Posts by Kyle Risley

Your front delt is the part of your shoulder sitting right under your collarbone, and it’s already doing heavy work every time you bench press, overhead press, or push a door open. It’s the prime mover any time your arm goes up in front of your body, and it kicks in as a secondary driver on nearly every pressing exercise you already do. This page covers 6 cable exercises built specifically for that muscle, from a basic front raise you can load heavy to a rotation variation most lifters have never tried.

A cable keeps tension on your front delt through the whole rep instead of losing it at the top or bottom the way a dumbbell does. That matters more here than on most muscles, since your front delt is already getting plenty of indirect work from pressing, and the last thing you want is another exercise that only loads it hard for half the range. Direct cable work lets you finish the job at a controlled, joint-friendly angle instead of just adding more heavy pressing to your week. You also get angles a barbell can’t touch, like the cross-body path and the deep behind-the-body stretch, both covered below.

Below are the 6 cable exercises I’d actually program for the front delt, starting with the basic raise and working through the straight-bar, single-arm, cross-body, and rotation variations before finishing on a compound press. Every exercise gets real how-to steps and a demo video, plus a sample workout and a look at the anatomy behind it. If you want lateral and rear delt options on the same page, see our cable shoulder exercises roundup instead. This page sticks to the front delt only.

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Your side delts are the lateral head of your deltoid, and they’re the muscle that turns narrow shoulders into wide ones. A big chest and thick lats help your frame, but nothing widens you from the front the way a well-built lateral head does. Most lifters chase that with dumbbell lateral raises, and dumbbells work fine, but the resistance goes slack the second your arm passes your hip on the way down. Your side delt gets a break right when it should still be working.

A cable fixes that. The pulley pulls at a fixed angle instead of straight down with gravity, so your side delt stays loaded through the whole rep, from the bottom stretch to the top of the raise. You can also set the pulley low, high, or route it behind your back, which gives you angles a dumbbell can’t touch. That’s why a cable lateral raise, in one form or another, shows up in almost every shoulder session I write, and why this list is worth having on its own instead of buried in a general shoulder roundup.

Below are the 6 cable exercises I’d actually program for the lateral head, starting with the standard version and working through less common setups like the leaning raise and the double cable raise. If you’re after the rear delts instead, we’ve got a separate cable rear delt exercises guide, or see our cable shoulder exercises roundup if you want all three heads on one page. Every exercise here gets real how-to steps and a demo video, plus a sample workout and a look at the anatomy behind all of it.

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Your lats are the widest muscle in your back, running from your upper arm all the way down to your pelvis and spine. Their job is to pull your arm down and in toward your body, which is why almost every pulling exercise hits them to some degree. A well-built set of lats is what gives you that wide, tapered look from the front and thick stripes of muscle running down your back.

Cables keep tension on your lats through the whole range of an exercise instead of just at the point where a barbell or dumbbell feels heaviest. You can also change the pulley height and angle to shift where the resistance hits hardest, something you can’t do with a fixed bar. Many cable lat exercises let you train one arm at a time too, so you can fix a side-to-side imbalance that a two-handed pulldown or pull-up would hide.

I’m covering the 7 best cable lat exercises below, with the benefits and exact steps for each one. After that, I built a cable-only lat workout you can run start to finish, plus a look at lat anatomy and the questions I get asked most about training this muscle. For cable exercises across your whole back, not just the lats, see our cable back exercises roundup.

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Your trapezius isn’t one muscle doing one job. The upper fibers run from the base of your skull down to your collarbone and shoulder blade, the middle fibers pull your shoulder blades together across your upper back, and the lower fibers run all the way down to your mid-back and pull your shoulder blades down and in. Most lifters only train the upper third with a shrug and call it a day, which is why so many people have traps that look thick from behind but do nothing to support the shoulder blade during a press or a pull.

