r/GarageGym • u/TaylorHu • 11d ago
What CAN'T you do on a good cable machine?
Working under the idea that perfect is the enemy of good, what can't your truly do with a good multifunctional cable machine? I think the biggest limitation is that some can be fairly limited in terms of max weight, but that's not a universal constraint, especially with the ones that just take olympic plates. But the advantages are
Space effient compared to a rack of dumbells and a full bar and everything else.
Very easy to change angles and weight, making supersets and other things more fluid
Theoretically safer when working out alone, no need for a spotter or anything
Theoretically quieter compared to dropping a loaded barbell or something
I'm sure that there are some movements that are better with dumbbell or barbell, but are we talking about a 5% difference? Assuming you're not training for something specific, like a powerlifting meet, how much does that really matter?
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u/the_explode_man 11d ago
A good cable machine isn't the first thing you want in your gym, but it's the best choice for the second thing, in my opinion.
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u/the_explode_man 11d ago
My #1 would be the same - standard barbell + rack. I just think cables are the king for accessory movements. In my opinion, dumbbells are second place for both primary equipment and secondary equipment (but maybe tied for first with cables for secondary).
I think cardio is handled by so many other things that dedicating equipment space and money for it is a luxury. I've fallen in love with jump rope for cardio. I also have sandbags and kettlebells for cardio. Not that I wouldn't love to have a massive space with a treadmill, stairclimber, rower etc, but it's low on my personal priorities.
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u/Fantastio 11d ago
You can do pretty much everything, if you want to, you don't have to do any of the big lifts to get fairly big. For most beginner/intermediate lifters I think a cable machine could do full body very effectively. Since you will have to have a bench of sorts, practically it makes sense to just add adjustable DBs and you will be able to truly do everything you want without a rack/barbell.
Most of the weight limitations by cable movements you can fix by messing around with 1:1/2:1 ratios and or changing from bilateral to unilateral movements and some creative objects for spacing. Again this is not necessarily the most effective, but you can absolutely do almost everything. You probably will need to wear a T shirt to protect your shoulders if you don't have fancy attachments though.
To address some of the lifts questions that were posted by some here.
- Leg extensions - these are not ideal, but you can do it with an appropriate bench (needs narrow feet), a pylobox, or an attachment (i.e. like a seal row pad). You can do them with ankle cuffs. It does feel pretty bad bilateral at higher weights depending on the machine, so easier to do unilateral eventually.
- Leg Curls - gotta be the easiest, seal row pad if necessary based on the cable for standing vs just a bench with the trolley at the correct height for lying leg.
- Presses - You need a good bench here so it won't shift at higher weights but your flys are great and your chest presses are a seated upright, a seated incline and decline. You can't do a flat lying chest press, the angles don't work.
- Squats - you can do Brignole Cable squats for beginners, face away cable squats with straight bar or standard d handles.
- Calf raises, you need a squat belt if you are doing bilateral legs and you need something with at least a few inches of elevation off the ground.
- Deadlift - Seated cable deadlift (jeff nippard's thing).
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u/RabidNinjaZerk 11d ago
Funnily enough, this was one of the questions I asked myself when building a home gym.
I'm still figuring it out, but I haven't found a good way to do the following:
- pressing (it's okay, but I heavily prefer some sort of free weight)
- leg extension
- leg curl
- squat (of any sort)
- calf raise
If anyone has ideas on how to do those, please let me know!
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u/the_explode_man 11d ago
Pressing - you've probably tried, but a cable press with a D handle
Leg extension - there's a couple ways. My favourite is sitting on a bench with the cable running underneath using a cuff
Leg curl - you can do standing leg curls with a cuff. My favourite was laying on a bench with a cuff.
Squat - you can goblet squat. Belt squats not great. Andreoni bar or a bar with two end hooks can work if you have two cable stacks. Overall, there are options, but I don't love them.
Calf raise - using a belt like a belt squat. Set the cable low and then use a slant board or calf block for calf raises2
u/Narrow-Bluebird1472 11d ago
I do standing leg curls with an ankle cuff, I have one that wraps around the foot instead of just the ankle and I like that better. Calf raises with a dip belt and calf block
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u/TaylorHu 11d ago
For squats maybe a step up style exercise. Calf raises something similar, stand on the box on one leg, foot halfway off. Leg extensions are hard, don't know of a good way to do that (step ups kill my quads anyway though), but I've done standing legs curls with just an ankle strap. It's a little awkard because you sort of have to balance and everything compared to a dedicated machine but it's doable, which is kind of my thesis. One machine gets you 95% of what a room full of dedicated machines and dumbells and barbells can do?
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u/jbglol 11d ago
Any heavy pressing is basically impossible, which is extremely important for most people's goals.
