Exercise Guides: How To's and Comparisons

The upright row is a vertical pulling exercise where you grip a barbell, dumbbells, or a cable attachment and pull it straight up along your torso to roughly chin or chest height. It’s one of the few exercises that trains your side delts and upper traps in the same movement, since your elbows lead the pull up and out while your shoulders shrug at the top. Done with a narrow grip, it also puts your shoulder into internal rotation under load, which is exactly the position that causes shoulder impingement in some lifters.

That impingement risk is the biggest reason people go looking for a swap. If your shoulder pinches or catches as the bar passes chest height, that’s your rotator cuff getting squeezed under the front of your shoulder blade, and grinding through it isn’t worth it. You might also want an alternative if you don’t have a barbell, if you want to train your delts and traps separately instead of lumped into one lift, or if your shoulders have simply stopped responding to the same movement week after week.

I picked the 8 alternatives below for how well they hit the same side delt and trap targets as the upright row, how shoulder-friendly they are compared to a narrow-grip barbell pull, and what equipment they need. A few are close swaps you could drop into the exact same program slot, a couple isolate the delts or traps on their own, and a couple are heavier or more explosive options for lifters who want more out of the movement pattern. I’ll walk through when to use each one and exactly how to perform it.

The tricep pushdown is a cable exercise where you pin your elbows to your sides and extend them against resistance from a high pulley, using a straight bar, rope, or single handle attachment. Your elbows stay locked in place the whole set, so almost all the work falls on your triceps instead of your shoulders or chest. It’s a staple isolation exercise for a reason, and most people run it for 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps at the end of a push day, once the heavier pressing is done.

You might want a substitute for a few practical reasons. Not every gym has an open cable station, and the pushdown spot tends to be one of the most crowded in the building during peak hours. You might train at home with a rack and dumbbells but no cable stack at all, or you’re working out of a hotel gym that only has a few dumbbells and a bench. Or you’ve been running pushdowns for months, your triceps have stopped growing from them, and your elbows or wrists start to complain the same way they always do once the reps pile up week after week.

Here are the 8 tricep pushdown alternatives I’d reach for, ranked by how closely they match the pushdown’s cable, elbow-locked feel and how well they hold up across different equipment. A few are direct swaps you could run in the exact same program slot. Others are heavier compound options for building strength, and bodyweight exercises for when you’re stuck without a gym. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to perform it.

The shrug is about as simple as strength training gets. Grip something heavy and pull your shoulders straight up toward your ears. That simple motion is one of the most direct ways to load your upper trapezius, the thick slab of muscle that runs from your neck out to your shoulders and gives your upper back that finished look from behind. It’s a small range of motion carrying heavy weight, and that combination is exactly what makes the muscle grow. Most lifters default to a barbell or dumbbells for it, but the traps respond to plenty of other tools too, cables, a trap bar, even nothing but a loaded carry.

You might want a swap for a few reasons. A heavy barbell shrug can beat up your wrists and forearms before your traps ever get properly worked, your grip might give out well before your traps do, or you might not have a barbell at home to begin with. Some lifters also want more out of the movement than a straight up-and-down shrug gives, more range of motion, more retraction, or a different angle to keep making progress once a plain shrug plateaus. And a few of the options below train your traps as a byproduct of a bigger, more useful exercise instead of as an isolated add-on at the end of your session.

I picked the 8 alternatives below for how directly they load your traps, how heavy you can safely take them, and what equipment they need, so you can find one that fits your gym or your garage. Keep reading for when to use each one, exactly how to perform it, and the cues that get you more out of every rep.

A face pull is a cable exercise where you pull a rope toward your face with your elbows high, finishing with your hands turned out past your ears. It trains your rear delts, mid traps, rhomboids, and the external rotators in your rotator cuff all in one pull, which is why it shows up in almost every shoulder health program you’ll find.

You might need an alternative for a few reasons. Maybe your gym never has a cable station free at face height, maybe you train at home with dumbbells and a band, maybe you want more variety than the same rope pull every single session, or maybe you’re after more loading than a face pull’s usual light weight and high reps can give you. Your rear delts and rotator cuff grow from loaded external rotation and horizontal pulling, and that stimulus works just as well from a machine, a bench, or a bent-over dumbbell angle as it does from the exact rope-to-face path.

