What are the pros/cons of each, and/or is one better than the other for chest development?
What about the position of the pulleys? Should they be higher than the shoulders or about even…lower?
Thanks in advance,
-I
it’s not a bench press if you are standing (no bench).
i think i know what you mean and i would say that in terms of planes and movements, crossovers: flies as standing cable press: bench.
Why cant I see the response?..nevermind 
Can someone also explain to me the purpose of the cable chest press?
Maybe I’m wrong, but I dont see a strong bodybuilder or athlete being able to keep their body upright enough to perform them properly, so what would be the point?
Correct me if I’m wrong, pros… I actually never did them until I added them to my new workout on Monday.
From what I read in an article here somewhere, which of course I can’t find again, the standing cables presses (and crossovers) do a better job at isolating the pecs than a bench press because you get more range of motion out of them.
Oh god, that article, I knew that would happen.
Depending on how long you’ve been lifting for just stick with the basics and dont worry about silly things yet. (ever)
[quote]Defekt wrote:
Oh god, that article, I knew that would happen.
Depending on how long you’ve been lifting for just stick with the basics and dont worry about silly things yet. (ever)[/quote]
Not sure what this means…
I had a hunch that there would be a couple of newer lifters using the exercise instead of benching, worrying about doing whatever the article said to do, when really they are just going to get confused and need to simply lift shit.
defekt is just dissing cable crossovers because he thinks you got the idea from Waterbury’s new article. God forbid you read a coach’s article on here and implement an idea from it into your routine.
Trashing CW is the new sport for all the “cool kids” around here. He gets bashed for trashing the use of isolation movements then suggests crossovers are good for chest and get bashed some more.
Note, I don’t think CW’s programs are best for BODYBUILDING and am not a CW fanboy.
Cable crossovers can be really useful to isolate and work the pecs. They provide constant tension and work great if done properly. Benching brings in the front delts and tricept a bit more.
Well I’m still benching…so no need to worry there. It’s a question of secondary exercises, really. So…which one is better?
If you are already benching I would say crossovers. I’m assuming your goals are hypertrophy.
[quote]trextacy wrote:
defekt is just dissing cable crossovers because he thinks you got the idea from Waterbury’s new article. God forbid you read a coach’s article on here and implement an idea from it into your routine.
[/quote]
He said he got it from an article, that was the most recent article with mention of that. Why wouldn’t I think that? Yes there are other articles with mention of that, but that was the most recent, and what do you figure, a post about something very similar.
I never said anything negative about CW, the point was that newer lifters shouldn’t worry so much about details, and silly things like that, and CW telling people that cable presses are better than benching will get taken the wrong way.
[quote]Defekt wrote:
trextacy wrote:
defekt is just dissing cable crossovers because he thinks you got the idea from Waterbury’s new article. God forbid you read a coach’s article on here and implement an idea from it into your routine.
He said he got it from an article, that was the most recent article with mention of that. Why wouldn’t I think that? Yes there are other articles with mention of that, but that was the most recent, and what do you figure, a post about something very similar.
I never said anything negative about CW, the point was that newer lifters shouldn’t worry so much about details, and silly things like that, and CW telling people that cable presses are better than benching will get taken the wrong way. [/quote]
Fair enough, but I suspect if you were honest you don’t think too much of CW. If you don’t, it doesn’t bother me at all. FWIW I don’t think a question about auxiliary chest exercises is something a beginner lifter should be discouraged from asking about. I would love to hear what some guys around here (you included) think are best. I for one am not sure DB flies or pullovers work for me-- I feel like the arms do most of the work. I like pec deck and crossovers after about 8 sets of flat and incline bench.
But seriously, it’s not a big deal and I wasn’t trying to flame.
[quote]Defekt wrote:
trextacy wrote:
defekt is just dissing cable crossovers because he thinks you got the idea from Waterbury’s new article. God forbid you read a coach’s article on here and implement an idea from it into your routine.
He said he got it from an article, that was the most recent article with mention of that. Why wouldn’t I think that? Yes there are other articles with mention of that, but that was the most recent, and what do you figure, a post about something very similar.
I never said anything negative about CW, the point was that newer lifters shouldn’t worry so much about details, and silly things like that, and CW telling people that cable presses are better than benching will get taken the wrong way. [/quote]
I still dont understand how anyone can consider it “better”.
Thanks for the responses. To clarify (not the it matters, really) I am not new to lifting. I have been using total body workouts for a really long time, focusing primarily on compound movements…benches, squats, deadlifts, etc, using different rep ranges. Coincidentally, I have been using CW’s TBT for the last 3 months or so, and have made SIGNIFICANT strength gains.
This week I started a push/pull split for size usings Thib’s article as a base. Now maybe I read it somewhere else, but someone somewhere got into a discussion about chest development and the use of the cable press…not as a sub for benching, but as a secondary movement.
I’ve seen people doing crossovers at the gym forever, but never the presses. I did the presses on Monday and thought they felt great, and wondered why more people don’t do them. So that’s why I posed the question, in a nutshell.
I think I’ll stick to the presses for a while unless someone can give me a good reason not to. Besides, I like to be different.
-I
I threw them in today just to test them out, and they felt pretty good as a secondary exercise, almost pre-hab / rehab type of exercise.
My shoulder felt a little beat up after some push presses so I super-setted the cable chest press with one arm face pulls and they felt good.
Worth throwing into the end of the workout to keep / get loose, but by no means do they replace any sort of bench variation.
If you can’t stay upright while doing standing cable chest presses, you could try using a dip-belt to artifically jack up your weight to stay upright better. Try this and report back with results.
Cable Crossovers = Not that great
Cable Chest Press = Total Waste of Time
I’ve been in a situation where the only thing I could work my chest with was a cable life-fitness machine. I have done the standing cable chest press. I am here to say that it is totally worthless and does not allow you to handle enough weight to produce any training effect.
You want to work your chest without getting on a bench or a machine? You want to work your scapular protractors or whatever they’re called. Do some push-ups or some dips.
Cable Crossovers are an isolation exercise for the pec major. You can get a pretty good chest pump doing them and it’s not an exercise that’s guaranteed to injure you as far as I know. If you’ve already done a good deal of pressing and you want a chest pump, have at it.
[quote]Defekt wrote:
… worrying about doing whatever the article said to do, when really they are just going to get confused and need to simply lift shit.[/quote]
Defekt you make a lot of sense here. I like it! 
I’d add “heavy” in there before “shit”…but just “shit” works fine for me. lol ;D
Gerdy
Im going to do cable bench in my plan and yes its because CW said so.
Its not because he said they are better or anything, but his point about how they allow complete scapular protraction and retraction makes a lot of sense to me.
Sure this exercise wont be a big ego booster. When someone asks “how much you bench”, and you say, “I can standing cable press 100lbs” they’ll probably think you are kidding.
But if your training to boost your ego, then go ahead and bench, and make sure to do it with a super wide grip and like 5 boards.(sarcasm)
I understand the pitfalls with the standing press, as you wont be able to use as much weight, because you arent pushing agains a stable surface, but you can still recruit a lot of MU’s with higher speed work.
Also, i imagine you could progress into different versions of blast strap pushups and pushups with a resistance band, to progress to heavier loads if needed.
Bench press is a great exercise, but it has MANY pitfalls, the main being people misuse it in everyway possible.