Training guide
A cable pull-through is a hip hinge with the pull coming from behind you. Standing with your back to a low pulley and a rope between your legs, you push your hips back, let the rope travel back through your legs, then drive your hips forward to stand tall and squeeze your glutes. Do 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 with a weight that doesn't pull you off balance.
One small study has measured it: in 12 young men, the pull-through worked the glutes as much as a Romanian deadlift (RDL) at the same share of each lift's maximum, with less work for the lower back and hamstrings. Nothing else about it has been tested, so we say which parts of this guide are evidence, coaching practice or our own reading.
This guide shows the lift on the 3D figure, the set-up and how far to bend, how it compares with hip thrusts, RDLs and kettlebell swings, what it does and doesn't do for your lower back, the band version, and how many.
Stand with your back to a low pulley and a rope between your legs, feet a little wider than your hips. Push your hips back and tip your trunk forward on a long back, letting your hands follow the rope back between your legs, then drive your hips forward to stand tall and squeeze your glutes. Your hips move; your arms just hold the rope.
Source 1
In 12 college-aged men lifting half of each lift's estimated maximum, the pull-through worked the glutes as much as a Romanian deadlift (28.6 against 29.6% of their maximum activity) and the lower-back muscles and hamstrings less. One session of muscle activity, not a training trial.
Source 1
In that study your lower-back muscles still worked at about half their maximum, and nobody has measured the load on your spine in a pull-through. Less lower-back work than an RDL is what the evidence supports.
Source 1
No study compares pull-throughs with hip thrusts. Higher glute activity in a few reps didn't predict more growth in a trial of hip thrusts and squats, and many hip-extension exercises build the glutes. For the hamstrings the RDL does more: it drew more hamstring activity and grew the hamstrings in a 6-week trial. Pair any hinge with a leg curl.
We found no study of a band pull-through. Band hinges are hardest near the top, where the band stretches, and bands built strength about as well as weights in 7 small trials.
2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15, stopping 2 or 3 reps short, with about 90 seconds' rest, once or twice a week, counted with your other hinges. That's our editorial starting point, and it takes in the doses our workouts already use. If you have to brace against being pulled backwards, it's too heavy for this move.
Facing away from a low pulley with a rope attached, you stand astride the cable with the rope held between your legs. You push your hips back and tip your trunk forward on a long back, so your hands travel back between your thighs, then drive your hips forward to stand tall. Because the cable runs back and down to the pulley, it pulls your hands backwards rather than straight down as a dumbbell would.
Your glutes and hamstrings straighten your hips, and your back muscles hold your spine still. In the one study, glute activity matched the RDL's and lower-back and hamstring activity was lower. In a wide stance your inner thighs (adductors) also help straighten the hips, which our move page takes from a squat study; it's untested in the pull-through. Your grip and forearms hold the rope.
Source 1
Hip-hinge practice, as our move page asks. Our RDL and swing guides teach it with a wall tap or a dowel along your back, and the NSCA's teaching progression for the hinge goes from a back-to-wall hinge to a dowel hinge to the kettlebell deadlift. You also need a cable station with a low pulley and a rope.
Source 9
How far you can hinge depends on your hamstrings and hips; whether tight hamstrings push the bend into your lower back is unclear (a link in 49 healthy adults, none in 122 people with and without back pain). Lighter people get pulled backwards by the cable sooner, as one coach observes, so the load you can use depends on your weight and balance as much as your strength.
Most of the evidence here is EMG (electromyography: electrodes measuring how hard a muscle works over a few reps). It isn't a validated predictor of which exercise grows a muscle more, so treat the numbers on this page as clues.
Source 13
The plank pull-through, dragging a weight under your body in a plank, shares the name but is a core exercise.
Dicus 2023 tested 12 college-aged men who had taken a resistance-training course: 5 reps each of the barbell RDL, the reverse hyperextension and the cable pull-through, at 50% of each lift's estimated maximum, 2 seconds down and 2 up. Against the RDL, the pull-through drew the same glute activity (28.6 against 29.6% of maximum) and less in the lower back (longissimus 45.7 against 56.7%; multifidus 47.1 against 61.2%) and the hamstrings (biceps femoris 21.4 against 34.5%; semitendinosus 24.4 against 31.2%). The reverse hyperextension drew the most of all (glutes 49.1%).