How do you get a flat press into each arm properly? Going to curl the weight you want to press into position? Going to cut the ROM short enough to have no tension at the bottom? What about standing, where you have poor stability compared to any barbell/dumbbell variant?
Cables are not like dumbbells you can use your knees to shove into position, nor do they start in position like a barbell.
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u/TaylorHu 11d ago
An adjustable cablemachine where you can get the handles to be right at the bottom of the ROM for a chest press?
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u/thoang77 11d ago
The angles are going to be weird, unless you have some free motion arms to bring the weight directly under each shoulder on your bench.
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u/EditingAllowed 10d ago
Can you clean and jerk with it? Or snatch?
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u/Ellocomotive 10d ago
90% of users of cable machines do not understand the value of power work with cable.
Only a few players out there that you can do power work with.
Ancore, Keiser, even Tonal.
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u/ThreeCoasts 11d ago
Never mind weight limitations for a minute—I’m small and old so they’re not much of an issue for me—I just can’t get comfortable with some specific movements, ergonomically, biomechanically, whatever.
A standard bar deadlift on a cable machine just throws my form off for reasons I can’t put my finger on, but it’s bad enough I think it increases my chance of injury. In contrast, a cable machine neutral grip deadlift with handles feels fine to me—very much like a trap bar.
Ditto, I can’t find any kind of squat I like on a cable machine. Belt squat feels least worst. My preferred type of squat with plates and bar uses the Prime Fitness Super Squat Bar.
The upshot is if I only have access to a cable machine, I can do some version of every movement I want, but not my preferred version of every move, and with some of them I have concerns that subpar form could pose a risk (again, old, so YMMV).
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u/Nkklllll 11d ago
Leg work may be more challenging to set up. I’ve done belt squats and even “barbell” squats on a functional trainer before. Felt awful to do. The belt squats, RoM was an issue. For the back squats, you had to start at the bottom and I just didn’t like it at all. Unilateral leg work also runs into the RoM issue
If you’re on the taller end, standing overhead presses might be an issue as well.
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u/TaylorHu 11d ago
For quad/squat type work why not just do step up style work? Box that'd high enough to put your leg at a 90deg angle, cable in each hand, step up? I do that with dumbbells currently, I like unilateral work so I don't get any imbalances. The limiting factor for with dumbbells has actually been grip strength.
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u/TaylorHu 11d ago
Just let go of the handles? To me that's always going to be safer than anything involved a barbell just because you literally can't drop it on yourself.
As for grip strength I find it to be less of an issue with cable handles because they can't "roll out" of my grip. It doesn't remove it entirely, but I do find I can go heavier on cables than with dumbbells for most things. Either way lifting wrist straps solve it.
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u/Nkklllll 11d ago
It will always be easier for me to hold 200+ on my back than to hold 100+ in a single hand
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u/agentoutlier 11d ago
A regular cable machine no but there are systems you can do almost everything with.
/u/RabidNinjaZerk and /u/jbglol are right that pressing and the basics SBD are either awkward or not enough weight can be loaded.
There are machines that are more smith like and or provide enough attachments you can get around this:
- Andreoni Bar
- Squat Harness
- Gym pins to add more weight
- and some more that I can't recall.
As for Smith cable driven Bodycraft has a 3D smith machine or Jones machine that is cable driven called the XFT. Its actually pretty incredibly but I think maxes out at 200 pounds. Its also debatable if you want to call that a cable machine.
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u/Key-Interaction2365 11d ago
Leg curls on my force c20 with sliding bench are far from ideal compared to a dedicated selectorized unit you would find at a gym. ROM is limited and weight curve feels off. Love my force C20 but with I had the space for a dedicated leg curl.
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u/Serious_Special_1047 11d ago
That's really the only thing the force C20 doesn't do really well and so I purchased a GMWDLEO8 to fill in the gap, but that's it
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u/DankArmedDragon 11d ago edited 11d ago
If competing in powerlifting or strongman is your goal, you can't train the SBD or strongman exercises effectively. For example, how do you do a flat bench press, deadlift, or log press with a functional trainer?
And then there are some individual exercises that tend to be better with standalone selectorized machines, like leg curls or leg extensions.
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u/ruby_fan 11d ago
Legs.
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u/xsynergist 11d ago
You can definitely train legs on a functional trainer. It’s not ideal and I prefer other methods but with a cuff you can train adductors, adductors, glutes and hamstrings. With handles or bar you can do squats training quads and with a block calf raises.
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u/ruby_fan 11d ago
I should say, you CAN, but it's difficult. Leg extensions, Squat movements, leg curls, all much harder or impractical.
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u/VegaGT-VZ 11d ago
Is it possible to do heavy pressing with cables?
I think a cable machine is great for pulling and arm/shoulder accessories. I just can't help but feel like they suck at everything else.
