Cable Seated Horizontal Shrug

How to do the Cable Seated Horizontal Shrug

1. 1Set the cable pulley to about chest or shoulder height and attach a handle or rope. Sit on a bench facing the stack with your feet planted and torso upright.
2. 2Reach forward and grip the attachment with both hands, arms extended straight out in front of you at roughly shoulder height.
3. 3Sit tall with a neutral spine and brace your core, letting the weight gently draw your shoulder blades forward into a slight protraction.
4. 4Keeping your arms straight, pull your shoulder blades back and together, squeezing them toward your spine without bending your elbows.
5. 5Pause briefly at full retraction, feeling the contraction across your mid-back between the shoulder blades.
6. 6Slowly release and let your shoulder blades travel forward under control until you feel a stretch across your upper back.
7. 7Complete your reps, then return the handle to the stack with control and let the weight settle.

Form tips

• Drive the movement from your shoulder blades, not your arms — your elbows should stay straight so the traps and rhomboids do the work.
• Keep your torso upright and still; avoid rocking backward to swing the weight in.
• Use a slow, controlled tempo and a full pause at peak retraction to maximize the squeeze in the mid-back.
• Keep your neck relaxed and shoulders down, away from your ears, to bias the mid and lower traps over the upper traps.

Common mistakes

• Bending the elbows to turn the movement into a row, which shifts the load to the lats and biceps instead of isolating the scapular retractors.
• Leaning back to heave the weight, which uses momentum and removes tension from the traps and rhomboids.
• Shrugging the shoulders up toward the ears instead of pulling them back, which overloads the upper traps and strains the neck.
• Using too much weight and cutting the range short, so the shoulder blades never fully retract or stretch.

Frequently asked questions