Its limits: one session, light loads and young men, and the authors found the pull-through's maximum hard to set, putting it down to unfamiliarity with the exercise and the equipment's limits. EMG isn't growth.
Source 1
A review of 16 EMG studies found that many loaded hip-extension exercises drew very high glute activity, but the pull-through wasn't among them. The hip thrust drew about twice the squat's glute activity in 13 trained women, and the hip thrust and RDL drew similar glute activity at a 1-rep maximum in 8 men. Numbers from different studies can't be stacked to rank the pull-through.
In 34 untrained adults over 9 weeks, hip thrusts drew more glute activity than squats in the first session, but that didn't predict growth: the two built the glutes alike on MRI. No study has tested the pull-through for growth.
Across 11 studies, resistance training grew the glutes by a moderate amount; that review includes two trials by an author with four retracted training papers, so treat its size with some caution. Adding hip thrusts to leg presses and stiff-leg deadlifts added glute thickness (9.3 against 6.0%) in 33 untrained women. About 10 or more hard sets a week per muscle builds the most, with diminishing returns.
Hip-extension training grows the hamstrings: 45-degree hip extensions grew the outer hamstring's long head more than Nordic curls over 10 weeks in 30 men, and hip-extension exercises worked the long hamstrings selectively in 24 men. Slow RDLs and Nordic curls grew the hamstrings by about 10% in 6 weeks in 32 adults, and stiff-leg deadlifts by 7.0% in 9 weeks. In a modelling study, the RDL loaded the outer hamstring's long head hardest of the exercises tested, at 1.6 times body weight. Seated leg curls grew the hamstrings more than lying ones (14 against 9% in 12 weeks). So an RDL plus a curl does more for the hamstrings than the pull-through, which worked them less.
Set a pulley at its lowest point and clip on a rope. Stand facing away, straddle the cable, and pass the rope back between your legs, holding one end in each hand.
Step forward until the weight lifts off the stack with your arms straight. Our move page's caution: walk the rope out and back with small steps, because stepping away from the stack is the moment the cable can pull you off balance.
Feet a little wider than your hips, toes forward or slightly out, as our move page shows; the wide-stance version gives the cable more room.
From our cable and wide-stance pull-through pages and our RDL guide; the depth rule, the breathing and the finish are editorial and match our RDL and hip thrust guides.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Cable pull-through
A dumbbell or barbell in an RDL pulls straight down, so its pull on your hips fades to almost nothing as you stand tall. The cable pulls backwards and down towards the low pulley, so some of its pull is still on your hips at the top, which is why coaches say the pull-through keeps working the glutes as you finish. That's our reading of the mechanics: nobody has measured where in the rep it is hardest.
The stack and your balance set the limit before your strength does: past a certain weight, the cable pulls you backwards before your glutes are worked hard. Even the study's authors found its maximum hard to set. That's why it suits learning the hinge, or a second hinge after a heavy one (editorial).
Our wide-stance demo is the same lift with your feet wide, reaching your hands back through your legs as far as they go: 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping with 2 or 3 reps in reserve (its move page's dose).
Loop a long band round something low and solid behind you, such as a rack's upright or a heavy post, step forward astride it and hold it between your legs, then hinge and stand exactly as with the cable. Band hinges are hardest near the top, where the band stretches. Bands built strength like weights and machines in 7 small trials, and band training builds muscle compared with none. Check the band for nicks and anchor it where it can't slip. We have no band pull-through demo; the cable demo shows the movement.
Our band good morning demo is a different hinge: you face the post with the band looped over the back of your neck. Its move page gives 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping with 2 or 3 reps in reserve.
Coaching variations. Kneeling on a pad with your back to the pulley trains the same hip movement with your knees out of it; standing on one leg adds balance. Neither has a demo or a study.
With a free weight held between your legs the load pulls straight down, so it becomes a kettlebell deadlift or a Romanian deadlift. Our RDL guide teaches both.
Hip-hinge practice, the kettlebell deadlift and the dumbbell RDL build the same hinge, as our RDL guide's ladder does, and the band version works at home.
Never compared. The hip thrust takes far more load, and in a 9-week trial hip thrusts and squats grew the glutes alike. Either can be your main glute lift; the pull-through suits days when setting up a bench and bar is awkward. Our hip thrust guide covers it.
Source 2
The same glute activity in the one study, with less lower-back and hamstring work at the same relative effort. The RDL takes far more load and has the hamstring growth evidence, so it stays the main hinge; the pull-through is a lighter second one. Our RDL guide covers it.