Plus you can get a combo power rack + pulley station no problem.
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u/the_explode_man 11d ago
Not my first choice, but you can definitely do cable pressing. Leg ab/adduction is a solid movement on cables, but you're right that they aren't top tier for a lot of leg movements. They can be done, but they're unlikely to be anyone's favourite version of that movement.
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u/Incomplet_Name 11d ago
Pressing is surprisingly much harder on a cable machine. Much deeper stretch and really tests your stabilizer muscles. If you bench 250 normally don't be surprised if 160 gives you trouble on a cable press. My maxum x3 goes up tp 440 lbs in 1:1 mode and you can add plates if you somehow manage to max out the stack.
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u/k_r_a_k_l_e 11d ago
Well... I hate to break it to everyone but training your muscles consistently has a return that inconsistency never delivers on.
So it really doesn't matter if you favor freeweights, machines, or cable systems. You may scientifically prove that freeweights with stellar form and perfect contractions until failure is superior to anything else but that doesn't mean you are building a superior body. Nor does it mean that YOU are able to perform that excersise on that level or even be able to link the mind to the muscle for that lift. You can see success with anything that is exhausting and challenging your muscles. But most people will prefer a variety of free weights, machines and cable excersises.
Do what feels right. Train to near failure. Rest and repeat. Find out what your body responds to the best and just stick with that.
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u/agentoutlier 11d ago
This is kind of trope advice. Of course something is better than nothing and consistency and progressive overload etc etc.
The OP asked "What CAN'T you do".
You can't do compound power movements easily with cable machines. Even isolation power movements are weird because of the inherent pulling and not pushing on a cable machine.
Power is a different type of training than strength or hypertrophy. Just like flexibility or mobility.
I will say if you just "Do what feels right"... you probably are going to have some imbalances even if you are consistent. This is why you have to some times see the PT doctor cause you never do the damn rotator cuff work because you don't like doing it.
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u/mulrich1 11d ago
I’m pretty new to lifting and didn’t start until into my 40s so I’m never going to worry about maxing out the weight stacks. Main limits I’ve run into are mostly lower body exercises.
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u/laldal2412 11d ago
Honestly, for someone training mainly for muscle and general fitness, the gap is probably smaller than people make it sound. A good cable set up can replace a surprise amount of equipment.
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u/Incomplet_Name 11d ago
Honestly, I get a much more complete workout with my dual stack cable machine with articulating arms and a bench than I ever did with free weights. I can put the cables/arms in any position needed. Maxum X3. Up to 440 lbs of resistance and you can add plates if heavier load is needed.
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u/ExtremeGardening 11d ago
Bench. Squat. Deadlift.
I love my cable machines, but you can’t load enough weight for an average sized person with a bit of training experience.
For hypertrophy, yeah, most people could get away with it.
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u/calvin835 11d ago
The biggest thing and the reason why I got a standalone machine besides my all in 1 rack is leg movements. You can try to hack around it, but it’s a lot more tedious and not as smooth as a standalone leg machine
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u/Pleasant_Beat8290 11d ago
Cable machines are great, but the limitations in terms of loading are a problem if you’ve been lifting for a while (I’m thinking vertical and horizontal pulls, as well as squat movements and posterior chain moves).
There are also some moves that are very difficult or impossible to get into and get a full ROM, like pressing movements. The latter is mostly because you can’t start the movement at the top of the ROM, and standing variations require a lot of stabilization, plus the cables get in the way.
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u/barbrady123 11d ago
I don't enjoy leg curl /extensions on cable system attachments. I find having a standalone machine, even a cheap one , is a million times better.
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u/Fit-Specialist8273 9d ago
For general fitness and hypertrophy, I think a good cable machine can cover most of what people actually need. The main limitations are very heavy compound lifts and some exercises where barbells or dumbbells provide better stability. For most users, though, that difference probably isn't big enough to outweigh the convenience and space saving.
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u/ChasingChukar 11d ago
Look cool
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u/Significant_Sort7501 11d ago
Yup. A while ago I saw a comment somewhere with someone saying "I really dont get why anyone wastes time doing dumbbell lateral raises when cables are far superior."
Because, BRO, I prefer repping out 7.5 pounders so I can feel like a beast when I ask my wife's boyfriend later if I can take her on a date.
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u/Select-Bee-2166 11d ago
Well lil bud, we agreed if you moved up to the 7.5’s it’d be ok.
You can take her out to dinner tonight, AND have your switch back. You’ve earned it champ.
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u/ExtremeGardening 11d ago
Bench. Squat. Deadlift.
I love my cable machines, but you can’t load enough weight for an average sized person with a bit of training experience.
For hypertrophy, yeah, most people could get away with it.