maratoolOne-Arm High-Pulley Cable Side Bends
How to do the one-arm high-pulley cable side bends
- Connect a standard handle to a tower. Move cable to highest pulley position.
- Stand with side to cable. With one hand, reach up and grab handle with underhand grip.
- Pull down cable until elbow touches your side and the handle is by your shoulder.
- Position feet hip-width apart. Place free hand on hip to help gauge pivot point.
- Keep arm in static position. Contract oblique to bring the weight down in a side crunch.
- Once you reach maximum contraction, slowly release the weight to the starting position. The weight stack should never be unloaded in a resting position. The aim is constant tension during the set.
- Repeat to failure.
- Then, reposition and repeat the same series of movements on the opposite side.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the rectus abdominis and the obliques, which flex the trunk forward and resist it being pulled into extension or twisted out of line.
Every exercise for:Abdominals
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 abdominals too, using equipment this one does not:
- One-Arm Medicine Ball Slammedicine ball
- Plankbody only
- Press Sit-Upbarbell
- Side Bend with Dumbbelldumbbell
- Smith Machine Hip Raisemachine
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 97 abdominals exercises in this database, 69 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.