Cable Cross-over Progress Lacking

Wookinpanub

I love doing the cable cross as part of my chest workout. I have never had great pecs, especially upper chest. I do the "ladder" routine. Start low for upper chest then middle then high. Over the last couple months I have really been able to increase weight and reps with the middle and high settings but have really struggled with the low setting, again working my upper chest area. I realize it is the most difficult setting but I am just not seeing much progress. Any hints to get over the hump? Should I just do the low setting for a while?

Sam_I_Am77

What are your training goals? How are you programming the CCO, sets, reps, tempo, rest-periods?

acpgee

I think cables are fun but the movement is so complex I would think you could better target pecs using dumbell bench at incline/decline.

acpgee

I remember seeing advanced body builders in my old gym doing one sided cable cross overs from the lower position for upper inner pecs. This was for striation and cleavage. They would hold onto an upright for balance, and crossover the free arm from elbow around belly button to elbow opposite shoulder.

Sam_I_Am77

Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »

What are your training goals? How are you programming the CCO, sets, reps, tempo, rest-periods?

^^

Wookinpanub

I am self taught novice lifter. My goal is to have a nice chest for a 43 y/o to look good in a tee shirt or at the beach. I hit my chest twice a week with CCO and barbell flat bench, but in the past few months have done dumbbell inclines or barbell inclines instead of the flat bench. I do one ladder routine with the CCO (struggle to get 7 reps on the low setting) but can easily do 10 reps on the mid and high settings. I will then do a back lift, then flat bench - 3 to 4 sets of 5-8 reps. I really just eyeball my rest periods to around a minute.

Sam_I_Am77

Wookinpanub wrote: »

I am self taught novice lifter. My goal is to have a nice chest for a 43 y/o to look good in a tee shirt or at the beach. I hit my chest twice a week with CCO and barbell flat bench, but in the past few months have done dumbbell inclines or barbell inclines instead of the flat bench. I do one ladder routine with the CCO (struggle to get 7 reps on the low setting) but can easily do 10 reps on the mid and high settings. I will then do a back lift, then flat bench - 3 to 4 sets of 5-8 reps. I really just eyeball my rest periods to around a minute.

Remember that appearance of a muscle is largely affected by body-fat and to have a bodypart look better, that bodyfat must first be reduced. Everybody has a six-pack for instance, some are just protected by fat.

With the CCO whether it's low to mid or high to low, drop the weight to something where you can focus more on the tempo. Perhaps first start by using a light weight that you can do for 12-20 reps with a 4/2/1 (4-sec eccentric / 2-sec hold at peak / 1-sec concentric). When you can do that then increase the weight a little. Once you feel more confident with the exercise perhaps you can increase the weight more, reduce the reps to 6 to 12 and change the tempo to 2/0/2.