Cable Incline Pushdown Exercise Guide

The cable incline pushdown is a targeted exercise designed to isolate and strengthen the triceps brachii, the muscle group on the backside of your upper arm. This exercise offers several advantages over traditional free-weight tricep movements, making it a valuable addition to your arm-training routine.

Need more variety in your back training routine? The cable incline pushdown is a unique and effective exercise that’ll help to develop the lats.

The cable incline pulldown is a back exercise variation that emphasizes the latissimus dorsi or simply lats for short. It’s not an exercise that you see performed often in your local gym, and you may not do it yourself. However, that doesn’t mean it’s any less effective than other similar variations.

Aside from developing the lat muscles, it’s one of the best movements for improving scapular strength and stability. This is an essential component of safely and effectively performing any compound exercise with proper form and posture.

Today, we’re going to explain how to do this exercise, offer some key tips, and variations, and provide an example of how to include it in your back training routine.

This guide will delve into the proper form, benefits, variations, programming tips, and common mistakes associated with the cable incline pushdown.

Here’s a guide to the cable incline push down…

In This Exercise:

Target Muscle Group: Latissimus Dorsi

Type: Hypertrophy, strength, stability

Mechanics: Isolation

Equipment: Cable machine

Difficulty: Beginner

Muscles Worked

The cable incline pushdown engages several muscles that assist during this exercise.

Latissimus Dorsi

Lats for short, this large broad muscle spans the lower posterior thorax. It gives width to the back and appears like a pair of wings when well-developed and flexed. The function of the lats is thoracic and arm motion. The lats, along with the teres major and pectoralis major adducts and medially rotates the humerus (upper arm bone). It also assists in humerus extension and helps the trunk move forward and upward when the arms are positioned overhead (e.g. pull-ups, climbing, etc).

Deltoid Posterior

The deltoid posterior or rear deltoids is one of the three heads that make up the shoulder muscles. It has a few different functions. The first is that it assists the anterior head in stabilizing the arm so that the lateral head can abduct the arm past 15 degrees. It also works with the lats to extend the arm during walking and works with the other delt heads to prevent inferior displacement of the glenohumeral joint when the arm is adducted against the body under a weight load.

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Pectoralis Major Sternal Head

The pectoralis major sternal head is composed of separate chest muscle fibers located near the sternum at the lower part of the chest. The sternal head is a shoulder transverse flexor (shoulder internally rotated), transverse adductor (shoulder externally rotated), and shoulder adductor when the shoulder is internally rotated. It’s a shoulder extensor when the shoulder is internally rotated.

Teres Major

The teres major medially rotates and adducts the arm and stabilizes the shoulder joint.

Muscles Targeted

The primary muscle targeted by the cable incline pushdown is the triceps brachii, specifically the long head, medial head, and lateral head. The long head plays a major role in extending the elbow and contributes to arm flexion at the shoulder. The medial and lateral heads help with elbow extension and provide some stability to the joint.

Additionally, the incline position engages the core muscles to maintain proper posture throughout the movement.

Benefits of Cable Incline Pushdowns

Isolation: Compared to free-weight tricep exercises, the cable machine allows for a more isolated movement, minimizing involvement of secondary muscle groups and maximizing tricep activation.
Constant Tension: The cable provides constant tension throughout the entire range of motion, leading to increased muscle growth and definition.
Mind-Muscle Connection: The controlled movement of the cable machine allows for a better focus on the triceps, facilitating a stronger mind-muscle connection.
Variation: The cable machine offers versatility, allowing for adjustments in handle type (straight bar, rope attachment) and hand position (neutral grip, close grip) to target different aspects of the triceps.

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Cable Incline Pushdown – Step-by-Step Guide

Set Up: Adjust the incline bench to an angle between 30-45 degrees. Attach a straight bar or rope handle to the low pulley of a cable machine. Sit on the incline bench with your back pressed firmly against the backrest and feet flat on the floor. Grasp the handle with an overhand grip (palms facing down) shoulder-width apart.
Starting Position: Brace your core by engaging your abdominal muscles. Extend your arms overhead so that the handle is directly above your shoulders with your elbows slightly bent. This is the starting position.
Lowering Phase: Maintaining a slight bend in your elbows and a fixed upper arm position, slowly lower the handle down towards your chest. Focus on squeezing your triceps as you lower the weight. Keep your torso upright and avoid arching your back.
Peak Contraction: At the bottom of the movement, when your forearms are nearly parallel to the floor, hold the contraction for a second, feeling the squeeze in your triceps.
Lifting Phase: Squeeze your triceps to raise the handle back to the starting position directly above your shoulders. Focus on using your triceps to lift the weight, not swinging your body.
Repetitions: Complete 8-12 repetitions for 3 sets.