The swing is a fast hinge for power; the pull-through a slow, loaded one. No study compares them or shows that the pull-through teaches the swing. Our swing guide teaches the hinge with wall taps and kettlebell deadlifts, as the NSCA's progression does.
Source 9
Kickbacks work one leg at a time, knee bent or straight, as our kickback guide shows; the pull-through trains both hips together in a hinge.
In the same study, the reverse hyperextension drew more glute, hamstring and back activity than both the RDL and the pull-through. Our reverse hyperextension and back extension guides cover both.
Source 1
A good morning puts the bar across your upper back, and a light good morning loaded the lower back like a deadlift with the same bar in 13 people. The pull-through is the lighter hinge. Our good morning guide covers it.
Source 25
In the one study, the lower-back muscles worked at about 46 to 47% of their maximum in the pull-through, against 57 to 61% in the RDL. Nobody has measured the load on the spine. Less lower-back work than an RDL is supported; no load on your back isn't.
Source 1
A 16 kg kettlebell swing compressed the lower spine by about 3,200 newtons in 7 men, and a light good morning loaded the lower back like a deadlift with the same bar. Across deadlift studies, the RDL drew less activity from the back muscles than from the hamstrings.
Low-quality evidence found that rounding the lower back more while lifting wasn't a risk factor for back pain starting or lasting. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy says you should not fear bending or lifting, and NICE recommends considering exercise for low back pain, with no type preferred. We still teach a long back in the pull-through, because it keeps the work in your hips (editorial).
In 49 healthy adults, people with relatively tight hamstrings bent more through the lower back in a stooped lift; in 122 people with and without back pain, hamstring flexibility made no difference. Either way, stop the hinge when your hamstrings pull hard or your back is about to change shape.
Aim for discomfort you'd call mild to moderate, no more than about 5 out of 10. It should settle within an hour or so, and your back should be no worse the next morning, as our back pain guides say. Pain, pins and needles or numbness spreading down a leg are the exception: stop, and see our sciatica guide.
2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15, stopping 2 or 3 reps short (our editorial starting point). It takes in our posterior chain workout's 2 sets of 12 to 15, our cable machine workout's 3 rounds of 10 to 12 and our RDL guide's 3 sets of 12 to 15. One coach uses 3 sets of 10 to 20 for bent-leg hip extension exercises, and a trial protocol used 2 sets of 12. We found no NSCA, ACE or ACSM dose. The wide-stance version: 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 (its move page's dose).
2 or 3 reps short of failure, as for other compound lifts, and 3 or 4 short in your first two weeks while you learn: people misjudge the reps they have left by about one. Training to failure isn't needed for growth.
About 90 seconds (editorial). Resting more than about a minute gave a small growth advantage across 9 studies, with nothing clear past about 90 seconds.
Source 8
Once or twice a week, counted with your other hinges (RDLs, deadlifts, good mornings, swings), as our posterior chain workout advises. About 10 or more hard sets a week per muscle builds the most; an NSCA coaching article suggests starting the glutes at about 10 sets a week, while noting it knows of no research on glute-specific volume. Count each pull-through set towards your glutes and hamstrings (editorial).
Add reps until every set reaches 15, then move to the next plate on the stack; adding reps and adding weight both worked in 43 trained people. Stack numbers differ between machines, so note which station you used.
Source 34
The weight you can control for 10 to 15 reps without being pulled backwards. It will be well below your RDL (editorial).
Knees forward and hips dropping. Keep your shins about vertical and push your hips back.
Stop when your back is about to change shape; the range comes from your hips.
Our move page's caution: finish each rep by standing tall and squeezing your glutes, not by leaning backwards.
The hips move; the arms just hold the rope, as our move page cues.
If the stack pulls you backwards off your heels or you have to brace hard to stay upright, lighten it. Our move page calls it a pattern and glute exercise, not a maximal lift.
If the weight touches down at the top of each rep, step further from the stack.
Take about 2 seconds down, as the study did (editorial).
Source 1
Hip-hinge practice, 2 or 3 sets of 8, and kettlebell deadlifts, 3 sets of 8 to 10 (our RDL guide); the cable pull-through at 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 (editorial) and the wide stance at its move page's dose; then dumbbell RDLs, 3 sets of 8 to 10, and barbell RDLs from a rack, 3 sets of 6 to 10 (our RDL guide).
