maratoolIncline Pushdown with Cable
How to do the incline pushdown with cable
- This exercise uses cables to isolate and work the triceps (muscles on the back of the arms).
- Place an incline bench facing away from a cable pulley.
- Attach a short straight bar to the pulley and adjust the height so that your arms can extend fully.
- Lie face up on the bench and grasp the bar with a narrow overhand grip.
- Keeping your arms straight, slowly push the bar down towards your feet.
- Pause at the bottom and then return to starting position.
- Note: Keep your elbows steady throughout this exercise.
Muscles worked
Two muscle groups share the work: the triceps brachii, which straightens the elbow, and through its long head helps pull the arm back at the shoulder and the latissimus dorsi, which pulls the upper arm down and back toward the ribcage.
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
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 triceps and lats too, using equipment this one does not:
- Incline Triceps Extension with Barbellbarbell
- Incline Triceps Extensions with Dumbbelldumbbell
- Lying Triceps Presse-z curl bar
- Machine Triceps Extensionmachine
- Overhead Tricepsbody only
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 99 triceps exercises in this database, 44 are listed at beginner level.
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.