How to do the face pull

Most gym programs are heavy on pressing: bench, overhead press, push-ups, dips. The face pull works the other side of the shoulder, the rear delts and the small muscles that rotate your upper arm outward and hold your shoulder blades in place. It's light, easy to recover from and takes five minutes at the end of a session, which is why we'd put it in the workout of almost anyone who benches. The one catch is that it only works when the weight is light enough to do it properly. Load it like a row and it becomes a row.

How to do a face pull

1. Set a cable pulley at upper chest height and attach a rope. A rope lets your hands split apart at the end, which a straight bar can't do.
2. Grab each end of the rope with your thumbs pointing toward you. Palms can face down or in, whichever feels better on your wrists. Your hands should be near the ends of the rope, just below the knobs.
3. Step back until your arms are straight and the weight lifts off the stack. Stand tall with your feet about shoulder width or in a short split stance. A slight lean back is fine, just a few degrees.
4. Pull the rope toward your face, elbows high. Your elbows travel out to the sides at about shoulder height, and the rope comes toward your eyes or forehead. Breathe out as you pull.
5. Split the rope and rotate your hands back at the end. As the rope reaches your face, pull the ends apart so your hands finish beside your ears, knuckles pointing up and slightly back. Your hands should end up level with or higher than your elbows, like a double biceps pose.
6. Hold for a second, then let your arms straighten. Squeeze the back of your shoulders and between your shoulder blades at the top. Breathe in as you let the rope back out, and let your shoulder blades spread forward slightly before the next rep.

When it's working, you'll feel a burn at the back of your shoulders and across your upper back, usually after 10 or so reps. If you mostly feel it in your biceps or the top of your neck, something's off; the mistakes below cover the usual causes.

Cues that help

"Pull the rope apart." Thinking about splitting the rope, rather than pulling it toward you, gets your hands to move out and back. It's the difference between a face pull and a high row.

"Finish in a double biceps pose." Picture a bodybuilder flexing both arms: elbows at shoulder height, fists up beside the head. That's where your hands and elbows should end. If that doesn't click, try "hands higher than elbows".

"Rope to your eyebrows." Giving the rope a target keeps it from drifting down to your chin or chest, which is where the lift turns into a row.

"Shoulders down, away from your ears." If your upper traps are taking over, you'll feel it at the top of your neck. Keeping your shoulders low puts the work back into your rear delts.

Common mistakes

Using too much weight and turning it into a row. The most common fault by far. The weight is heavy, so the elbows drop, the torso swings back and the rope ends up at your chest. It still works your back, but it's a row, and you've lost the rear delt and rotation work. Take the weight down until you can pause at the end of every rep with your hands beside your ears.

Not rotating your hands back at the end. The rope stops in front of your face with your hands below your elbows. That skips the outward rotation, which is half the point of the exercise. Split the rope, and think about showing your knuckles to the ceiling at the finish.

Leaning back excessively. A few degrees of lean is normal to counter the pull. Leaning back to 30 or 45 degrees turns your bodyweight into the lifter and makes the rep look easy. Plant your feet, brace your abs and stay nearly upright. If it keeps happening, the weight is too heavy.

Letting your elbows drop. Elbows by your ribs and hands pulling toward your chin or chest is a row with a rope. Keep your elbows up at about shoulder height through the whole pull.

Shrugging as you pull. Your shoulders creep toward your ears and your traps do the work. Start each rep with your shoulders down, and if you can't keep them there, lighten the load.

Sets, reps and how much weight to use

Face pulls work best with light weights and higher reps. We'd default to 3 sets of 12 to 20, with a 1-second pause at the end of each rep. Pick a weight you could do 2 or 3 more reps with while still pausing and rotating properly. If the last few reps turn into rows, it's too heavy.

They fit in two places. At the end of an upper-body session, 2 or 3 sets as a finisher. Or before pressing, 1 or 2 light sets of 15 to 20 as part of your warm-up for the bench press or overhead press. Two or three times a week is fine since they recover quickly. Adding them to the end of your saved workout in Helthy is an easy way to make sure they don't get skipped.

Weight numbers on cable stacks vary a lot between machines, so don't compare yourself with the person on the next machine or even your old gym. Most people start around the second or third plate on the stack and stay in a fairly narrow range for a long time.

Progress by adding reps first. Cable stacks usually jump in big steps, so once you're at 20 clean reps, move up one plate and work back up from 12. If your gym has add-on weights for the stack, use them to make smaller jumps.

Variations and alternatives

• Band face pull: the same movement with a resistance band tied to something at chest height. Great at home or as a warm-up, and bands get harder as you pull, which suits the end of the rep.
• Seated or half-kneeling face pull: sitting or kneeling makes it hard to lean back, so it's a good way to stop cheating. Set the pulley a bit lower to match your new height.
• Rear delt fly: dumbbells while bent over, or on a reverse pec deck machine. It trains the rear delts without the rotation, and it's easier to load evenly on both sides.
• High cable row: if you like a heavier pull for your upper back, this is the honest version of a heavy face pull. Do both: rows for load, face pulls for the finish position.
• Seated cable row: a heavier pull for the middle of your back, with more weight than a face pull can take.

Face pull questions

Do face pulls prevent shoulder injuries?

There's less evidence for this than the internet suggests. We're not aware of good research showing that face pulls on their own prevent shoulder injuries. What they do is train muscles that pressing-heavy programs tend to neglect, which is a reasonable thing to do for strong, balanced shoulders. If your shoulder already hurts, they're not a treatment. Get it looked at if the pain lasts more than a couple of weeks.

Will face pulls fix my posture?

They'll make your upper back stronger, but posture is mostly habit and how you sit for hours at a time. Don't expect a few sets a week to change how you stand on their own.

Rope or bar?

Rope. It lets your hands split apart and rotate at the end, which a bar can't. A bar turns it into a high row.

How heavy should face pulls be?

Light enough to pause for a second at the end of every rep with your hands beside your ears. For most people that's much lighter than they expect, and much lighter than their rows.