3D demoHip-hinge practiceBeginner · No equipment
3D demoKettlebell deadliftBeginner · A kettlebell
3D demoCable pull-throughBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoWide-stance cable pull-throughBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoDumbbell Romanian deadliftIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoBarbell Romanian deadliftIntermediate · A barbellHip thrusts, 3 sets of 8 to 12, and back extensions, 2 sets of 10 to 12 (our posterior chain workout); glute bridges, 3 sets of 10 to 15 with a short pause (our hip thrust guide); reverse hyperextensions, 2 sets of 10 to 15 with your legs no higher than level (our back extension guide); Nordic curls, 2 sets of 3 to 5 slow lowers (our hamstring workout); seated leg curls and one-leg cable kickbacks at their move pages' doses.
3D demoBarbell hip thrustIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or box
3D demoGlute bridgeBeginner · No equipment
3D demoBack extension on a 45-degree benchIntermediate · A bench or box
3D demoReverse hyperextensionAdvanced · A bench or box
3D demoSeated leg curlBeginner · Strength machine
3D demoNordic curlAdvanced · An anchor point
3D demoStanding cable glute kickbackIntermediate · A cable machineThe posterior chain workout uses pull-throughs for 2 sets of 12 to 15, and the cable machine workout pairs them with a one-arm row for 3 rounds of 10 to 12. The hamstring and glute workouts give you the curls and hip thrusts to go with them, and the deadlift technique workout builds the hinge.
A 45-minute gym session for the back of your body: light barbell good mornings, hip thrusts, 45 degree back extensions, cable pull-throughs and a carry.
45 minIntermediate8 movesCardio machine, A barbellA 40-minute full-body workout on a dual cable station in four pairs: pull-through and row, press and Pallof press, pushdown and crunch, raise and curl.
40 minBeginner14 movesCardio machine, A bandA 35-minute gym hamstring workout: Romanian deadlifts for the hip, seated leg curls for the knee, single-leg Romanian deadlifts, then Nordic curls when ready.
35 minIntermediate7 movesA dumbbell, Strength machineA 50-minute gym glute workout: hip thrusts, deep squats, Bulgarian split squats, back extensions and hip abduction, with sets, reps and rest.
50 minIntermediate11 movesA band, A barbellA 30-minute session from the hip hinge to your first deadlift: hinge practice, kettlebell deadlifts, slow Romanian deadlifts, a light bar and a carry.
30 minBeginner9 movesA kettlebell, A dumbbellStart with hip-hinge practice and the kettlebell deadlift, as our back pain plans do, and add pull-throughs when they're comfortable, within the back rule. If your lower back, not your hips, is doing the work, lighten the stack and shorten the range.
While symptoms are irritable, reduce the load and range of bending lifts, as our RDL and herniated disc guides say. Pain spreading down a leg is a reason to stop and see our sciatica guide.
The NHS describes a sharp pain at the back of the leg, and with a bad strain a snapping feeling or a pop. Rebuild with our hamstring strain or high hamstring tendinopathy guide, which leaves deep hinging out at first.
Source 35
Keep a long back and avoid loaded rounding, as our RDL guide says, following the UK consensus. The light load suits learning the hinge with a physiotherapist (editorial).
The NHS says strength training at a gym is fine if you did it before you were pregnant. A standing hinge with a light load can stay if it's comfortable, breathing out as you stand (editorial); with pelvic girdle pain, a narrower stance may be kinder.
Source 36
Breathe out as you stand rather than straining with your breath held, and see the warning signs below.
With controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe: breathe out as you lift.
Source 37
If you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
Source 37
For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; severe difficulty breathing, or a chest that feels tight or heavy; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for a headache that's triggered or made worse by coughing, sneezing, bending down or exercising.
Source 44
Call 999 or go to A&E: loss of feeling or numbness around the genitals or bottom, new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels, changes in genital sensation during sex or problems with erections or orgasm, or pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs. These are signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs treating in hospital urgently. Don't drive yourself.
See a GP if pain spreading down a leg hasn't improved after a few weeks of home treatment, is getting worse or stops your normal activities. Sciatica on both sides, or weakness or numbness in both legs that's severe or getting worse, is a 999 call or a trip to A&E.
