Face Pulls: Grip Tip and Top 2 Variations

Most personal trainers and exercise enthusiasts are familiar with face pulls, so there’s no need to go into detail about why to use this exercise. That’s why, in this post I’m hitting you with 3 tips for how to use face pulls in what we feel are smarter and more effective ways; from how we do and don’t grip the rope, to the top two face pull exercise variations used in the Performance U training approach.

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Grab the Rope this way for Better Face Pulls

Check out this video, which explains why we don’t grip the rope in the same way we see many coaches and personal trainers using, and also demonstrates what we feel is a better grip to use when doing face pulls.

Superband Face Pulls + Pull-Apart Combo

It’s no secret that both band pull-aparts and face pulls are great posterior-shoulder builders. That’s why, along with those two exercises, the Performance U training approach also incorporates the exercise shown in the video below from Bret Contreras, which combines band pull-aparts and face pulls together to make one great posterior-shoulder building move.

One-Arm Face Pulls

If you’re feeling that one shoulder is doing more work than the other when doing face pulls, just do what you’d do with other exercises: Perform the movement unilaterally.

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There are lots of single arm and single leg exercises being used in order to ensure both sides get equal work and to increase the muscular focus. So who says you can’t apply that same wisdom to face pulls?

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