Face pulls are an effective exercise that builds your upper body strength and should be part of your training routine. This exercise targets the posterior deltoids of your shoulder, which are often neglected by other shoulder exercises. In this, you use a cable pulley machine to pull the weight straight toward your forehead, causing strain in your rear delts. Exercising the rear delts will prevent muscular imbalance and build overall shoulder strength. It is easy to do as long as you pay attention to your form.
In this blog, we will understand the various face pulls benefits and also know about the face pull exercise muscles worked.
Face Pulls Muscles that Work
The main muscles that work in the face pull exercise are the rear deltoids. This motion also uses the middle trapezius (upper back), which helps you pinch the shoulder blades together and the rhomboids.
- Rear Delt: This muscle group is integral to the shoulder muscles. It is located at the back of the shoulder and is responsible for horizontal extension.
- Rhomboid: Rhomboids are located in the upper back. Their primary tasks are shoulder blade retraction and maintaining proper posture.
- Rotator Cuff: This is a group of four small muscles located on the shoulder joint. It helps stabilise the shoulders and prevent injury.
- Trapezius: This large muscle group extends from the neck to the upper back. Its primary responsibility is shoulder rotation, elevation, and neck extension.
Face Pulls Benefits
To all the fitness enthusiasts, face pull exercises bring a multitude of benefits to their body. We have listed some here:
- Improves Posture
This exercise targets the rhomboids, which are responsible for maintaining posture. Strengthening the rhomboids helps improve posture.
- Improves Athletic Performance
Trapezius muscles play a crucial role in improving athletic performance, and the exercise helps strengthen the traps and boost athletic performance.
- Increases Strength and Muscle Mass
It works on muscle fibres by causing them to grow back larger and stronger using the basic principles of resistance training.
- Reduces Risk of Injury
This exercise helps reduce the risk of injury by strengthening and improving the rotator cuffs.
How to Do Face Pulls?
Now that you know the benefits of this exercise, lets drive straight into the steps to follow while doing face pulls properly:
Step 1
Adjust the cable pulley machine to forehead height or slightly lower.
Step 2
Attach and set the handles of the machine. Also, select a suitable weight that you can pull. It is advised to begin with light weights and then increase the weights slowly.
Step 3
Now you need to use an overhand grip to hold the rope bar. While holding the grip, step backward until your hands are entirely extended. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and core engaged.
Step 4
Slightly lean backward, keeping your shoulders down and pull the weight.
Step 5
Bring the bar up to your face. The rear delts will contract, and your elbows should flare out as you bring it toward your face.
Step 6
Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement, then hold it for a brief moment.
Step 7
Take your time releasing the weight and returning to the starting position. For optimum impact, the more you can manage the negative, the better.
Tips for Mastering the Face Pull
To hold a command on your technique of face pulls, we some listed some smart tips here:
- Pay Attention to Form: Maintaining proper posture is key to this exercise’s success. Stand tall, keeping your shoulders back and down, elbows pointed out, and palms facing inward.
- Change Your Stance: If you feel your lower back doing most of the work or are experiencing pain and discomfort in that area, take a staggered stance. You can also kneel and perform this exercise.
- Squeeze the Shoulder Blades: Pinch and squeeze your shoulder blades together by imagining that you have a golf ball between your shoulder blades.
- Use Lighter Weight: The main muscles targeted by face pulls are the rear deltoids, which are small muscles. The goal of the workout will be defeated if you apply too much resistance because you’ll probably need to use bigger and stronger muscles to complete the movement.
By following these tips, you can increase the face pull benefits.
Conclusion
One of the many upper body exercises that you should incorporate into your fitness routine are the face pulls. By doing this exercise, you can improve your general shoulder health. With face pulls muscles worked, improve your shoulder movement patterns and increase shoulder strength and scapular stability.
You can add this to an upper-body, shoulder, or back-specific workout. Reduce the resistance, examine your form, and get help from a physical therapist or experienced personal trainer if you experience pain or discomfort when doing face pulls.
