I am a home gymmer and I have a lot of equipment, but no cables. I have a barbell, squat rack, dumbbells up to 75 lbs, bench, leg extension, leg curls, hyperextension bench, pull up bar, treadmill, ex bike, etc... anyway, I really like cable crossovers and was wondering an alternative exercise I could do for similar results.
Before anyone suggests buying or making a cable machine, that's not an option because my gym is jam packed.
The only thing I can think of is maybe sitting on an incline with dumbbells and crossing them over..?
Any suggestions would be great, also lat pulldown alternatives if anyone has some... (currently doing barbell/dumbbell rows, assisted pull ups)
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Thread: Cable Crossover Alternative?
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04-03-2008, 04:38 AM #1
Cable Crossover Alternative?
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04-03-2008, 04:55 AM #2
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04-03-2008, 05:09 AM #3
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04-03-2008, 05:15 AM #4
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04-03-2008, 06:12 AM #5
Dumbbell flies are not going to wholly duplicate what you get from doing cable crossovers. When you do flies, you lose tension when your arms are straight in front of you. This is different from doing crossovers, where the tension remains present even as you bring your arms further together, even crossing them over each other, thus the name 'crossover'.
Simulating it with a freeweight is tricky. I have thought of a way to do it but only one-arm at a time, because if you had to lay with your chest on a bench it'd be weird since your chest isn't compressed when you do pulley crossovers.
You need 1 dumbbell, and a floor. Assume the top of a pushup position with your arms locked out. Shift your weight onto 1 arm, and raise the other one. Pick up the dumbbell. Now, move the dumbbell towards your other arm as much as possible.
You won't be able to do this very much, when the fibrils overlap too much they get really weak.
I would recommend when you can't go up any further with a straight arm to bend it as much as you need to do keep the dumbbell moving. You might even work your bicep a bit.
This movement, when combined with doing dumbbell flies, will probably help better emulate the stresses you put on the pec when you do cable crossovers, moreso than doing only 1 of them.
I guess when you are doing this if balance is tough then you could bring one of your legs forward in a lunge to help support the arm you have on the ground, just as long as it doesn't interfere with the working arm and you maintain a prone position relative to the ground.
If anyone has any trouble understanding what I'm describing please say so.
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04-03-2008, 06:26 AM #6
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04-03-2008, 07:29 AM #7
How does that work chest? That's what the OP is looking for - not back.
OP - There is no real substitute for cable crossover flys. You can only approximate the motion in a half ass way with dumbbells because cable crossovers give constant tension through a wide ROM on the pecs while dumbbell flys only stress them in a very limited ROM. Experiment with your dumbbells and find a ROM which hits your pecs while not stressing the shoulder too much. Everyone is a little different.
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04-03-2008, 08:40 AM #8
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04-03-2008, 08:45 AM #9
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04-03-2008, 01:52 PM #10
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04-03-2008, 06:46 PM #11
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04-03-2008, 07:13 PM #12
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11-12-2010, 12:20 PM #13
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11-12-2010, 12:44 PM #14
- Join Date: Jun 2010
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its really not gonna happen, need cables....cant do it with DBs cause they too big and you can go heavy with crossovers easily. the only thing id recomend as a close-to/quick fix is turning wrist inward completely as you approach top of lift. (if you ghost this movement in the mirror, you will see the additional muscle activation by doing this). it will provide a fuller squeeze and does help inside chest somewhat. however, it is not a sub for cable crossovers.
on the other hand you could get some rubbers bands and do it with those....
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02-05-2011, 09:59 PM #15
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02-05-2011, 11:37 PM #16
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04-10-2011, 01:43 PM #17
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04-10-2011, 01:44 PM #18
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04-10-2011, 01:51 PM #19
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04-10-2011, 03:35 PM #20
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07-04-2011, 01:16 PM #21
cable crossover alternative
there is an exercise which is an alt to cable crossovers. you take a set of light dumbbells a hold them over head as if you were doing a flyes. you perform a flye but when you come up you cross your arms as much as you can feeling a squeeze. it is a good alt to cable crossovers. you can find this exercise in bill pearls keys to the inner universe the bible for bodybuilding.
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09-27-2011, 08:05 PM #22
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02-03-2014, 10:32 AM #23
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02-04-2014, 06:24 PM #24
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06-19-2016, 01:24 PM #25
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