Cable Crossover Exercise

How to do Cable crossover exercise, which is a basic movement among chest exercises? What muscles does Cable crossover work? What are the benefits of Cable crossover? You will find the most detailed information about the Cable crossover movement in this

Name	Cable Crossover
Exercise Type	Strength
Skill Level	Beginner
Equipment Needed	Cable Machine
Muscles Worked	Primary: Chest; Secondary: Shoulders, Biceps,
Mechanics	Isolation
Force	Push
Alternative Forms/Substitute	High Cable Crossover, Low Cable Crossover

Cable Crossover

This movement, which is performed on a machine with cables, is one of the chest movements that you can exercise your chest muscles from a to z in the most efficient way. You can target your lower, upper and middle chest muscles separately by changing the height of the cables on the station.

Before moving on to the movement, we should also talk about the structure of your chest muscles to understand what effect the cable crossover can have. Your pectoral muscles are made up of two basic muscles. These are the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor muscles. Pectoralis major starts from the anterior surface of your collarbone and runs along your breastbone and attaches to the upper arm bone. Pectoralis minor begins under this muscle, attached to your three ribs and extends to your shoulder. Both muscles help your arms move at different angles.

How to do Cable Crossover?

• Set the pulley groups on the Cable Cross machine at the same level as your chest. Choose a weight that is not too heavy, hold the handles firmly and center the machine. With your arms open, step forward one step. You can throw one foot back to keep your balance. The upper part of your body must be flat.
• While breathing out, start closing your arms, which are in an open position and parallel to the floor, forward without breaking and shaking. Let your speed be a medium speed. Focus on your chest muscles at the maximum level.
• If your hands touch each other and keep moving and bring it to the cross position when you reach the end point, the Pectoralis major inner, the inner part of the chest muscles, works more. In this way, you create an opportunity to fill the gap between your chest muscles.

In this exercise, if the arms are fully closed, the inner part of the chest muscle can be exercised effectively. Instead of using handles in the cable cross machine, if the hands are brought to the cross position by just grasping the ends of the rope and joining the hands, the compression will increase even more and the development will reach the maximum level.

Cable Crossovers Tips

• More important than weight is making the movement properly.
• Focus on fully compressing and stretching your pectoral muscles.
• Just bend your elbows a little and try not to change the angle of your arms.

What muscles does Cable Crossover work?

Target muscles: 

• Sternal (lower) Pectoralis Major

Synergists: 

• Clavicular (upper)
• Pectoralis Major,
• Anterior Deltoid,
• Biceps Brachii (short head)

What are the Benefits of Cable Crossover?

• Cable crossover movement is an excellent exercise to stretch your chest muscles, increase the range of motion and develop chest muscles. There are 3 types of movement. These types vary depending on how you use the station. In the pulley system, your direction of pulling the cables and the height you connect the rope allow you to target the upper, middle and lower parts of your chest muscles separately.

• Low energy – High impact: The tension and resistance in this movement is evident throughout the range of motion of the entire exercise and is an optimal property that reduces wasted energy.

• Cable Crossover: It works all the chest muscles. While compressing, it helps to fill the space between the Pectoralis major inner, that is, the chest muscle.

• The tension in the cable provides a softer and more continuous resistance than free weights that can be affected by momentum. Thanks to constant resistance, it triggers the work of many small stabilizing muscles in your chest in addition to the pectoral muscles.

• Thanks to free work, you do not experience muscle imbalance, your muscles develop equally and you feel that you are experiencing pump at the end of the movement.

• Working with cables is a good addition to free weights because it provides constant resistance throughout the range of motion. But can it work the muscles to the same degree? Yes, according to the research that the American Exercise Council examined 9 chest movements. According to another study conducted at the University of Wisconsin, Cable Crossover, made by leaning forward, works almost as much as the Bench Press.

High Cable Crossover

Placing the pulley on which you connect the cables to the upper part allows you to work your lower chest muscles at the maximum level. High Cable Crossover is a beneficial chest movement that can help those who have problems with fat or gynecomastia in the chest area to increase fat burning in this area and achieve a smoother appearance with muscle development.

Low Cable Crossover

Pectoralis Major Upper, in other words, affects Clavicular head of pectoralis major and Sternocostal head of pectoralis major muscles more.
In order to make rapid progress while doing the Low Cable Crossover movement, you can try to do the movements one after the other until they are exhausted. First of all, with the low cable crossover, it can work until it is exhausted, raise the cables to the middle level and target your mid chest muscles; After exhaustion, you can work your lower chest muscles by taking the cables up again.

Alternative Standing Dumbbell Flys

When there is no cable, an alternative chest move you can do with dumbbells.