Written by Sam Coleman | Co-founder
Fact checked by Tyler DiGiovanni, BSBM
FACT CHECKED
Boulder shoulders have become the new biceps in the gym. Building a broad set of delts lets everyone know you’re a serious lifter but also greatly enhances your physique. We firmly believe that the barbell is necessary for anyone really wanting to build up their shoulders.
However, whereas the barbell creates the foundation, the cable machine allows you to go and target your deltoid muscles with finesse, like a chisel. This article will lay out the best cable machine exercises you should use to carve out your shoulder muscles.
Table of Contents:
- Shoulder Muscle Anatomy
- Benefits of Performing Cable Machine Shoulder Exercises
- Why Train Your Shoulders With A Cable Machine?
- 9 Best Cable Machine Shoulder Exercises
- Cable Shoulder Workouts & Programming Tips
- What's The Best Exercise For Broad Shoulders?
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...
Anatomy & Function of the Shoulders
Before we get into the shoulder exercises, we want to first go over the basic anatomy of the shoulder muscle and its function.
While we speak of the shoulder as singular, it’s actually a muscle group made up of three smaller muscle heads. Collectively, they all work together to press your arms overhead. However, they also have their own unique functions.
- Anterior Deltoid: Also referred to as the front delt, these sit on the front of your body and enable you to raise your arm in front of your body as well as internal rotation. In addition to pressing overhead, it’s a primary muscle involved in horizontal pushing exercises such as bench presses. These are the most worked shoulder muscles.
- Lateral Deltoid: The lateral deltoid, also called the side delt, middle deltoid, and medial deltoid, sits on the side of the shoulder and is responsible for moving your arm away from your body. These generally get the least amount of work without specific, target exercises. This is why cable lateral raises are very important.
- Posterior Deltoid: The rear delts, sits on the back of the shoulder opposite of the front delt. These shoulder muscles are hit with the majority of upper body training as well as the overhead press. However, they need some isolation exercises to optimize their growth.
Rotator Cuff Muscles & Trapezius
Your shoulders are primarily responsible for manipulating your arm. However, they don’t work in isolation. Rather, they function along with your rotator cuff and traps.
The four rotator cuff muscles are:
- Infraspinatus
- Subscapularis
- Supraspinatus
- Teres Minor
Collectively, they stabilize the shoulder joint and keep the ball of the upper arm bone securely in the socket of the shoulder blade. They also allow for a wider range of shoulder movements while providing strength.
The traps are a set of large muscles located on the upper to middle of your back. As far as your shoulders are concerned, the traps are the body's primary scapula stabilizers. Strong traps provide a solid base for your shoulders to work from.
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) Versatile:
The cable machine offers almost unmatched versatility because you can change up the load, angle, grip positioning, and body positioning easily when performing shoulder cable exercises.
You can also switch out attachments in seconds. With the ability to change all these variables, it’s less likely you’ll get bored with your training when using the cable machine.
2) Hit The Shoulders From Multiple Angles:
The cable machine allows you to set the pulley at various heights while also free movement.
This allows you to target shoulder muscles in a slightly different manner using the same exercise.
For example, you can do reverse flies from an elevated position and pulling down, or a neutral position pulling out laterally.
3) Smooth Motion with Constant Tension
The cable machine offers a smooth, controlled motion when performing cable shoulder exercises. Further, the load is a constant force throughout the movement while coming from the same direction.
This is ideal for maximizing time under tension and optimizing the stress placed on the muscle.
4) Great For Isolation
We generally recommend free weights for the large compound lifts to get the biggest bang for your buck, but when it comes to isolation exercises, the cable machine is a perfect choice.
One of the best perks of the cable machine is you can target muscles precisely how you want to and train them to failure, which is great for hypertrophy. They allow arguably the best exercise to target the lateral delts, the cable lateral raise (see below).
5) Unilateral Movement:
Performing shoulder exercises on a cable machine can highlight any weaknesses or shortcomings you may have on one side versus the other.
Like dumbbells, you can work one shoulder at a time but with the cables, the tension is in a smooth flat strength curve so it’s easier to identify if you’re weak in a particular exercise.
Iron out any muscle imbalances with a cable machine exercise or two before they become a bigger issue.
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
While we love using the barbell for heavy overhead shoulder presses, doing presses on the cable machine offers a couple unique advantages; particularly the instability caused by the load being attached to the cable.
In this exercise, the angle of the cable overhead press results in the force pulling down behind you, which helps recruit muscle fibers that other shoulder presses aren't able to.
You can also control the angle of the press, so if you step further away from the cable machine you will be pushing your shoulder joints through a more horizontal range of motion to hit the front delts more.
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)
This version of overhead shoulder pressing forces you to use a strict form.
By being on your knees, you can't rely on your legs at all to press the weight overhead. This means your delts aren't getting any help from other muscles making this one of the best cable machine shoulder exercises.
In the video, the lifter is using a close grip version. Pressing up with such a close grip will focus the stress onto the front delts, pecs, and triceps. However, you can also use other attachments such as a straight bar. This versatility simply makes it that much of a better exercise to hit all your deltoids.
One version we really like is a single arm, kneeling shoulder press. We would perform this with a single hand attachment.
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:
The cable reverse fly is a classic shoulder exercise to target the rear delt. It allows maximal range of motion while targeting your rear shoulder while your entire upper back is involved.
We generally like to perform a bilateral fly as it tends to allow a more natural movement without any twisting. However, if you needed to, you could perform this in a unilateral fashion and train one muscle at a time.
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:
An incredible cable shoulder exercise that targets the side delts, the cable lateral raise is a great isolation exercise that can humble you. It's important to use light weights to begin to ensure you perform the exercise with proper form.
There are multiple variations of the lateral raise but they all have the same common goal, to build the lateral delts. For maximum contraction during cable machine shoulder exercises, pause at the top of the movement while turning your wrist, bringing your pinky toward the ceiling.
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:
The upright row is an excellent cable machine shoulder exercise to work the shoulders and upper back and is great to include in your shoulder workout routine.
The upright row can build some serious muscle in the front and side delts while also building your traps and rhomboids. In addition, this pulling cable shoulder exercise can help some of your other lifts like deadlifts.
People with shoulder impingement issues might be prone to injuring themselves with this exercise. If that's a concern for you, stick to some of the other cable shoulder exercises in this post.
Another option is to use a rope attachment. This allows more mobility in the shoulder joint, mitigating risk of injury. And as always, be sure to start with light loads and then progress.
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:
Face pulls sometimes get a bad rap but this exercise is perfect for strengthening the muscles that are strained in daily life activities, such as looking down at your computer or driving your car.
When done right, this exercise strengthens the shoulders and upper back which can help straighten out a hunched-over posture. Face pulls can help with shoulder dysfunction and strengthen the rotator cuff.
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 cable shoulder exercise mimics the dumbbell rear lateral raise but the cable version reigns supreme as it provides constant tension on the muscles, ensuring a smooth movement and more time under tension on the rear delts.
Doing the single arm cable bent over lateral raise enables you to hone in on one shoulder at a time while also allowing you to lift your hand higher, resulting in a longer stretch at the bottom of the movement. Get ready to blast the rear delts with this one.
While we’re showing the single-arm version, you can perform it with both arms as well.
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
Looking for a workout program to put on muscle mass? Check out our SFS Hypertrophy Program by Garett Reid (NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S).
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