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Face Pull

Shoulders ['Rear Deltoids', 'Rhomboids', 'External Rotators', 'Traps']

The face pull is a shoulders movement that works the ['rear deltoids', 'rhomboids', 'external rotators', 'traps']. Two things decide whether it produces results: the load relative to your one-rep maximum, and the number of hard sets per week. For strength, three to five sets of one to five repetitions at 85 per cent or more of your one-rep max is the classic prescription; for muscle size, three to four sets of six to twelve repetitions at 65 to 80 per cent, taken close to failure; for endurance, two to three sets of fifteen or more at under 65 per cent. Ten to twenty hard sets per muscle group per week is the range most training research converges on, and progression comes from adding a little weight or a repetition rather than from changing the exercise. The calculator below estimates your one-rep max from a set you have actually completed, which is the number every percentage above refers to.

Face Pull 1RM Calculator

Estimate your one-rep max

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Face Pull Strength Standards (kg)

Body Weight Beginner Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
120 kg 25 40 55 75 95
130 kg 25 40 55 80 100
140 kg 25 45 60 80 100
150 kg 30 45 60 85 105
160 kg 30 45 65 85 110
170 kg 30 45 65 90 110
180 kg 30 50 65 90 115
190 kg 30 50 70 95 120
200 kg 30 50 70 95 120
210 kg 35 55 75 100 125
220 kg 35 55 75 100 130

How to Perform the Face Pull

Set a cable pulley to upper chest or face height with a rope attachment. Grasp the rope with both hands using a neutral grip and step back to create tension. Pull the rope toward your face by driving your elbows back and out, separating the ends of the rope as they approach your ears. At the peak contraction, your upper arms should be parallel to the floor with your hands near your temples. Squeeze for a moment, then slowly return to the starting position.

Muscle Activation

The face pull targets the posterior deltoids, rhomboids, and middle trapezius as primary movers. The infraspinatus and teres minor, key external rotators of the shoulder, are heavily engaged during the separation phase at the end of the pull. This makes the face pull one of the best exercises for improving shoulder health and counteracting the internal rotation caused by excessive pressing and desk work.

Common Mistakes

  • Using too much weight, which causes the lower back to arch and the body to lean forward.
  • Pulling the rope to the chest instead of the face, turning the exercise into a cable row.
  • Not externally rotating the shoulders at the end of the movement, missing the rotator cuff benefit.
  • Allowing the elbows to drop below shoulder height during the pull.

Variations

Band face pulls are a portable alternative that can be done anywhere. Prone face pulls on an incline bench eliminate body momentum. High-to-low face pulls from a high cable position target a slightly different angle. Single-arm face pulls improve unilateral rear delt development.

Programming Tips

Include face pulls in every upper body session or as a daily warmup exercise. Perform 3-4 sets of 15-25 reps with light to moderate weight, focusing on the squeeze and external rotation. This is a health and prehab exercise, not a strength exercise, so keep the weight light and the reps high.

Frequently Asked Questions

Face pulls strengthen the rear deltoids and external rotators, which are often neglected. This helps prevent shoulder injuries, improves posture, and balances out heavy pressing movements. In practice, the face pull loads the rear deltoids, rhomboids, external rotators and needs cable machine; an intermediate lifter of average bodyweight handles about 65 lbs, so judge your own numbers against that rather than against a gym record.
Face pulls can and should be done frequently, ideally every upper body session or even daily as a warmup. They generate minimal fatigue and provide significant shoulder health benefits. In practice, the face pull loads the rear deltoids, rhomboids, external rotators and needs cable machine; an intermediate lifter of average bodyweight handles about 65 lbs, so judge your own numbers against that rather than against a gym record.
Start light, around 15-30 lbs on the cable. The focus should be on feeling the rear delts and external rotators work. If you cannot maintain strict form, the weight is too heavy. In practice, the face pull loads the rear deltoids, rhomboids, external rotators and needs cable machine; an intermediate lifter of average bodyweight handles about 65 lbs, so judge your own numbers against that rather than against a gym record.
Face pulls are one of the best exercises for improving posture and correcting rounded shoulders when combined with stretching the chest and strengthening the entire upper back. In practice, the face pull loads the rear deltoids, rhomboids, external rotators and needs cable machine; an intermediate lifter of average bodyweight handles about 65 lbs, so judge your own numbers against that rather than against a gym record.

Related Exercises

Overhead Press

['Anterior Deltoids', 'Lateral Deltoids', 'Triceps', 'Upper Chest']

Lateral Raise

['Lateral Deltoids', 'Anterior Deltoids', 'Traps']

Arnold Press

['Anterior Deltoids', 'Lateral Deltoids', 'Triceps']

Progressing on the face pull

Progression on a cable machine movement for the shoulders follows the same logic whatever the exercise: add a little load or one repetition once the last set stops being hard, and change nothing else. A machine or cable stack usually moves in fixed increments, and the pin position is only part of the load: seat height and handle position change the leverage enough that the same pin can be easier or harder. Note the settings alongside the weight.

Stalling is normal and usually means one of three things: total weekly volume for the shoulders has drifted too low, recovery is short because sleep or calories are, or the load has been pushed while form quietly deteriorated. Filming a set from the side settles the third question faster than any cue. Ten to twenty hard sets per muscle group per week is the range most training research converges on, and a stall at the bottom of that range is a volume problem rather than a programme problem.

Common mistakes on shoulders work

Shoulder work is the easiest to overload and the slowest to recover. Pressing with the lower back arched to move a heavier weight turns a shoulder exercise into a standing incline press; bracing the abdomen and squeezing the glutes keeps the load where it belongs.

Where the face pull fits in a week depends on how demanding it is rather than on the muscle it trains. A movement using a cable machine across the shoulders is best placed while you are fresh if it is heavy and technical, and late in the session if it is a single joint. Two sessions a week touching the same muscle group beat one for most people, because protein synthesis after a session returns to baseline within about forty-eight hours, and a muscle trained once a week spends five of those days doing nothing.

Across all of them, the same two rules apply. Warm up with the movement itself at progressively heavier loads rather than with general cardio, and leave one repetition in reserve on all but the last set: training to failure on every set raises fatigue considerably without adding much to the result.