How to do it
- Face away from a low-to-mid pulley with a rope, hands overhead behind your head.
- Extend the arms fully forward and up while keeping the elbows pointing ahead.
- Lower slowly until you feel a deep stretch behind the arm.
Cues that matter
- Overhead is the only position that fully stretches the long head — do not skip it.
- Keep the ribs down and the core braced.
Common mistakes
- Letting the elbows flare wide, which turns it into a press.
- Cutting the stretch short at the bottom.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Triceps
- Long head
Also works
- Lateral head
Sets and reps
What to do with it depends on what you are training for. These are the ranges MuscleMap uses when it puts Overhead Cable Extension in a session, with 75 seconds between sets.
- Strength
- 6–8 reps
- Build muscle
- 10–15 reps
- Endurance
- 15–25 reps
Same muscle, different kit
Movements that train the same part of the triceps with different equipment — for a day the cable is taken, or a gym that does not have one.