Cables are one of the best tools for fixing that. A barbell or dumbbell shrug only loads your traps straight up and down, but a cable stack lets you pull from behind you, above you, or out to the side, and it keeps tension on the muscle through the entire range instead of just at the top of the rep. That matters a lot for the middle and lower traps, since both respond best to pulling the shoulder blade through a full range rather than just shrugging it up. Cables also tend to be easier on your lower back and grip than heavy barbell pulls, since the load path is fixed and you’re not fighting to keep a bar balanced.

Here are the 7 cable trap exercises I use most, covering all three regions of the muscle. I’ll give you the benefits of each one, exactly how to perform it, and a demo video, plus a sample cable-only trap workout and a rundown of trap anatomy at the end.

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Your calf is really two muscles stacked on top of each other, the gastrocnemius and the soleus, and both of them have a reputation for being stubborn. Some of that is genetics you can’t do much about, but a lot of it comes down to lifters training calves the same lazy way every session, a few sets on whatever machine happens to be free, with no real plan for tension or progression. A cable machine fixes the tension problem better than almost anything else in the gym.

A dumbbell or a standing calf raise machine goes slack for a split second at the top of the rep, right where you’d want the most squeeze. A cable doesn’t. It pulls on your calf through the entire range, from the deepest part of the stretch at the bottom to full lockout at the top, and you can set it up standing, single leg, bent over, or hands-free depending on what your gym has and what you’re chasing that day. It’s also one of the easier tools to use when the standing calf raise machine is taken, since almost every cable stack in the building can be turned into a low pulley in about ten seconds.

Below are the 5 cable calf exercises I’d actually put in a program, the benefits and step-by-step setup for each, a sample cable-only calf session, a quick anatomy rundown, and answers to the questions I get most about training calves with cables. For more ways to hit your lower body on a cable stack, see our full cable leg exercises roundup.

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The quadriceps are the biggest muscle group on the front of your thigh, and they’re the muscle doing most of the work every time you squat, lunge, step up, or walk up a flight of stairs. A cable machine isn’t the first tool most lifters reach for when they train quads. The barbell squat and the leg machines at your gym usually get that job. But a cable stack has one thing neither of those gives you: constant tension. The resistance pulls on your leg through the entire range of motion, from the bottom of a squat to the top of a lockout, instead of going slack at the point where a barbell or a machine would let up.

That constant tension changes how your quads experience a set. A cable can also load your leg from an angle a barbell can’t reach, like pulling you forward into a deeper squat or resisting your knee as it locks out on a single leg. That makes cable training a genuinely useful addition to a quad routine on its own, well beyond something to fall back on when the squat rack is busy. It’s also one of the friendlier ways to train quads if your knees or lower back need a break from carrying a bar, since you’re not loading your spine the way you would with a back squat. You can push a set close to failure on a cable without worrying about bailing out from under a loaded bar, which matters more than people give it credit for once the reps get hard.

I picked the 6 cable exercises below because each one trains your quads through a real, useful range of motion. You’ll get the benefits, the step-by-step setup, and a demo video for every exercise, plus a sample cable-only quad workout, a quick anatomy rundown, and answers to the questions I get most about training quads with cables. For more ways to hit your legs on a cable stack, see our full cable leg exercises roundup.

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The stiff leg deadlift trains your hamstrings from a dead stop on the floor, with your knees staying close to straight for the entire rep. You set up like a conventional deadlift, but instead of driving hard through your hips out of the bottom, you focus on the stretch you feel on the way down. The bar travels from the floor to your hip, and your knee angle barely changes the whole time. That near-locked knee position is what separates it from a regular deadlift, and it’s why the stiff leg deadlift builds so much hamstring size for 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps at a time.

People mix this up with the Romanian deadlift a lot, but they’re not the same lift. A Romanian deadlift starts from the top with the bar already in your hands, and you lower it to about knee height or a little below before you reverse the rep, with a soft bend in your knees the whole way. A stiff leg deadlift starts from a dead stop on the floor every single rep, keeps your knees straighter than an RDL, and gives your hamstrings a deeper stretch at the bottom because of that extra range. That deeper stretch is also what makes the stiff leg deadlift harder on your lower back, since you’re pulling from the floor with almost no knee bend to help share the load.

