Cable Iron Cross

🎯 Chest🏋️ CableBeginnerIsolation

How to do the cable iron cross

  1. Begin by moving the pulleys to the high position, select the resistance to be used, and take a handle in each hand.
  2. Stand directly between both pulleys with your arms extended out to your sides. Your head and chest should be up while your arms form a "T". This will be your starting position.
  3. Keeping the elbows extended, pull your arms straight to your sides.
  4. Return your arms back to the starting position after a pause at the peak contraction.
  5. Continue the movement for the prescribed number of repetitions.

Muscles worked

The prime mover is the pectoralis major, which drives the upper arm forward and across the body.

Every exercise for:Chest

How this movement works

One joint moves, and it moves the load away from the body. With nothing recruited to assist, the target muscle reaches its own limit rather than the limit of the weakest link in a chain — which makes this useful for adding volume after the heavy compound work, not for opening a session.

It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.

What you need

A cable holds tension for the whole range, including the point where a free weight would go slack. Moving the pulley changes the angle the resistance arrives from without changing the movement.

Every exercise using:Cable

These train the chest too, using equipment this one does not:

Difficulty

Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.

Of the 105 chest exercises in this database, 63 are listed at beginner level.

Related exercises

Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →

ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.