Get help from NHS 111 if it hurts to walk or stand on the injured leg, or there's a lot of swelling or bruising. A pop near your sitting bone, a large bruise high on the back of your thigh or not being able to put weight on the leg should be checked the same day, as our RDL and hamstring guides say.
Source 35
Very sore, swollen, tight muscles and dark urine after an unusually hard or high-rep session need medical help the same day: it could be rhabdomyolysis, as our elbow pain from pull-ups guide explains. Normal soreness peaks a day or two after a new exercise and fades.
See a GP if you think you have a hernia, a bulge or lump that may get bigger when you strain and smaller when you lie down. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, you feel or are sick, you're vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, you're constipated, you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, or you've suddenly become confused. Call 999 or go to A&E for a femoral hernia (a small lump at the top of your thigh, in your groin) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
The NHS lists lifting heavy weights among the causes of a femoral hernia. After an inguinal hernia repair, avoid heavy lifting or strenuous activity for at least 4 to 6 weeks.
Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard or straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled (140/90 or higher at a clinic, or 135/85 at home), or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
With controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe: breathe out as you lift.
Untested either way. In the one study they worked the glutes as much as an RDL at the same share of each lift's maximum, and they've been used in a trial in male athletes. What limits them is the stack and your balance, not your level, so they suit a second hinge after heavy work at any level.
No study has compared them. Many hip-extension exercises draw high glute activity and grow the glutes, and higher activity didn't predict more growth in a trial. Don't trust a claim either way.
The back muscles still worked at about 46 to 47% of their maximum, less than in the RDL, and nobody has measured the load on the spine. Less lower-back work than an RDL is supported; no back load, or no spinal compression, isn't.
Source 1
One coaching page argues so from mechanics, without data. In the only study, its glute activity matched the RDL's.
Source 1
The cable's pull is steady, but its turning effect on your hips changes through the rep (our reading), and nobody has measured it in a pull-through. Across 137 reviews, the type of equipment didn't consistently change results.
Source 18
Activity and the burn aren't growth: the hip thrust's higher glute activity didn't predict more growth than squats in a 9-week trial.
Stand with your back to a low pulley, a rope between your legs, and step forward until the weight lifts. Push your hips back with your knees soft and your back long, letting the rope travel back through your legs, then drive your hips forward to stand tall and squeeze your glutes.
Mainly your glutes and hamstrings, with your back muscles holding your position. In the only study, the pull-through worked the glutes as much as a Romanian deadlift and the lower back and hamstrings less, at half of each lift's maximum.
Yes: their glute activity matched the RDL's in one study, and many hip-extension exercises build the glutes. No study has tested pull-throughs for glute growth, so use them alongside hip thrusts, squats or RDLs rather than instead of them.
Nobody has compared them. The hip thrust takes far more load, and higher glute activity in one exercise didn't predict more growth in a trial of hip thrusts and squats. Do the one you can load well, or both.
In the one study, the same glute activity, with less lower-back and hamstring work in the pull-through. The RDL takes more load and has the hamstring growth evidence, so it stays the main hinge; the pull-through is a lighter second one.
Your lower-back muscles worked less than in an RDL in one study, but still at about half their maximum, and nobody has measured the load on the spine. If you feel it in your back, lighten the weight, stop the hinge higher and finish with your glutes rather than leaning back.
Until you feel a strong pull in your hamstrings or your back is about to change shape, whichever comes first, as in our RDL guide. For most people that's somewhere between 45 degrees and level, with your knees softly bent.
2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15, stopping 2 or 3 reps short, with about 90 seconds' rest, once or twice a week. That's our editorial starting point. Count them with your other hinges towards about 10 hard sets a week for your glutes and hamstrings.
Lighter than your RDL: a weight you can control for 10 to 15 reps without the stack pulling you backwards. If you have to brace hard just to stay upright, it's too heavy for this move, and an RDL or hip thrust will load you better.
Yes: anchor a long band low behind you, step forward astride it and hold it between your legs. It's hardest near the top, where the band stretches, and bands build strength about as well as weights. We have no band demo; the cable demo shows the movement.
Holding a weight between your legs makes it a kettlebell deadlift or Romanian deadlift, because the weight pulls straight down instead of backwards; our RDL guide teaches both. The plank pull-through is a different, core exercise.
Stand tall with your knees straight but not forced back, and squeeze your glutes without leaning back. Coaches disagree about locking the knees, and nobody has tested it, so this is our editorial advice.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
