Apr

28

Cable Crossovers

Filed Under Exercises | 

Cable Crossovers would have to be the most favoured chest muscle building exercise I have ever seen. Hundreds of trainers I have watched go to the Cable Crossover as their main, and sometimes only, chest exercise.

Cable Crossovers are a simple, easy to set up and easy to do exercise that takes little time to pump out three sets and no preparation time besides moving the pins to the weight required.

Yet I recommend that you do not do them, why?

Because they are easy, because they do not stress the body and because they take little effort.

With little effort comes little growth.

Look at all the guys who head over to do Cable Crossovers first for chest, they are ‘fitness’ guys, people who go to the gym to get ‘fit’, they read and believe magazines like Men’s Health. Rock Hard abs in two weeks is their favourite magazine article.

Not that there is anything wrong with trying your best or with lokoing and being fit - but I do have a problem with people pretending to be fit because it is trendy and cool.

Cable Crossovers do not grow muscle, you can use them to pre-exhaust your chest (say if your triceps are sore) or you can use them to pump up at the end of a workout.

The bare simple fact is that compound movements build muscle faster than isolation exercises. And your chest is designed primarily as a pushing muscle.

Pushing is more natural and more common, how many times do you make a cable crossover movement in real life?

The most damming evidence against Cable Crossovers is the physiques of the people who do them then run over to do Leg Extensions to ‘workout’ their legs.

Compare that thin physique with the well defined physique of a serious athlete who Benchpresses and Squats (but not on the same day).

Everyone I know who is serious about Benchpress either has a chest or has grown one pretty quickly.

The hundreds of Cable Crossover only guys never have a big muscular chest, ever.

20 years in the gym, and plenty of mistakes taught me to leave Cable Crossovers either off the training regime or as last sets and not counted toward working sets, just for an additional pump.

The other time Cable Crossovers are good is for a stretch, if you stand far enough forward and let the weights stretch your chest back as far as possible between reps, this is a good way to finish your workout.

In fact finishing with a stretch (or stretching exercise) is the best way to finish any workout.

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