# Cable Pull-Through: how to do it

- Main muscles: glutes, hamstrings
- Also works: lower back
- Equipment: cable
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/cable_pull_through/0aa1d7337c/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Set a rope on a low pulley and face away from the machine.
2. Hold the rope between your legs and walk out two steps.
3. Stand with feet a little wider than your shoulders, knees soft.
4. Push your hips back and let the rope travel between your thighs.
5. Squeeze your glutes and drive your hips forward to stand tall.

## Cues

- Hips go back, not down.
- Arms stay straight, like hooks.
- Squeeze your glutes at the top.

## Common mistakes

- Squatting down instead of hinging.
- Pulling the rope with your arms.
- Leaning back at the top.

## Starting position

Fix a rope attachment to a cable pulley set at its lowest point (or up to about 30 cm off the floor). Stand facing away from the machine, astride the cable, and reach down between the legs to take one end of the rope in each hand, palms facing each other. Stand up and walk forward about two steps, so the heels are roughly 1 m from the pulley and the weight stays lifted off the stack at the bottom of the rep. Feet just wider than shoulder-width, toes 10–15° out. Arms straight, hands in front of the groin, the rope running back between the thighs. Knees soft, chest up, flat back, gaze ahead.

## The movement

Push the hips straight back and tip the trunk forward with a flat back, letting the cable draw the hands back between the thighs. The knees bend a little more than at the top (to about 25°) and stay in line with the toes; the shins stay close to vertical. Arms stay straight and relaxed: they are hooks, not pullers. Stop when the hamstrings are taut and the back is still flat. To return, squeeze the glutes and drive the hips forward until standing tall, hips fully straight, hands back in front of the groin. The body does not lean back at the top.

## End position

Bottom: trunk about 60° from vertical, hands just behind the line of the knees, hamstrings taut. The cable pulls the hips backwards as well as down, so the load stays on near lockout, unlike a free-weight hinge.

## Tempo

2 s back into the hinge, 1 s drive forward, 1 s squeeze standing tall.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pulley height | lowest setting | floor to 30 cm | [1] |
| Stance width (heel centres) | just wider than shoulder-width | shoulder- to 1.3× shoulder-width | [1] |
| Grip | rope ends, palms facing each other | — | [1] |
| Knee flexion at the top | 10° | 5–15° (not locked) | [1] [2] |
| Knee flexion at the bottom | 25° | 15–35° | [1] [3] |
| Hip flexion at the bottom | 70° | 60–90° | [3] |
| Hip extension at the top | 0° | −5 to 0° (no lean back) | [1] [2] |
| Elbow flexion | 0° | under 10° (arms stay straight) | [1] |

## Sources

1. [University of Sussex (Sussex Sport), Level Three: Cable Pull Through](https://www.sussex.ac.uk/sport/documents/cable-pull-throughs.pdf)
2. [ACE, Romanian Deadlift](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/317/romanian-deadlift/)
3. [Lee et al. 2018, J Exerc Sci Fit](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6323186/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/cable-pull-through