Here are the 8 face pull alternatives I reach for most, picked for how well they hit the rear delts and external rotators, how much weight you can actually load onto them, and what equipment they need. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

The chest fly trains your pecs almost entirely through horizontal adduction, pulling your arms from an outstretched position across your body while a machine, cable, or dumbbell keeps tension on the muscle the whole way. Unlike a bench press, which shares the load with your triceps and front delts, a fly asks your chest to do nearly all of the work. That isolation, plus the deep stretch you get at the bottom of the rep, is what makes flyes worth keeping in your program even if you already press heavy.

You might need a swap for a few reasons. Maybe your gym doesn’t have a pec deck or a cable station, maybe the stretched position bothers your shoulders, maybe you train at home with nothing but a resistance band, or maybe you’ve run the same fly for months and want a new angle. Whatever the reason, the substitute still needs to load your pecs through a real stretch and a hard peak squeeze, or you lose the point of doing a fly instead of a press.

I picked these 8 alternatives for how closely they reproduce that stretch-and-squeeze pattern, how comfortable they are on the shoulder joint, and what equipment they actually need. Keep reading and I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to perform it.

The preacher curl locks your upper arm against an angled pad in front of your chest, so there’s no way to swing the weight or cheat with your shoulders. That strict setup puts almost all the tension on your biceps, especially the short head, and it’s brutal in the bottom stretched position where a standing curl gives you a break. It’s one of the best exercises there is for pure biceps isolation, which is exactly why it’s worth having a few solid substitutes on hand.

You might still want a substitute. Not every gym has a preacher bench, the pad can dig into your armpit or bicep tendon on heavier sets, you might be training at home with just dumbbells, or you just want variety after months of the same exercise. Some lifters also find the fixed pad angle awkward on their shoulders, especially with longer arms. Whatever the reason, the goal is the same: keep your elbow locked in place and your torso out of the lift so your biceps do all the work.

Here are the 8 preacher curl alternatives I’d reach for, ranked by how closely each one reproduces that supported, no-swing loading. I picked these for how strictly they isolate the biceps, how easy they are to load and progress, and what equipment they need, so you can find one that fits your gym or your home setup. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

The skull crusher, also called the lying triceps extension, is one of the best isolation exercises for building your triceps, especially the long head. You lie on a bench and lower an EZ bar or barbell toward your forehead by bending only at the elbow, then press it back up. That overhead-to-forehead range gives the long head a deep stretch you don’t get from exercises where your elbows stay pinned at your sides, and it’s why the exercise builds so much tricep size for 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps at a time.

You might want an alternative for a few reasons. Heavy skull crushers can beat up your elbows once the bar passes your forehead and your triceps are under full stretch, and that discomfort tends to show up right around week 3 or 4 of a new program once the loads climb. Not every gym has a spare EZ bar, and if you train at home you probably don’t have one at all. Or maybe you’ve been running skull crushers for months and your triceps have stopped responding, so you need a new angle to keep making progress.

Here are the 8 skull crusher alternatives I reach for most, picked for how well they keep that long head stretch and isolate the triceps, how safe they are on the elbows, 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 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.

The goblet squat is the squat I hand to almost every new lifter. Holding one dumbbell or kettlebell against your chest keeps your torso upright and turns the squat into an almost foolproof pattern. It trains your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and core, and it doubles as a mobility drill for anyone who struggles to sit into a deep squat.

You might want an alternative for a few reasons. Maybe you’ve outgrown what a single dumbbell or kettlebell can load, maybe your gym’s heaviest kettlebell isn’t heavy enough anymore, maybe you want a barbell on your shoulders instead, or maybe you just want variety while keeping that same upright, quad-and-glute-focused stimulus. Plenty of other exercises deliver the goblet squat’s pattern with different equipment.

Here are the 8 goblet squat alternatives I reach for most, picked for how well they keep that upright torso and quad-and-glute emphasis, how easy they are to load and progress, and what equipment they need. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

Most of these work well in the same 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps range you’d already run a goblet squat at, though a few of the barbell options are worth taking lower, to sets of 5 or 6, once you’re loading them heavier. I’ll flag where that’s worth doing.

The squat is the lift most people build their leg training around, and the two barbell versions you’ll see most are the front squat and the back squat. They use the same bar and the same basic pattern, but where the bar sits changes everything about how the lift feels and what it trains.

Neither one is the right answer for everyone. The better squat for you depends on your goals, your build, and which lift you can load and recover from. This article walks through the main difference, the pros and cons of each, the muscles they hit, and how to decide which one deserves the bulk of your time.

