The rope pull is a move that’s classically done for the rear delts, however with one simple alteration, you can really get your traps being called into play.
Furthermore, this is the perfect shoulder-strengthening exercise that will help you prevent rotator cuff injuries.
execution
- 1Attach a rope to the upper pulley and stand in front of the cable machine
- 2Grab the rope with an overhand grip
- 3Step back and lean back slightly
- 4Keep torso straight and bend the knees
- 5Pull the rope towards your forehead and contract the shoulders and traps up top
- 6Go back down slowly
When performing this exercise, you want to do your normal face pull but when the arms are in their maximally contracted state, press up and extend the elbows above the head. As you do this, you’ll feel your traps burning as they take over maintaining the tension in the cable through to the full extension.
Bend the elbows again to lower and then finish up the face pull movement pattern. You may need to decrease the weight when doing this compared to when you were doing just the regular face pull.
