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Exercise of the Month - November 2006: “Single-Arm Cable Standing Pull”
In order to achieve optimum functional capacity, you must seek a “body in balance,” as noted physical therapist Gray Cook would tell you. In the real world, this simply means that we must have all areas of the body in line with each other. Specifically, this can refer to muscle groups that oppose each other. For example, the muscles in the chest and front of the shoulder are the main muscles that we use to push something away from the body (think bench press exercise or the pushing/ascending phase of a push-up). These aforementioned “pushing muscles” oppose the “pulling muscles of the body,” which include, but are not limited to, the mid and upper back muscles (i.e. rhomboids and trapezius). The focus of this month’s featured exercise targets these pulling muscles.
While this exercise can be done sitting, I prefer it be done standing simply due to the fact that we are overly-sedentary as a society and getting off our butts once in a while to perform exercises in a standing position never hurt anybody. I’ve also chosen to discuss a single-arm version (note, the exercise can be performed with two hands as well).
To perform the standing pull, use a “D-grip” (http://www.silfitness.com/) and stand in front of a cable column stack (see photos) with perfect posture (tummy drawn in [see August ’06 Exercise of the Month], shoulder blades pulled slightly down and back, and legs straight with optional soft knee bend).
The exercise can be performed with knees bent (as shown in pictures), but I prefer standing up tall and straight. With one arm extended straight holding onto the grip, engage the shoulder blade muscles and pull the handle straight back as far as possible, bringing the elbow as far back as you can without rotating the torso. Keep the elbow in close to the body and hold the back position for 1-2 seconds and slower extend arm straight again to the starting point.
Select a resistance that allows you to perform 8-12 repetitions throughout a pain-free, full range of motion (ROM). Begin with 1-2 sets and progress by 5% increments when you feel like you can do more than 15 repetitions with each arm. This is a very easy exercise to perform and is a great way to improve posture, prevent rotator cuff injury, and provide balance in the shoulder muscles.