Cable Pull-Through
The cable pull-through is a hip hinge where you face away from a low pulley and pull a rope through your legs by driving your hips forward. It trains the glutes and hamstrings, with the lower back stabilising. Use it to learn the hinge pattern or to add hip extension volume with far less spinal loading than deadlifts.
Muscles worked
The cable pull-through trains the glutes and hamstrings, with lower back helping.
Primary
Helpers
- Lower Back
Weekly sets for glutes
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for glutes, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the cable pull-through
- 01Set the pulley at the lowest position and attach a rope.
- 02Stand facing away from the stack, reach between your legs and grab the rope with both hands.
- 03Walk forward until the weight lifts, then take a stance slightly wider than shoulder width.
- 04Push your hips back with soft knees and a flat back, letting the rope travel between your legs.
- 05Drive your hips forward until you stand tall, squeezing your glutes hard at the top.
Coaching cues
- Hips back like closing a car door
- Arms are ropes, hips do the work
- Stand tall and squeeze your glutes
Common mistakes
- Squatting down instead of hinging moves the work to your quads, so push your hips back with only a slight knee bend.
- Pulling the rope up with your arms cheats the hips, so keep your arms long and let your hips move it.
- Leaning back at lockout arches the lower back, so finish with your ribs stacked over your hips.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers compound lifts toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Cable Pull-Through alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
- Dumbbell Romanian DeadliftDumbbell, hamstrings, glutes
- Glute Ham RaiseMachine, hamstrings, glutes
- Cable Romanian DeadliftCable, hamstrings, glutes
- Barbell DeadliftBarbell, back, glutes, hamstrings
- Barbell Romanian DeadliftBarbell, hamstrings, glutes
- Kettlebell SwingKettlebell, band and specialty bar, glutes, hamstrings
Free programs that use it
Ready-made splits from the Swole.fit library. Pick one and the app runs the progression.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your cable pull-through free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.