The WORST Shoulder Exercise?! (The Truth About Face Pulls) 

Jeff not gonna like this title 😂

This is the most comprehensive video on facepulls I have ever had the pleasure of watching. Thank you so much for the detailed explanation!

This was such a great explanation of why labeling certain exercises "right" or "wrong" isn't so simple. It depends on what your trying to achieve. Love the in depth explanation and demonstration on an exercise I always wondered how to get the most out of. Thanks Jonni! You da man!

I've done face pulls a lot over the past year. I'd say it's one of the exercises I push myself the hardest on. I think lowering the weight to a controllable amount and taking momentum out of the whole movement is something you should do sooner rather than later. Better form will likely produce more gains than high numbers on a plate.

A gym without blasting music all the time, nice.

Jonni you have become my favourite fitness channel. Your explanations are simple and easy to follow. All of your tips have helped me understand what I need to change about my fitness routines to achieve my goals. Love this! Keep it up man

This is on of the best explanations I’ve ever heard on this exercise. Thank you for breaking it down so thoroughly!

Good video! Didn't mention the rotator cuff/external rotation component though which at least for me is why I do this exercise: a pre workout activation for upper back & shoulder external rotators to promote healthy shoulder function & position during primary lifts.

I've been doing these for a while but your "pull from the elbows" as a focus helps a lot. thanks

I've never used face pulls, because I wasn't sure how to do them properly. This video helped tremendously. Thanxxx!

This exercise is confusing, ive watched a lot of videos, but this is the only useful video i watched !! He covered everything and answered all the possible questions, subs and like, u deserve it man thanks!!

This video cleared a lot up for me. I’ve been pulling the wrong way (with my bi’s/hands… curling my wrists/arms in). I’ve still made a lot of gains, but different hasn’t been feeling like a good pump. I’ll hit it the right way from now on🤙🏻

I've been doing hammer-grip face pulls from a high position for rear delts for awhile. This is giving me interesting ideas on how to hit that better.

I am definitely trying that pronated grip for my face pulls tonight! All of your coaching advice and tips in your vid's have been spot on, exactly what I needed. Much Respect & Thanks!

The best online fitness coach

You are massively underrated on RU-vid fitness

I wish I could like this video 100 times lol finally, I get the answers I wanted for my face pull exercises.

Love your very detailed explanation. Only a handful of channels do this, and you're currently the best. Your video helps people work not only hard, but also smart.

My favorite way of doing the facepulls is the "Jeff Cavaliere way" where you place your wrists as if you were flexing your biceps to fully avoid the internal rotation ?v=eIq5CB9JfKE For me that is the more comfortable way of doing them and I really feel the muscles on my upper back exploding while keeping my shoulders healthy

This is the best channel of it's type by far

Ever since learning that face-pulls are NOT a partner exercise my workout buddy likes working out with me again a whole lot more!

Jonni has another video on this same exercis that focuses on how to really engage and feel those rear delts before the movement, important for beginners if you cannot activate them. Someone please link it here as it was a great help for me. Basically, the idea was to do lateral raise with arms, and try your best to feel those rear delts when doing so, and then bring arms forward while maintaining traction on those rear delts. Then, go straight into these shoulder exercises that Jonni shows here. It was a major game changer for me

Jonnie boy, your Face Pull video is way better than AthleanX’s video. Well done sir thank you. I shared your video with my buddies. They were trying to tell me the only way to do a face pull is how Jeff Cavilier AthleanX says. Great video. You don’t need drama to get views.

Johnny's coaching is so awesome🎉 lot of great tips for my training and overall joint health

I swear i can see myself having a beer with this dude. Chilled and intelligent demeanor.

Very helpful!!! The explanation of each level was great. I have done them all 3 ways and currently pulling from the top. But now I know the different muscles each level works!

I do these as performed by Jeff Cav. Thumbs up, working on external rotators, light weight, slow and under control

I just did rope pulls to target upper traps this morning! I pretend that I am trying to "pull" or "spread" the rope a part to engage scapular retraction. The most important is trying to keep the elbows superior to shoulders. I always ask myself, "What muscle(s) am I trying to hit?" I look weird when I have my eyes closed as I trying to picture the muscles contracting. lol Good video!!

Jon: for the legs we should make sure we hit all our glutes & hips, and ALL our calf muscles. When we do squats, leg press & other exercises a lot of us hit quads & hamstrings instead of the total glutes & hip. But most people think that they are hitting their glutes. For the calf muscles it is better to do the standing calf machines because it works the total calf (soleus & gastrocnemius muscles). Or exercises our calf with both standing & seated calf machines.

