The purpose of the face pull is to strengthen a combination of the rotator cuff, rear deltoid, rhomboid and middle trapezius muscles. Like the cable rear delt row the face pull is a more technique-oriented movement. You will focus primarily on your elbow path during the course of the face pull.
Exercise Breakdown
First things first. Get yourself warmed up. The last thing you want to do is injure your shoulder in the process of trying to strengthen it. Shoulder impingement is a common problem in athletes who regularly perform overhead exercises. (Cools, Johansson, Cagnie, Cambier, Witvrouw, 2012) Stretching of the posterior shoulder muscles is advised in injury prevention as well as rehabilitation programs.
In the course of each face pull you’ll be engaging myriad upper back and shoulder muscles. If you’re like most gym-goers, there is a good chance you have neglected some of these muscles for a really long time.
Let’s assume you’ve got access to a single stack cable pulley. If you’re thinking about kitting out your home gym with an awesome cable system that also maximizes your space, check out the Lightning F35 Folding Power Rack.
Start Position
- Set the pulley height so that when you pull the cable it is traveling at a range between chest level and horizontal to your eyes. Connect a long rope handle attachment if possible. If you don’t have a long one, you can connect two standard ones to the pulley. You can also use a standard length rope.
- Plant your feet firmly to the ground at shoulder width with a slight bend at the knee. This is optional but I find it helps me activate my core along with providing a little extra stability.
- Grab the rope with a neutral grip. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull down to create that strong shoulder starting position. Your chest should be up but do not try and arch your back by tilting your pelvis forward. Keep the abdomen braced and engaged.
Execution
- Take a deep breath with your shoulders retracted. Focus on your elbows and thumbs as you move the rope in the direction of your face. Your elbows should be flared and at least in line with your shoulders but preferably slightly higher. Your thumbs should be pointing backwards.
- Exhale as you begin the pulling phase of the movement. Focus on retracting your shoulder blades and externally rotating your shoulders.
End Position
- The elbow should end up at between a 45 and 90 degree angle. You should more or less be in a biceps flex position as the end point of the face pull.
- The cable should come to a stop at some point in front of your face. If it is going to come into contact with your face, take a step backward before you complete the next rep.
- Pause and hold for 2-3 seconds and inhale as you return the weight. You should try to perform a sort of pec-deck motion in this part of the exercise. Bring the elbows together, still at that 45-90 degree angle, and then extend the forearms before setting the weight down.
As you can see, the face pull is a highly technical movement and you may even seek the guidance of a training partner to help you practice it until you get used to it. Many lifters have issues with overly strong chest muscles when compared to their shoulders and backs, resulting in poor external rotation.
It is very possible that it will take you time to improve your shoulder external rotation so be patient. It will help to regularly stretch out your pectoral muscles until you accumulate some more strength in these key muscles; in particular the rhomboids, posterior deltoids, upper trapezius and rotator cuff muscles.
Common Mistakes
- Insufficient external rotation
While you want to end up in a biceps flex position, this is not a biceps or forearm flexor exercise. Make sure you don’t try and pull the elbows too far back. The elbows should be in line with your upper back, and then you rotate by pulling your arm up and back into a biceps flex.
- Using momentum to force a rep
The face pull is not a “showboat” movement. If you can’t complete a rep properly, drop the weight and focus on perfecting your technique. Avoid using your legs to throw the weight back.
- Adding more weight than you can handle
Don’t compromise your technique. The face pull is a strict quality-oriented movement. It’s better to do one good one than forcing 10 poor form repetitions.
Muscle Engagement
Primary target: Rotator Cuff, Posterior Deltoid
Secondary target: Rhomboid, Middle Trapezius
The rotator cuff is a not a specific muscle per se, rather a group of 4 muscles and tendons that work to facilitate the extensive range of motion of the shoulder and also provide stability. There are 7 scapulohumeral muscles and 4 of these make up the rotator cuff; namely the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis.
The nature of a rotator cuff injury is that there are gradual and progressive histopathologic changes which go unnoticed for some time before the actual rupture happens. (Ellman, 1990) So there can be a potential problem building in the background for most lifters before they even experience any indication of it.
The other primary target of the face pull is the posterior deltoid. This is a large triangular intrinsic shoulder muscle and it connects to the flat surface of your shoulder blade. It is responsible for helping to move your arm backward.
The purpose of an exercise like the face pull is not just to build size and strength, but to also neuro-train the body to actually use these underutilized or dormant muscles. Rotator cuff weakness is very common and in particular the supraspinatus is the most injured rotator cuff muscle.
Summary
For most lifters, “pushing” exercises are the name of the game. If you do a lot of bench pressing, face pulls are highly recommended. Frequent bench pressing with heavy weight often leads to internal rotation of the shoulders which, in turn, can create shoulder mobility issues and injuries. The face pull is the perfect exercise to counteract that, and to help correct this common shoulder imbalance.
You May Also Like
- How To Do The Cable Front Raise?
- How To Do A Cable One-Arm Lateral Raise?
- How To Do A Cable Rear Delt Row?
References
Cools A., Johansson F., Cagnie B., Cambier D., Witvrouw E. (2012) Stretching the Posterior Shoulder
Structures in Subjects with Internal Rotation Deficit: Comparison of Two Stretching Techniques. Shoulder & Elbow. 2012;4(1):56-63
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1758-5740.2011.00159.x
Ellman, H. (1990) Diagnosis and Treatment of Incomplete Rotator Cuff Tears. Clinical Orthopaedics
and Related Research 254():p 64-74
https://journals.lww.com/clinorthop/abstract/1990/05000/diagnosis_and_treatment_of_incomp
lete_rotator_cuff.10.aspx
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