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.
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