cable kickback

Cable Kickbacks are a highly effective glute isolation exercise that can significantly benefit women looking to enhance the strength and appearance of their glutes. While traditional kickbacks have their merits, Cable Kickbacks offer a superior way to isolate and target the glutes. Their key advantage lies in the ability to easily add resistance for faster progression.

Here we will delve into the muscles worked, how to perform Cable Kickbacks, benefits, common mistakes to avoid, reps and sets, how to progress this exercise, how and where to fit it into your workout plan and finally other exercises targeting the same muscle groups.

Muscles Worked when Performing Cable Kickbacks

Cable Kickbacks primarily engage the following muscle groups:

Gluteus Maximus: Your glutes are the largest muscle in your body and is the primary muscle activated during Cable Kickbacks. This exercise helps in shaping and strengthening the gluteus for a firmer and more defined rear.

Hamstrings: Your hamstrings are engaged from a secondary perspective with this exercise.

You can use the muscle highlighted image at the top of this page for a visual guide of the muscles worked.

Become an exclusive member and get complete workout plans with video demonstrations of all exercises, plus dedicated online support to help you reach your goals faster. Tell me more >>>

How to Perform Cable Kickbacks

1. Cable Setup: Begin by attaching an ankle cuff to a low-set cable pulley machine and secure it around your ankle. Adjust the weight on the machine to your desired level.

2. Body Positioning: Stand at arm's length away from the cable machine, facing it.

3. Knee and Hip Position: Maintain a slight bend in both your knees and hips. This position ensures you have stability and control during the exercise. Tilt your hips back and up and keep your chest high throughout the movement.

4. Kick Back: Slowly kick your loaded leg back behind you. Focus on squeezing your glute at the top of the movement, fully contracting the muscle.

5. Controlled Return: Lower your leg back to the start position through the same smooth and controlled movement. Go for reps.

6. Switching Legs: After completing the set with one leg, switch to the other side and repeat the exercise.

Benefits of Cable Kickbacks

Targeted Glute Isolation: Cable kickbacks are excellent for isolating the glute muscles, making them a valuable addition to glute-focused workouts.

Progression: The ability to add resistance easily allows for faster progression and muscle development.

Cable Kickbacks: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Sloppy Form: Proper form is essential for maximising the effectiveness of any exercise, and Cable Kickbacks are no exception. Improper form can lead to the unintentional recruitment of other muscle groups which can not only hinder your results, but could also result in an overuse or repetitive strain injury over time.

Focused Muscle Engagement: Concentrate on engaging the target muscle throughout the exercise for optimal results.

Reps and Sets

The number of reps and sets you perform depends on your current strength with this exercise.

Beginners: Start with simply mastering the move. Keep in mind that if you’re just starting out, 3 reps is a valid set.

To determine how many reps/sets of Cable Kickbacks you should start with, you first need to figure out how many reps you can comfortably perform. Then add 2, and perform that number of reps for 3 sets.

For example; let’s say you can perform 4 reps comfortably. Add 2 to make 6 reps. Perform those 6 reps 3 times over, allowing yourself sufficient rest inbetween.

Experienced lifters: You know your body and its abilities better than anyone, use your own judgment.

We recommend that you avoid performing more than 12 reps per set. If you’re comfortably performing 12 reps for up to 6 sets, it’s time to make the exercise more challenging.

How to Make Cable Kickbacks More Challenging

The easiest and fastest way to make this exercise more challenging is by adding weight. Another way to make Cable Kickbacks more challenging is to slow down the move and hold for longer at the top, increasing the time under tension. Or you can slow down one half of the exercise, so kick out at normal speed and come back in at half the speed, or vice versa.

How to Incorporate Cable Kickbacks into Your Workouts

Cable kickbacks belong in your leg or glute focused workout. While they are a powerful move, they are still an isolation exercise, so they should be positioned towards the end of your workout, after you have performed all of your compound barbell and dumbbell exercises.

You can learn more about exercise order here.

Exercises that Work Similar Muscles to Cable Kickbacks

Combine this exercise with other compound exercises that engage the glutes, such as Squats, Lunges or Deadlifts to help develop your glute power with more weight.

You can also add other isolation or assisted exercises such as Glute Bridges, Kickbacks, and Leg Presses (with a wide foot position for better glute engagement). These movements help diversify your glute workout routine and help you target the glutes with different types of weight distribution for well rounded results.

More bum exercises are available at the bottom of this page. Or you can check out our entire exercise database, broken down by muscle group here.

Get Complete Workouts

Our exercise database is here to teach you the fundamentals of some key exercises in weightlifting. It is by no means an exhaustive list of exercises and each category is certainly not a workout plan in itself. In order to turn these exercises into a workout plan, you need to know how to combine the right exercises to achieve the best possible results.

Knowing how to put together an efficient and effective workout plan is the cornerstone of achieving your fitness goals. It's the difference between merely working out and truly transforming your body.

That’s why Lipstick Lifters' Members Zone exists. Our goal is to teach you how to build your own workout plans so that you can be gym independent. All of this is possible with our Members Zone portal.

Members Zone annual subscribers have a unique advantage. They don’t need to puzzle over piecing together a workout plan, because we've done the hard work for them. Inside our Members Zone Portal, you'll find full workout plans tailored for women, complete with video demonstrations of each exercise.

Why Choose Members Zone

Members Zone is your one stop shop for weightlifting workout plans, delivered conveniently through our mobile friendly web app.

Here's what you're about to unlock...

Variety: Over 130 individual workout plans to suit a wide range of goals, available for your grab and go convenience.

Targeted muscle building: All plans come with a muscle highlighted image so you know exactly which muscles you’re building. - Simply choose the plan that suits your needs.

Video demonstrations: Form matters, that’s why each exercise in our portal is accompanied by a video demonstration of 3-5 full clean reps. You can watch this through as many times as you need to master the move.

Get started and progress: Plans offer beginner & advanced execution options so you can start with the basics and progress using the same plan.

Learn on the go: Our mobile friendly web portal means you can access plans, and video demonstrations of each exercise, to help you master the correct form, right from the gym floor.

Puts you in control: Our goal is to teach you gym independence, that's why the bulk of our portal is broken down into warm ups, workouts, and finisher plans.

Mix and match these to build a complete workout that fits your own personal preferences and goals.

Pre-built plans: These pre-built plans were put together by our team to demonstrate how the portal works. They are made up of warm ups, workouts, and finishers directly from the portal. Use them to get results, but also notice how the plan comes together. So that next time you can build your own plan from the wide range of options in the main portal!

Workout packs: Do you just want something that tells you exactly what to do and when to do it? These workout packs are ready to go when you are.

Evergreen: For the most part in weightlifting the exercises are the same, it is the execution of the exercises that turns amateurs into pros.

That means that all of our workout plans, featuring 200 different exercises, can be revamped, no end, simply by switching up the exercises and changing the rep/set execution.

All you need to do is get started, everything else comes with experience.

Dedicated online support: We want you to succeed in the world of weightlifting on your own merit. Without the need for an expensive trainer or coach, because few people these days can afford this luxury.

Lipstick Lifters Members Zone is your DIY solution and we are here to support you, for as long as you need, as part of your annual subscription.

Sample our plans for free: Sign up to access a selection of free workout plans to get you started.

Your journey to strength and confidence begins here.

Get in touch: If you have any questions or need guidance, our team at Members@lipsticklifters.com is here to guide you. So don’t hesitate to get in touch.