Wow... this video notification literally popped up while I was doing face pulls and feeling an intense burn in my traps. I was thinking "there must be a better way to do this, I must be doing something wrong". I wish I didn't wait until I was home before watching

I really like to do these set just above eye level using 2 handles instead of the rope attachment, then pull back with the elbows and externally rotate my shoulders at the same time so at the end I’m trying to pull my hands behind my head with my palms facing forward. I also like to do it sitting down on the floor cross legged because it helps me keep my back flat.

Jeff: *reads title* Jeff pulling up to Jonni's house 20 mins later, fully prepared to internally rotate his shoulders

Would love to see a cable pulls only video with your favourite exercises. Thank you Jonni 🐐💪

This summer is going to be Epic

oh my god Jonni! I've been looking for this a couple of days ago! Thanks for a great video once again. You have really optimized my training the past two months, since i started following your channel. Good shit, keep it up Jonni!

10:44 is my favorite takeaway from this lesson: using different types of time under tension. Going to add this knowledge to my arsenal now.

I do face pull and press, I have an old injury just below the mid-point of my back and I can really feel it engaging that area. My goal with that is to loosen up the scar tissue, get the affected nerves released from that and get rid of the pain that's been bothering me for the last couple years. This isn't the only thing I do, I also do cross body 1 arm pull downs and rows where Ican really feel the stretch and pull of the weight really pulling on the scar tissue, and I also do dead hangs to stretch it out from even a different angle. I can tell a difference, and hope that this proves to be the long-term solution, weightlifting has effectively dealt with injury rehab for me in the past.

Thanks for clearing it up. I had been searching for a proper facepull tutorial for a while

Subscribed 👍🏽

Thanks for vindicating the way I do and teach it. You had me worried with the thumbnail 😂

Just randomly saw this vid extremely informative Keep it up brotha from one black man to anotha

Thank you Jonni! Love your videos & love the hair!! 👊🏾💥

Good morning bud hope you and the misses and your daughter are doing well

This should mainly be used for scap work. Your normal shoulder routine covers the rest of shoulders. This exercise does help with office desk syndrome and shoulders rolling forward

Best face pull video on RU-vid!

Great explanation Jonni! I’m working out a left shoulder impingement from a neck injury. The injury was fixed in surgery, but the nerve damage was substantial. This will help greatly! What I gather from your video is: there are different ways to approach this exercise, depending on how low or high you set the cable. I’d say, as a part of a super set, pulling at the various level will give you the best results. Merry Christmas and all the best for a great New Year!

One of THE most important things when it comes to all pull exercises that involves shoulders that is nearly never mentioned is. IF you have short collarbones or very curved ones be extremely careful with any of these exercises or the only thing you gonna get is endless impigment issues. Since the shoulder for such people will be more cramped and often curved forward you put yourself in a severe position for most shoulder, some back and some chest exercises and its even more important to find the correct ROM. Which will be diffrent from what is usually shown on workout viedos.

Bands are my absolute favorite method for facepulls. Gives that extra resistance when pulling apart and also adjusts the strength curve a bit differently. Also super easy to adjust the tension mid set (slight step back, slight lean, etc)

Great video and explanation’s 🙌 Going to implement all 3 positions to work the ranges! Maybe superset from bottom to mid to top! Watch the weight, get full range of motion and experiment with time under tension!

The problem with face pulls is that very few people even grip the rope correctly. Hands up with palms facing away from you, thumbs out and the rope sits between your thumb and index finger. Then obviously just close your hand on it from there. So basically you should be able to point your thumbs towards your shoulders if you’re gripping the rope correctly.

Yeah Jonni! Thanks bro, helpful as always

Jeff have his thoughts..... Boy you have your..... This video has meanings .... Good to see that

Thanks for the great video. I've been doing face pulls for months with every different angle, hand grip etc possible and sometimes I feel it where I want it and sometimes i just dont, drives me f** crazy :D :D....That video should help.

"Johnny, is this wrong?"😂

I love these variations 9:30. I definitely use these for traps and Lats.. never thought of working out my Rear Delts as another variation. Thank u for another great video👏🏼👏🏼💪🏼

VERY HELPFUL, I was struggling with these

Your Videos get me really excited about going to the gym!

Thank you so much for this!! This is the one movement ive always struggled with....

Good video man! I subbed and ill be watching more after work. Loved the in depth and variations

Love the explainer!! Always as detailed as usual. I don't know why, but holding the rope between my index and middle finger (something I saw Phil Heath recommend) makes my rear delts burn a LOT more than any other grip

It's all about the angle and thinking about what muscles are doing the work.

Thanks for posting. I recently just found your channel as I was looking for videos for my son and I absolutely love it. You have the best explanations for exercises that I have found anywhere and you have also made me stop and think even more specifically about every exercise I am doing. Regarding this video, I always do my face-pulls from up high and I never really thought of the lat involvement. When I am training rear-delts I am trying to isolate them as much as possible so I think the straight-ahead attachment makes more sense.