You might want an alternative for a few reasons. If your lower back tends to round or ache pulling from the floor, that dead-stop start with straight knees is exactly the part that bites you. Not every gym has a bar free, and if you train at home you’re probably working with dumbbells or bands instead. Or your hamstrings have just stopped responding to straight-leg pulls from the floor and you need a new angle to keep growing. I picked the 8 alternatives below for how well they recreate that same floor-to-hip hamstring stretch, how much safer they are on your lower back, and what equipment they need. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The belt squat, also called the hip belt squat, loads a squat pattern from your hips instead of your spine. You stand on two elevated platforms, clip a harness around your hips, and squat against a load that hangs below you from a weight stack, a loaded pin, or plates on a trolley. Because the resistance pulls straight down through your hips and legs, none of it travels through your spine the way a barbell does on your back. That makes it one of the only squat variations that trains your quads and glutes hard without loading your spine at all.

Most commercial gyms don’t have a belt squat machine. It’s specialty equipment, and you’ll mostly find one in powerlifting gyms, physical therapy clinics, or facilities built for serious strength athletes. If you’re rehabbing a back injury, recovering from a disc issue, or just came off a heavy squat block and your spine needs a break, you still need a way to train your legs hard. Coaches lean on the belt squat for exactly that reason, and if your gym doesn’t have one, you need substitutes that get you as close to that spine-sparing training effect as possible.

I picked these 8 alternatives based on how much load they take off your spine, how well they train the same quad-and-glute-dominant pattern the belt squat trains, and what equipment they actually need. A few of these, like the hack squat and leg press, come close to matching the belt squat’s spine-unloaded profile. Others still put weight on your back or in your hands, so I’ll tell you exactly where each one lands and who it’s best for.

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The Russian twist is a seated rotational exercise for your obliques. You sit on the floor with your knees bent, lean your torso back to about 45 degrees, and rotate side to side while holding a plate, dumbbell, or medicine ball, tapping it to the floor beside your hip on each side. That rotation under a leaned-back, flexed spine is what makes it such a direct oblique builder, and it’s why so many ab circuits close with 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps per side.

You might want a swap for a few reasons. The seated, rounded-back position loads your lumbar spine while it’s flexed and rotating at the same time, and that combination is exactly what physical therapists commonly tell people with a sensitive low back to avoid. Not everyone has a plate or medicine ball handy, and if you train at a commercial gym during a busy hour, floor space for a seated twist can be hard to find. Or maybe you’ve been doing Russian twists for months and your obliques have stopped responding, so you want a standing, loaded, or anti-rotation option to change the stimulus.

Here are the 8 Russian twist alternatives I reach for most, picked for how well they train the obliques through rotation or resist rotation, how easy they are on the low back, and what equipment they need. Some of these are standing, loaded options that let you add real resistance, and others are bodyweight exercises you can do on any floor with no gear at all. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The sit-up is about as classic as ab exercises get. You lie on your back with your knees bent, anchor your feet somehow, and curl your whole torso up until your chest gets close to your knees. It trains your rectus abdominis through a long range of motion, and it pulls in your hip flexors too, since bringing your torso all the way up past 30 or so degrees is more hip flexion than pure ab work.

A full sit-up isn’t always kind to your body. Curling your spine through that big a range under load, especially for high reps, can aggravate your lower back, and the deeper you go past the halfway point, the more your hip flexors take over from your abs. If you do the version with your hands laced behind your head, it’s easy to yank on your neck every rep instead of using your abs to pull you up. The sit-up still has its place, but plenty of lifters need a substitute that trains the same muscles without beating up their spine or neck.

You might also want a sit-up alternative if you don’t have anything to anchor your feet under, if you want to isolate your abs without your hip flexors doing half the work, or if you’ve been doing sit-ups for months and need a new angle to keep progressing. I picked the 8 below for how well they train your abs through a real range of motion, how easy they are on your lower back and neck, and what equipment they need. A few are near-identical swaps you could drop into the same spot in your program, and a couple are far gentler options if your back is the whole reason you’re here. I’ll tell you when to use each one, exactly how to do it, and what it needs equipment-wise so you can pick based on what your gym or home setup actually has.

