Alternating Cable Shoulder Press
Trains the Shoulders.
- Equipment
- A cable station
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set both pulleys at the lowest setting and take a handle in each hand at shoulder height.
- Stand between them with your feet hip-width apart, palms facing forward.
- Brace your stomach and keep your ribs down.
- Press one handle overhead until the arm is almost straight.
- Lower it to shoulder height as you press the other one up.
- Continue alternating, keeping the torso still throughout.
Common mistakes
- Letting the torso rock side to side with the rhythm. The alternation means one side is always loaded more than the other, and holding still against that is what the version adds.
- Starting the second arm before the first has come down. Overlapping the two turns it into a two-arm press done unevenly.
- Standing too far forward of the pulleys. The cable line should run up past the body; ahead of it the press becomes an incline press and pulls you backward.
- Counting a left and a right as two repetitions when the set was planned in pairs. Not a technique fault, but it is the most common way an alternating set ends up half the length it was meant to be.