
- Stand in the middle of the cable towers
- Reach down to grab each stirrup with your opposite hand using an overhand grip
- Start with your arms down and hands crossed in front of your body
- Pull the cables up and back with your arms slightly bent at the elbows until they reach up to your sides creating a Y shape
- Slowly lower to starting position
- Repeat for desired reps
Note: Keep elbows slightly flexed and your body upright throughout the movement.
Muscles Worked: All Delts, Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres minor, Traps, Subscapularis
8. Bent Over Single Arm Rear Delt Cable Fly:
This single-arm version provides great isolation and control for the rear delts. It’s ideal for correcting imbalances and improving shoulder symmetry.
How to do the cable bent over single arm lateral raise:
- Set up a stirrup at a low point then stand to the side of it
- Grab the stirrup using a neutral grip with the hand farther away from cable then hinge forward at the hips until your torso is almost parallel with the floor
- Use your non-working hand for stability by placing it on your knee or hip
- Lift the cable out to the side keeping a slight bend in the elbow until your upper arm is almost parallel with the floor
- Hold briefly then slowly return to starting position
- Repeat desired reps then switch sides
Note: Move arm directly out to the side to hit the rear delt and keep elbow far from body to discourage lat use. Perform in a smooth continuous movement and avoid using your triceps to finish off the movement.
Muscles Worked: Rear Delt, Side Delt, Rhomboids, Traps, Teres Minor, Infraspinatus
9. Cable Standing Front Raise Variation:
This variation of the front cable raise helps to engage your traps and side delt more by lifting up on one side of the bar at the top of the movement. This extra lift at the top of the movement makes it harder because of the short isometric hold.
How to do the cable standing front raise:
- Set the cable at the lowest point with a curl bar attached
- Stand facing away for cable machine, feet shoulder width apart. Reach down and pull the cable through your legs to grab the bar with both hands using an overhand grip, shoulder width apart
- Lift up and away from your body keeping your arms straight until you reach shoulder level. Lift up on one side of the bar and slightly rotate your your shoulder out and up
- Briefly hold then slowly lower to starting position
- Repeat for desired reps alternating each side for the top lifting motions
Note: Pause at the top of the movement to get peak trap contraction. Move in a slow controlled manner throughout the exercise.
Muscles Worked: Front Delt, Side Delt, Traps, Serratus anterior, Pec Major
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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...
Cable Shoulder Exercises: Best Rep & Set Range
When performing cable machine shoulder workouts, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- The cable machine is best used for hypertrophy, rather than strength and power.
- You won't lift as heavy as possible but rather hone in on specific exercises with a mid to high rep range.
- Work with a weight that is hard to finish off the last 1-2 reps in the set. With cable machines, you can work to failure without fear of dropping the weights or not being able to control the weight, so push yourself!
If you need a refresher regarding rep ranges and desired outcomes, you can follow these guidelines:
- 0-5 Reps: Power/Strength
- 6-8 Reps: Strength/Hypertrophy
- 8-15 Reps: Hypertrophy
- 15+ Reps: Hypertrophy & Endurance
Keep in mind that these ranges act as a continuum and are not absolute.¹
Related: How Many Shoulder Exercises Per Week?
Muscle-Building Cable Shoulder Workout
Here's an awesome delt workout featuring cable shoulder exercises, which can be completed solely using the cable machine.
- Cable Overhead Shoulder Press: 3x6-8
- Single Arm Overhead Press: 3x8-10
- Cable Upright Rows: 3x8-10
- Cable Face Pulls: 3x8-10
- Cable Reverse Fly: 3X10-12
- Cable Front Row: 2X12-15
While we believe free weights should have a role in everyone's resistance training program, this cable workout can help stimulate muscle growth, add some training variety to prevent boredom, and hit your shoulder muscles from new angles.
Why train your shoulders using a cable machine?
The simplest answer is that it's incredibly effective. One of the things that makes it so great is it enables you to hit your shoulders from different angles, in addition to changing your body and grip positioning, weight load, and attachments.
All of this versatility leads to serious shoulder growth, as long as you have the right exercises to perform, which is where we come in!
What’s The Best Exercise For Broad Shoulders?
The best exercises for broad shoulders are ones that work the side delts. Well-built side delts can add broadness to the shoulders and create the “capped” look.
This makes cable lateral raises one of the best exercises to build your shoulders. Of all the shoulder exercises, the lateral raise, and its variations, is pretty much in our program consistently.
Upright rows are another awesome exercise to add some size to the side delts, with research showing that when compared to 11 other shoulder exercises, the incline upright row activated the lateral deltoids the most.²

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...
Add Cable Machine Shoulder Exercises To Your Routine
All in all, the cable machine provides tremendous value when it comes to building big, well-defined shoulders. Shoulder exercises on a cable machine can hit your shoulders from all angles, stimulating new muscle fibers to be activated for more potential growth.
Don’t just take our word for it. Next time you’re in the gym, try a few of these cable shoulder exercises. We’re sure you’ll be an advocate afterward. Shoulder on!
Looking for more great cable exercises? Check out these Cable Arm Exercises and the best Cable Machine Back Exercises. Ready to set your home gym up, so you can perform cable exercises anytime, anywhere? Check out these 9 Best Cable Machines!
References:
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Van Every DW, Plotkin DL. Loading Recommendations for Muscle Strength, Hypertrophy, and Local Endurance: A Re-Examination of the Repetition Continuum. Sports (Basel). 2021 Feb 22;9(2):32. doi: 10.3390/sports9020032. PMID: 33671664; PMCID: PMC7927075. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33671664/
- ACE - ProSourceTM: September 2014 - Dynamite Delts: ACE Research Identifies Top Shoulder Exercises. www.acefitness.org. https://www.acefitness.org/continuing-education/prosource/september-2014/4972/dynamite-delts-ace-research-identifies-top-shoulder-exercises/
Sam Coleman
Author