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The pec deck is a seated machine that isolates your chest through a fixed arc. You sit upright, brace your back against the pad, and bring your arms together in front of you against resistance, either pressing your forearms into pads (the classic pec deck) or pulling handles together (the butterfly version). The seat and arm position lock you into one path, so your chest does the work without your shoulders or triceps needing to stabilize anything. That’s what makes it such a good isolation exercise for 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps at a time.

You might need an alternative for a few reasons. Not every gym has a pec deck, and almost no home gym does, so if you train outside a commercial gym you probably don’t have access to one at all. The fixed arc is also built for an average frame, and if your shoulders are wider or narrower than that average, the pad position can dig into your shoulder joint instead of your chest. Or maybe the machine’s just occupied every time you want to use it, and you need something else to hit the same muscle without waiting around.

Here are the 8 pec deck alternatives I reach for most, picked for how well they isolate the chest through a full range of motion, how safe they are on the shoulders, and what equipment they need. Some of these are close cable equivalents you could run in the exact same program slot, and others trade some of that isolation for a heavier compound option or a true no-equipment stand-in. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The glute ham raise, or GHR, is one of the toughest hamstring exercises there is. You kneel on a GHD or glute-ham bench with your ankles locked under a pad, then lower your torso toward the floor by controlling your knees as they straighten, and pull yourself back up using your hamstrings and glutes. It’s rare in that it trains your hamstrings as a knee flexor and a hip extensor in the same rep, which is why it builds so much posterior chain strength for 2 to 3 sets of 4 to 8 reps at a time.

Most commercial gyms don’t have a GHD or a glute-ham bench at all, so you might not have the equipment to do one in the first place. Even if you do, the GHR is brutally hard. Most lifters can’t manage a single strict bodyweight rep without a partner holding their ankles or a band assisting them, which makes it a rough starting point if you’re new to the exercise or coming back from time off. Your knees and lower back can also take a beating if you push volume before you’ve built up the strength to control the descent.

I picked the 8 alternatives below because they hit your hamstrings and glutes through a similar range without needing a GHD, and most of them scale a lot easier than the GHR does. A few are close matches you could run in the exact same program slot, and others are heavier compound lifts you can lean on to build the same strength from a different angle. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The reverse fly, also called a rear delt fly, is a horizontal-abduction isolation exercise for your posterior deltoids, the small muscles that cap the back of your shoulder. You can do it bent over with a pair of dumbbells, backward on a pec deck machine, or standing at a cable stack, and in every version you’re moving your arms out and back in a wide arc while your elbows stay mostly straight. It’s one of the few exercises that isolates the rear delts almost on their own, which matters because most pressing and pulling work barely touches them, for 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps at a time.

You might need a substitute for a few reasons. The rear delt machine is often the busiest piece of equipment in a commercial gym’s shoulder section, and you’re not waiting around for it. Bent-over dumbbell reverse flies can aggravate a cranky lower back if you’re hinging for high reps, and the light weights involved make it tempting to swing the dumbbells instead of actually working the muscle. Or maybe you’ve noticed your rear delts lagging behind your front and side delts and you want a couple of angles that hit them harder than your current rotation does.

Here are the 8 reverse fly alternatives I’d reach for, picked for how directly they isolate the rear delts, how easy they are on the shoulder joint and lower back, and what equipment they actually need. A few of these are near-identical swaps for whichever version of the reverse fly you normally run, and a couple pull double duty as upper back builders when you want more from the same set. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The cable curl is a standing biceps curl you perform off a low pulley, usually with a straight bar or EZ-bar attachment. You stand facing the machine, grip the bar, and curl it up toward your shoulders while your elbows stay pinned at your sides. Because the cable pulls at an angle instead of straight down, your biceps stay under tension through the entire rep, even at the top and bottom where a dumbbell or barbell curl goes slack. That constant tension is why the cable curl builds so much size for 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps at a time.