Good morning Jonni! Hope you have a great Thursday! Keep at it man!

I think our option should be to hit the rear delts because must people don't hit them when they do shoulder exercises or chest exercises. So we should go out our way to do rear delts exercises.

Johnny we're sorry. Won't you come on home. That great 80s songs keep echoing in my head when i watch your vids

i think you should emphasize the external rotation of the shoulder as well as the pulling of the elbows behind the body, since they are the two functions of the rear delt.

Yo, thanks, Jonni! Also that hair is dope

Love Johnni and it’s because I do that I tell you CUT IT OFF 😂! I had dreads 18yrs and the line started moonwalking on me too and the wife was like, Elsa😂

The Goal is the rear delts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s not a shoulder exercise, it’s a rotator cuff exercise. Trains infraspinatus primarily. Not rear delts.

Used to do face pulls, but abandoned it alltogether. It's too ineffective and demands too much effort from your back & legs to keep your balance (so you can work only with very light weights).

I do face pulls as a part of my warm-up routine. And never with heavy load. I feel the muscles involved differ to much in strength for that.

What about kneeling one knee facepulls with the cable high? just use hammer pull doing it That way you're not twisting your arms all up then your wrist! It's in jeremy ethiers workout plan. So basically, you are on one knee with the cable police kind of hi gripping it with a hammergrip. And as you pull back, you should pull back in a way that it looks like you're doing a bicep pose, but not really. You're not flexing your bicep, you're just pulling back. Those work for me. But if someone is using the rope attachment on the pulley I just used the reverse pec deck machine

Nice! Thanks man. Been watching you for awhile now. I didn’t realize you were Canadian too. Keep up the great work man!

Thanks for this great explanation JS! Best tutorial on this exercise I've seen. God bless!

Nice thorough run through. Thanks!

Very helpful, thank you

I certainly appreciate the knowledge about face pulls.

Just keep in mind lats do internal rotation of shoulder and this movement at high position is an externally rotated pull, I don't think lats do much here.

Jonni Shreve! Thank you very much for the detailed explanation and variations. Much appreciated.

thank you, sir, you are a gifted teacher.

YOOOOO THIS HELPS SO MUCH I HAVE ALWAYS NEVER KNOW WHICH IS BEST SO I USUALLY DO A SET OF EACH

Damn bro..Jonni really grinding with these vids. Thanks 🙏

Jonni is THE master of exercise explanation. That is why I am honestly confused about this. Face-pull? OK… but why adding there also rotation at the end? Also since forearms + hands are “just hooks”… Why not keeping all straight? Why that “wrist angle”?

Facepull is one of the worst exercises when people do it wrong. I always see in the gym people do it wrongly and damage their shoulders because the shoulders are inernally rotated.. Facepulls should only be done while having externaly rotating shoulder. If pulled without external rotation, its just destroying the shoulders and hits delts and upperback. But there are way better options for that. Facepulls should only be done for rotator cuff with external rotation. Also there are better options for external rotation of rotator cuff. Facepulls is one of the most overrated exercises out there. The performing position is very akward also because you have to flex lower back for stability. One hand cable external rotation is way safer and can work in isolation much easier instead engaging upperback and delts.

The length of the rope is important as well. Most gyms have the shorter ropes va what he showed in this video

Just exactly what I needed thanks Jonni

They say this movement is good for posture and back more than shoulders thoughts?

love this guy less BS than some of the others keeps it simple no nonsense

Thanks! Hello from GREECE!

The way to do face pulls is to bring up the pulley up high!

I'm using this exercise to hit both the rear delts and the mid/lower traps as well as the romboids. I prefer the neutral grip for this pulling movement and i do it with the cable set all the way up.

Nice explanation man, I just cant do these, I feel a GREAT rear delt pump, but then have a headache the WHOLE next day. I know I'm straining in my neck, but I cant seem to stop it

Okay, you talked me into it. Ill hit the like button.

The upper placement is one of my staple moves. I'm known for my great back, shoulder traps! 😂

Good stuff Jonni!! Thanks for the pointers 💪💪💪💪

Thanks for this awesome detailed explanation 😊

I've mainly used this as a rotator cuff conditioning exercise rather than trying to build rear delts.

If you set it high and pull from around head height or higher its alot harder to shrug and focus more on rear delts as that's the way the fibres run. Also if you keep your scans retracted you have to pull from only your rear delt other wise pulling with your scaps first your working the rhomboids

Thanks man. This makes perfect sense. I think I've been working my lats and biceps instead of my rear delts 😐