Stirrup Handles
If you haven't already guessed, I spend a lot of time at the gym. From the amount of attention the cable machine gets, I can fathom a guess that one of the most popular exercises is cable crossovers.
To perform cable crossovers, stirrup handle attachments are used. These were named for their resemblance to stirrups used for riding horses. These heavy-duty metal cable attachments are mostly used for doing cable crossover exercises.
Cable-crossover exercises are very beneficial to those who do martial arts, as they focus on the muscle in the chest used for pushing and hitting. The cable crossover motion can also strengthen your pecs for performing on thee uneven bars and vault in gymnastics as well as for batting, teeing off in golf and hitting and swinging a tennis racquet.
To perform cable crossover exercises:
- Attach stirrup handles to the high-cable pulleys.
- Grip the handles with your palms down and center yourself between the weight stacks.
- Standing erect at the center of the machine, lean forward slightly.
- Extend your arms out to your sides. Your knees and elbows should be slightly bent.
- Inhale and sweep the cables in a wide arc across your mid-body, as if you're hugging a tree, until your hands touch or cross. Keep a slight bend in your elbows to better isolate your chest and keep your wrists straight.
- Pause to feel the squeeze in your pectoral muscles as you exhale, then allow the weights to pull your arms back to the starting position.
- Repeat.
Cable crossovers target the pectoralis major (the large fan-shaped muscle that run across your lower chest) and the pecs minor (the muscle that bridges your chest and your shoulder). I know that when I first performed cable crossovers I was surprised at how hard they hit my chest. When you perform this exercise you'll feel the squeeze in your pecs major as you pull the cables down, while you'll feel the squeeze in your pecs minor as you sweep your hands together.