You might want an alternative for a few reasons. Not every gym has an open low pulley, and if you train at home you probably don’t have a cable stack at all. Cable curls also don’t let you load as heavy as a barbell or dumbbell curl, so if you’re chasing raw strength or a bigger arm on a budget of time, a free-weight option gets you there faster. Or maybe you’ve been running cable curls for months and your biceps have stopped responding, so you need a new stimulus to keep growing.

Here are the 8 cable curl alternatives I reach for most, picked for how well they keep tension on the biceps, how much weight you can load, and what equipment they need. Some of these are near-identical swaps you could run in the exact same program slot, and others are heavier compound-adjacent options for when you want to build strength and size at once. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The spider curl is a strict biceps isolation exercise where you lie face down on a steep incline bench with your chest pressed into the pad and your arms hanging straight down, perpendicular to the floor. Holding an EZ bar or a pair of dumbbells, you curl the weight up toward your face and lower it back under control. Because your torso is locked flat against the bench, you can’t swing your hips or lean back to help the weight up, so every rep comes from your biceps alone. That strict position, combined with your arms hanging slightly in front of your body instead of at your sides, puts extra emphasis on the short head and gives you a hard peak contraction at the top of each rep.

You might want a substitute for a few reasons. Not every gym has a steep enough preacher bench set up for the face-down position, since a lot of preacher benches are built for the seated, arms-on-pad version instead. Getting into position can be awkward too, especially if you’re tall and your chest and hips don’t line up well on the pad. Or maybe your biceps have plateaued on spider curls and you want a different angle to keep growing.

Here are the 8 spider curl alternatives I reach for most, picked for how strictly they isolate the biceps, how close they get to that same peak contraction, and what equipment they need. Some of these are close swaps you could run in the exact same slot as a spider curl, and others trade a little strictness for more weight on the bar. A couple hit the biceps from a completely different angle, which is worth having in your back pocket once your progress on spider curls slows down. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The hanging leg raise is one of the best exercises there is for your lower abs and hip flexors. You hang from a pull-up bar with your arms straight and your body still, then raise your legs, straight or bent, up toward your chest by flexing at the hips. That dead hang takes your legs out of contact with the ground entirely, so your abs and hip flexors do all the work of lifting them, with no momentum from a swing or a push off the floor to help you cheat the rep.

You might want an alternative for a few reasons. Most gyms don’t have an open pull-up bar when you need one, and plenty of home setups don’t have one at all. Your grip and forearms can also give out well before your abs do, especially if you’ve already done pull-ups or rows earlier in the session, and that cuts the set short for the wrong reason. Or your shoulders just don’t love supporting your full bodyweight in a dead hang, and you’d rather train the same hip-flexion pattern from a position that doesn’t ask them to do that.

Here are the 8 hanging leg raise alternatives I reach for most, picked for how closely they keep that hip-flexion, lower-ab pattern, how well they scale from easy to hard, and what equipment they need. Some of these are near-identical swaps you could run in the exact same program slot, and others are easier regressions or heavier progressions for when you want to build up to, or past, a strict hanging leg raise. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The pendulum squat is a plate loaded machine that swings your body through a wide arc as you squat, so the resistance angle changes throughout the rep instead of staying fixed the way it does on a leg press. You stand on an angled platform with a padded shoulder yoke or chest pad holding your torso in place, then bend your knees to sink into a deep squat before driving back up. That arc keeps real tension on your quads through the whole range, especially in the bottom position where a barbell squat starts to lose it, and it’s why the pendulum squat has become one of the go-to machines for quad size in bigger gyms.

You’ll probably need an alternative at some point, mostly because not many gyms actually have one. The pendulum squat machine is expensive and eats up serious floor space, so you’ll find it at bigger commercial gyms and specialty strength gyms, not the average globo gym or a home setup. Maybe your gym has one but there’s always a line for it, or you’re on the road and need a hotel gym substitute. Or you’ve been running pendulum squats for months and your quads have adapted, so a different angle or a free weight option would do more for your legs right now.

