29/08/2026
Seated (Cable Row / Machine)
The Seated Cable Row is a great exercise aimed at strengthening your shoulder extensor muscles and scapula retraction muscles.
Start by sitting on the cable row machine with your feet firmly on the footrests.
Grab the cable handles with your palms facing each other. Sit tall with a straight back, keeping your chest lifted, and engage your back muscles. Pull the handles towards your torso while simultaneously squeezing your shoulder blades together. Keep your elbows close to your body and focus on using your back muscles, not your elbow flexor muscles.
Continue pulling until the handles are just past your lower chest, and pause for a moment. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
The target muscle is the latissimus dorsi.
It attaches directly to the humerus beneath the shoulder joint and pulls the arm backward into shoulder extension.
The posterior deltoid and teres major assist in shoulder extension.
During the pull, the scapulae move into adduction through the action of the middle trapezius and rhomboids.
The elbow flexors assist in elbow flexion and stabilization, with their contribution varying according to the external rotational moment acting on the elbow joint.
The primary stabilizers are the gluteus maximus, erector spinae, and core muscles, which prevent forward flexion of the thorax, while the quadriceps stabilize the lower body and resist the forward pull of the cable
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