Best Legs Workouts With Cable Machines

Cable machines offer a versatile method to enhance lower body strength effectively. They allow for adjustable resistance directions and interchangeable handles, enabling precise muscle group targeting. The major muscles in the legs include glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, adductors, and abductors, often engaged together in compound exercises. Common selections like squats, deadlifts, and lunges effectively stimulate these groups. Adjusting repetitions and weights considering individual capacity and goals is essential for balanced muscle development. Integrating cable machines into your routine can refine your lower body workout strategy.

If you have access to a cable machine, you may wonder what exercises you can do to target your legs.

As a strength coach, I can teach you which leg exercises with cables are worth performing and which are a waste of time.

I’ll explain each exercise to help you perform them correctly and provide a sample leg day you can start implementing today.

Anatomy Of Leg Muscles

The main muscle groups of the legs that you should focus on when building leg muscle are the hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, and calves.

Hamstrings

The hamstrings run along the backside of the legs, above the knee, and below the hips. They are responsible for bending the knee (flexion) and straightening (extending) the hips.

Training the hamstrings is usually done by adding a movement that requires hip extension, like a Romanian deadlift or good morning, and another exercise that works the hamstring at the knee joint, like a leg curl.

Quadriceps

The quads run along the front of the thighs and straighten (extending) the knees after they bend.

Targeting the quads is usually done by including movements that have the knees bend to their fullest amount, such as deep squats, lunges, step-ups, and even leg extensions.

Glutes

The glutes cover the back of the hips. These powerful muscles (gluteus medius, minimus, and maximus) extend the hips and stabilize the pelvis during most movements.

Training these muscles can be done by lifting the legs outwards away from the body (train the gluteus minimus), as well as bending and extending the hips (trains the gluteus maximus and medius), such as during Romanian deadlifts, good mornings, lunges, deep squats, step-ups, and hip thrusts.

Calves

The calves are the muscles on the back of the lower leg, below the knee. They are responsible for the ankle joint's plantar flexing (pointing the toes down) and are active in most movements (walking, running, jumping, and lifting).

You can train the calves using standing or seated calf raise exercises.

Benefits Of Cable Leg Exercises

Below are three benefits of performing leg exercises with cables.

Offers Variety Within Your Training

If you struggle to stay motivated and find doing the same old workouts boring (and, therefore, you skip workouts), you can add a cable exercise here and there to spice up your training sessions.

That said, sacrificing a more effective movement for something “new or fun” is not the best idea for muscle or strength improvements; For example, trading barbell back squats for cable squats.

However, if it’s a decision between skipping the workout entirely (i.e., movement restrictions, injuries, etc.) or doing some new exercise, choose the new movements.

Ideally, you should do 80% of your leg training using free weights and machines, with compound exercises like squats, Romanian deadlifts, and lunge variations. The other 20% of your training time can include cables or isolation machines.

May Help Establish Better Movement Coordination

Cables help lifters execute proper movement patterns when lifting by providing constant tension. This guidance can establish better movement coordination and confidence with specific exercises.

For example, a cable RDL may be helpful for lifters who struggle to do normal RDLs, as the cables pull the weight downwards and provide a visual representation of the weight's path.

Beginners who struggle to grasp proper movement patterns would benefit from cable variations of compound movements (e.g., squat and deadlift) and exercises that require balance and coordination (e.g., single-leg exercises). There is more room for error when training with free weights.

Progress Loads If You Don’t Have Access to Free Weights or Leg Machines

Suppose you find yourself in a situation where you ONLY have access to a cable machine. In that case, the cables will at least offer you the ability to add external load to lower body movements.

Constant Tension on the Muscle

Assuming you control the cable during the lower phases and do not rely on momentum, you can take advantage of one of the biggest benefits of cables.

Cables allow you to keep constant tension on the muscles, which means you will not allow the muscle fibers to relax or take a break during the movement. This ramps up the time under tension, a potent muscle builder.

Are Cables Better Than Free Weights and Machines for Leg Exercises?

Cables are by no means better than machines or free weights, so I don’t recommend that you replace your machine and free-weight exercises with cable exercises.

The only situations where cables might be more beneficial than free weights and machines are when you’re struggling to isolate a particular muscle group or unable to perform the movement pattern with free weights.

However, when it comes to getting stronger and building muscle, cables are no match for free weight and machine exercises.

Researchers found that instability exercises had lower force outputs than more stable variations, which may harm absolute strength gains when resistance training. Machines and free weights allow you to set yourself in a more stable position, producing more force through the muscle (because your setup, odd angles, or movement instability do not limit you).

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Cables Good For Leg Training?

No, they are not the best tool for leg training. Barbells, dumbbells, and leg machines are far more efficient and effective. Cables can be challenging to set up, hard to load with heavier loads, and can limit the overall intensity at which you can push a muscle. That said, they are better than doing no leg exercise.

Can You Build Bigger Legs Using Only Cables?

If your only option is to use cables for your legs and you are a beginner who has never trained them, then yes. However, growing bigger legs using cables will be challenging if you are a stronger, more advanced lifter.