How to tone your lateral muscles with seated cable rows

Learn how to do seated cable rows. Presented by Real Jock Gay Fitness Health & Life.

Benefits
Seated cable rows are great for working on your posture and your shoulder blade retraction—and the continuous resistance of the cable means you’ll get a good lat workout on the negative phase of the exercise.

Muscles Worked
Back (lats, rhomboids)

Starting Position
Sit on the floor or on a flat bench at a cable row station holding a double-handle attachment with your elbows tucked in and your arms extended with palms facing. Your hands should be slightly less than shoulder distance apart. Your back should be flat, your chest out, your abs engaged into your spine, your posture tall, and your legs slightly bent.

Exercise
1. From the starting position, pull the handles in toward your stomach, leading with your pinkies and squeezing the shoulder blades together as you pull. Imagine you are trying to wrap your elbows around behind your back. Keep your back flat, your abs engaged strong into your spine, and a tall posture as you pull.
2. When you have pulled the handles all the way in to your abdomen, reverse direction and return to the starting position, resisting the pull of the cable through your lats as you extend your arms. Do not let your elbows come wide as your arms extend.