How To Do The Cable Incline Pushdown

Here are step-by-step instructions for how to properly execute the cable incline push down.

Place the bench next to the cable machine so that your head will be close to the pulley as shown in the video, and adjust it to about a 45-degree incline.
Set the pulley with the bar attached low enough to where you can grab it comfortably but high enough to where you’re able to maintain tension in the cable while seated with arms extended overhead.
Grasp the bar with hands about shoulder-width apart, keep your shoulders back, chest up, and engage your lats.
With your elbows just slightly bent, drive your elbows down until your arms are at torso level.
Raise your arms back up slowly until they’re almost extended overhead and repeat the exercise for the desired reps.
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Cable Incline Pushdown Tips

Always use a weight that you can handle for at least 6-8 reps with good form. Anything heavier and you’re not maximizing the movement, by compromising proper form.

Do not set up the pulley too high or low. Set it up just low enough that allows you to get full extension of the arms overhead. This simply makes things easier especially when you have to release the weight at the end of the set.

You can also use an EZ bar or rope to perform this exercise.

Cable Incline Pushdown Variations

While the cable incline pushdown is a great variation, there are other movements that don’t involve as much setup but that also work extremely well for developing the lats and scapular strength and stability.

1. Straight-arm pushdown

The straight-arm pushdown is the most commonly-used variation. It’s easiest to set up and perform and is the perfect choice for including in supersets due for this reason. It’ll still work the same muscles and function and we definitely recommend including it into your routine.

2. Barbell pullover

The barbell pullover is a lying variation that is often utilized to develop the lat muscles. There are several variations of this variation, and we also recommended utilizing the bent-arm decline version which offers an advantage in that you’re able to keep tension on the muscle better.

3. Machine lat pullover

The machine lat pullover offers an advantage over other variations because you’re locked in and can focus solely on the movement without having to stabilize or focus on any other aspect of the exercise. Of course, you’ll still need to maintain proper body positioning by engaging the lats and keeping the chest up to maximize this exercise.

There are different types of machines so you’ll need to learn how to use the one you have access too.

How To Incorporate The Cable Incline Pushdown Into Your Training Routine

There are a few ways to include the cable incline push down into your training regime.

It’s a good idea to perform a set of this exercise before and in between your deadlifts. That’s because it reminds you to maintain proper scapular positioning which is crucial during the deadlift. So for example, you’ll do a set before you do your first set of deadlifts, and then you’ll perform a set in between your deadlift sets.

Another common way to include it is after your heavy back training movements. So for example, you’ll perform your deadlifts, rows, etc, and then incorporate the cable incline push down at the end to finish things off.

Sets/Reps

This depends on your overall training volume, but, in general, we recommend doing 3-4 sets x 10-12 reps.

Focus on your form and progress week by week, by aiming to add a little more weight and/or by completing more repetitions, all while sticking with the recommended rep range for most of your sessions.

Tips for Proper Form

Maintain Upper Arm Position: Throughout the movement, avoid letting your upper arms move forward or backward. Keep them fixed by your sides.
Control the Movement: Move the weight slowly and deliberately with controlled motions.
Full Range of Motion: Aim for a full range of motion, completely extending your arms at the top and lowering the weight until your forearms are nearly parallel to the floor.
Breathing: Inhale as you lower the weight and exhale as you push it back up.

Variations of the Cable Incline Pushdown

Neutral Grip Pushdown: Hold the handle with a neutral grip (palms facing each other) to target the medial and lateral heads of the triceps more effectively.
Close-Grip Pushdown: Narrow your hand position on the straight bar to further isolate the lateral head of the triceps.
Rope Pushdown: Utilize a rope attachment for a more challenging variation that requires greater core engagement for stabilization.

Programming Cable Incline Pushdowns into Your Workout

Frequency: Include cable incline pushdowns in your upper-body workout routine 2-3 times per week.
Placement: You can perform this exercise either at the beginning of your workout to target fresh triceps or later in the workout as a finisher.
Sets and Reps: Aim for 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions.

Wrapping Up

The cable incline pushdown is an excellent variation of an essential movement with lots of carryover to the bigger compound, multi-joint lifts. Not only does it build the lat muscles, but it develops scapular stability and strength and is a good teaching exercise for maintaining proper posture during your bigger movements.

We hope that this exercise was helpful and we’re confident that you now have the knowledge to be able to effectively include this movement in your training movement.