The lateral raise is the go-to isolation exercise for the side delts, the muscle that gives your shoulders width and that capped, round look. It’s simple and it works, but it isn’t the only way to train the lateral head.

You might want an alternative because the dumbbells at your gym jump in weight too quickly, your shoulders get cranky from the strict dumbbell version, you’re training at home, or you just want a fresh stimulus. The good news is the side delt responds to plenty of different angles and tools.

Here are the 8 alternatives I reach for most, picked for how well they load the side delt, how easy they are to progress, and what equipment they need. I’ll tell you when to use each one and exactly how to do it.

Your triceps are about two-thirds of your upper arm, so if you want your sleeves to fill out they matter more than your biceps. The catch is that most tricep work drags your shoulders into it, and if your shoulders are beat up that turns a simple isolation exercise into a problem.

It comes down to anatomy. The long head of the triceps crosses your shoulder joint, so anything overhead loads it on a stretch and brings the shoulder along for the ride. The rest of the exercises here keep your shoulder parked and let your elbow do the work, which is exactly what you want if you’re after the triceps and nothing else. I’ll call out which ones keep the shoulder out of it as we go.

These are the 8 tricep isolation exercises I actually program, ordered roughly from the most isolated to the least. A true isolation exercise only bends one joint, your elbow, so the list is short by design. The last couple lean compound, but they still hammer the triceps and earn a spot.

For each one you get how to perform it, a demo video, and how to fit it into your training week.

If your back has stalled, adding isolation work is one of the easiest ways to break the logjam. Heavy compound pulls build most of your back, but they let your strong muscles cover for your weak ones, so a lagging area can sit there for months without budging. Isolation exercises force the muscle you’re actually trying to grow to do its own work.

Truly isolating the back is close to impossible. The lats, traps, rhomboids, and spinal erectors all cross multiple joints and fire together on almost every pull. What you can do is bias one area at a time, and that’s exactly what the seven exercises below are built for. I’ve ordered them roughly from most isolated to least.

I picked these on how well they target a specific part of the back, how easy they are on your joints, and what equipment they need. Whether you train at a commercial gym with every cable and machine on tap or you’ve just got a pull-up bar at home, there’s something here you can use. Here’s the full list before we get into each one.

A true isolation exercise works one joint, and for the quads that means knee extension. That narrows the field fast, which is why the list below runs from the most isolated movement to the least rather than pretending seven exercises are all equally targeted.

The first three are variations on the leg extension and they’re the only ones that isolate the quads in the strict sense. The last four bring the hips in to some degree, but they load the quads hard enough to earn a place if you don’t have a leg extension machine.

Before we go any further, remember that true isolation exercises involve a single joint and we don’t have much room for variation. So while these may not seem like adventurous exercises, they are effective for developing quad strength and size.

The exercises you’re about to learn about are presented from the most to the least isolated.

Welcome to our all-in-one guide for mastering chest exercises using just a single cable.

This guide is perfect for those times when you’re aiming to fix muscle imbalances or when you find yourself with only one cable at your disposal.

Cable exercises are not just versatile, they’re also super effective. They offer you a full range of motion and keep your muscles under constant tension, which can lead to some serious muscle growth and strength.

So whether you’re in a gym with limited gear or at home with a single cable station, these exercises have got you covered.

Plenty of lifters bench flat, press a little incline, and figure the chest is handled. The lower pecs are what give the chest a defined bottom edge, and flat pressing doesn’t load them the way an angled cable does.

Cables hold tension on the muscle through the whole rep instead of falling off at the bottom like a dumbbell, and you can set the pulleys to pull from angles a barbell can’t reach. They’re also kinder to your shoulders than heavy decline work.

Below are the six lower chest cable exercises I’d actually program, with why each one earns a spot, how to perform it, and how to work it into your week. If you train the top of your chest too, run these alongside our picks for the upper chest cable exercises, and if the lower portion is the part that’s lagging, our guide to fixing an underdeveloped lower chest digs in deeper.

Are you struggling to improve your shoulder’s range of motion?

Experiencing aches and pains in your shoulder when throwing, swimming, or rowing?

Well, cable exercises that specifically target the rotator cuff might be just the thing you need. They help to improve the shoulder’s stability, strength, and mobility.

We’ve tried all of the exercises out there and put together this list of the four best to give you a headstart. We’ll tell you about the benefits of each one, how to perform them properly and give you some other useful information about the rotator cuff.