I picked these 8 based on how well they keep that same supported, quad-dominant loading the pendulum squat gives you, whether they’re a machine, a belt-loaded setup, or a straight barbell or dumbbell lift. Some are close to a plug and play swap you can run in the exact same slot in your program, and others ask a bit more of your own stabilizers since there’s no machine doing the balancing for you. I’ll tell you when to reach for each one and exactly how to perform it.

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The back extension, also called the hyperextension or 45-degree back extension, is a staple for building a strong lower back. You set your hips against the pad of a 45-degree bench, lock your feet under the rollers, then bend forward at the hips and extend back up until your body forms a straight line. It trains your spinal erectors directly, plus your glutes and hamstrings on the way up, and it’s one of the few exercises that works the lower back on its own instead of as a stabilizer for something else.

You might want an alternative for a few reasons. Not every gym has a 45-degree back extension bench, and most home gyms skip it entirely since it takes up floor space for one exercise. Some lifters find that extending the lower back into that top position is uncomfortable, especially if they’re dealing with a disc issue or they’re new to training their erectors and don’t yet have the control to keep the movement in their hips instead of their spine. And once bodyweight back extensions get easy, the bench puts a hard ceiling on how much load you can add without holding a plate awkwardly across your chest.

Here are the 8 back extension alternatives I reach for most, picked for how well they train the same lower back, glute, and hamstring chain, how safe they are for a lower back that doesn’t love loaded spinal extension, and what equipment they actually need. A few of these trade pure spinal extension for a hip-dominant hinge pattern, which is usually the safer and more useful swap for most lifters anyway. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The step-up is a unilateral lower body exercise where you drive your whole bodyweight onto an elevated box or bench using a single leg, then step back down and repeat. You can do it with just bodyweight, a pair of dumbbells, or a barbell on your back, and box height usually runs anywhere from knee height to just above it. It trains your quads hardest, with a heavy dose of glutes and hamstrings on the hip extension at the top, and it adds a real balance and stability demand since you’re pushing your entire body up on one leg with no spot from the other.

You might want a change for a few reasons. Not every gym has a box tall enough, and a busy platform or step deck is often the first thing taken during peak hours. A high step-up can also load your knee hard right at end-range flexion when your thigh is past parallel, which some lifters feel in the front of the knee once the reps add up. Or maybe you’ve run step-ups for months and your legs have stopped responding, so you need a fresh angle to keep making progress.

Here are the 8 step-up alternatives I turn to most, picked for how well they still hit your quads and glutes one leg at a time, how safe they are on the knees, and what equipment they need. Some are near-identical unilateral swaps you could drop into the exact same program slot, and a couple trade off the balance demand for more raw load. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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The Arnold press takes a regular dumbbell shoulder press and adds a rotation, so your palms start facing you at the bottom and finish facing forward at the top. That extra twist puts your shoulder through more of its range than a standard press does, and it’s why the exercise trains your front, side, and rear deltoids in a single lift instead of just the front delt like most overhead presses. I’ve got a full breakdown of the exercise itself, its benefits, and exactly which muscles it hits, in our Arnold press benefits and muscles worked guide, so I won’t repeat all of that here.

You might still want a swap for it. The rotation is the whole point of the exercise, but it’s also what makes it hard to learn, and a shoulder that’s already cranky doesn’t always love twisting under load. Some lifters just get more out of a straight vertical press without the added coordination demand, and if you’re chasing a heavier top set, the rotation caps how much weight you can control safely. Or maybe you’ve been running Arnold presses for months and want a new angle to keep your shoulders growing.

Here are the 8 Arnold press alternatives I’d reach for, ranked by how closely they train the same all-around deltoid coverage, how safe they are on the shoulder joint, and what equipment they need. A couple of these are near-identical presses you could drop straight into the same program slot. Others trade the rotation for heavier loading or a more targeted finish. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

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