This is an article I found by Fred Hutchinson. I had to copy and paste it.

" The Big Three for Cables - Fred Hutchinson ****    MILO December 1998, Vol 6 No 3 All drawings by Fred Hutchinson

 Before World War II you  would have been hard  pressed to find a barbell man  who didn't include cable training in his routine on a regular basis. It's truly a shame that in the last few decades, cables have largely faded from view. I believe that if you give cable training an honest try, you will be more than pleased with the results and will make it a regular part of your routine. Quite apart from the objective results you will achieve, I believe it really is important to keep this form of training alive, as a bridge to the Iron Game's past. Cable training is part of our heritage and if, like me, you're old-fashioned and proud of it, then you should start pulling today.

Just as with weights, there are countless exercises you can do with a cable set, but some are just plain better than others. While cables can mimic barbell and dumbbell exercises, to my way of thinking the whole point of cable training is to focus on those moves unique to cables. Standouts with cables are what I call the big three: the front chest pull anyhow, the single arm front pulldown, and the back press. Each of these allows you to use significant resistance, and among them they train every muscle in your upper body except the biceps. In this article I will detail the performance of the big three, and describe some useful variations on each one. 

1) Front Chest Pull Anyhow

 This is a magnificent exercise for the upper back, and also benefits the shoulder  and triceps Stand holding the cables at arm's length in front of your shoulders, elbows bent slightly, palms facing, the floor. The part of the handles where the cables attach will rest on the tops of your wrists in this position. Maintaining the slight bend in the elbows throughout the movement, bring the arms back by pivoting at the shoulders, until the arms are back in line with the shoulders and the cables touch your upper chest or throat.  At this point, force the arms back further, flexing the upper back. Then return under control to the starting position. Competition pullers use a split stance for this pull, one leg advanced, and sink over the forward leg as they pull. You can use this style or simply stand with the feet on an even line, whichever promotes a stronger pull for you. 

A rather minor variation of this pull is to move the arms down and back so that the cables touch your stomach at completion. This works the lats and rear deltoids.   For variety, you can do the front chest pull anyhow one arm at a time. Begin with one arm straight out to the side at shoulder level, and pull the other arm across and back until it is in line with the shoulders. This takes the pulling arm through a greater range of motion than the basic two-arm pull, and you will need less resistance because of this. You can do a whole set with just one arm, or you can alternate arms within a set: as one arm pulls back, it then becomes the fixed arm while the other arm goes forward and then back again, the arms alternating their pulls throughout the set.   If you like to extend sets past failure, one method here is to perform alternate arm pulls and then, taking advantage of the shorter range of motion, switch to conventional double-arm pulls to squeeze out a few more reps.  The strict front chest pull- performed with arms perfectly straight and palms facing each other at the start- is more of an "isolation" exercise and as such, does not have the same strength building potential as the anyhow pull, but it does make a fine assistance exercise for the anyhow pull. It can be used as a change of pace by itself or supersetted with the anyhow pull. One method is to perform anyhow pulls to failure and then quickly pick up a second, more lightly loaded cable set and perform strict front chest pulls. 

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 Or, if using the strict pull as your main exercise for the day, you can take it to failure and then turn the handles to the back-of-wrist grip, palms down, elbows bent, and continue with anyhow pulls to squeeze out some more reps.  While the strict front chest pull is not the best muscle building exercise, it does have another use. Ever wonder why cables are sometimes called "chest expanders?" Use a light resistance and do a strict front chest pull, keeping the arms perfectly straight, inhaling as deeply as possible while moving the arms to the rear, exhaling while the arms return forward to the starting position. Do twenty to thirty reps .. Once you get the hang of this, it is one of the best exercises for expanding the rib cage-just as good as pullovers and Rader chest pulls -and of course for best results should be done right after squats, deadlifts, and the like. 

2) Single Arm Front Pulldown

This exercise works the lats and chest in roughly equal measure, and also works the shoulders and triceps. We will describe the exercise for the right side. Hold one cable handle with your left hand at arm's length above your left shoulder and keep this arm fixed in position throughout. Grasp the other cable handle ' with the right hand palm down in front of your chest. Keep a slight bend in the right elbow throughout the movement. Pivoting at the shoulder, bring the right hand down to the right hip. Return under control to the starting position. 

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Assume the opposite position to work the left side. Some like to brace the fixed arm against the top of a doorway to help hold it in position, but my own preference is to do the movement completely "free," so that the static arm benefits from the move also.  The primary variation on the single arm front pulldown is to pull the hand straight down rather than across the body - left arm pulls to right hip and right hand pulls to left hip. This has a shorter range of motion than the standard pull, and thus you can use more resistance. This is a fine exercise in its own right, but its main use is as follows: pull down this way, then force the hand across to the other hip-the usual finish position-and go up to the starting position from there. This allows you to use more resistance in the negative phase of the rep than you could pull down in the normal fashion, and you will find your strength on the standard across – the body pull increasing. This is the best way to make progress in this pull if your strength refuses to increase.  Another variation on the standard across the body pull is to hold the pulling hand palm up. This seems to shift the focus of the move almost entirely to the lats. 

If you find your static arm buckling during these pulldowns, try this assistance exercise:  Hold one hand down at your hip where it would be at the end of the basic move, and grip the other handle with a straight arm in front of your chest. Keeping the arm straight, raise the upper hand up and across until the cable touches your chest. This of course is a type of front lateral raise, which stresses the uppermost arm at the same angle as the basic pull. This move will give added strength and development in the shoulders and upper back and make for a more solid position during the basic pull. 

To really focus on the chest, change from a pulldown to a pushdown. This is the finest cable exercise for the pectorals. Again we will describe the exercise for the right side. Position the left arm straight up as usual. The right arm is bent quite fully at the elbow, right hand gripping the handle with the palm facing the left side of the chest. The right elbow should be higher than the right hand. The right arm is in roughly the same position as the top of an upright row.  Now push the right hand straight down to the left hip, straightening the arm in the process. Make sure you always keep the elbow higher than the hand so that the exercise stays a push and does not become a tricep pressdown. Concentrate your attention on the action of the pectoral pulling the upper arm in tight to the chest. Assume the opposite position to work the left side. 

3)  Back Press

Here is one of the best exercises devised for the shoulders, and of course the triceps come under intense pressure as well. Grip the cable set the same way as for the front chest pull anyhow, with the part of the handles where the cables attach on the back of your wrists. Now pass the cables over your head and down your back until your elbows are pressed against your sides, forearms are horizontal, and the cables run across your back at elbow level. Your forearms will point forward to a greater or lesser degree in the starting position. 

Now press the hands out straight to the sides until the arms are locked out straight to the sides at shoulder level. As you press, turn your palms so that at completion they face the floor; this will help keep the cables under control. Return under control to the starting position. A split foot position can be used while back pressing, and some find their poundage going up using a forward bend at the waist while the hands press out. 

A fine alternative to the back press is the front press: The arms and hands are in the same initial position, but the cables are across your stomach at the start. Again your horizontal forearms will be pointing forward. From there, press the hands straight out to the sides, keeping the cables in contact with the body throughout, finishing with the arms locked out straight at shoulder level and the cables touching the throat. The palms will face forward at completion. You will find that you can't use as much resistance here, but your shoulders and triceps will still get a fine workout, as will your upper back, which has to work hard in this one to keep your arms from going forward. 

You can take advantage of your greater strength on the back press by supersetting these two presses as follows: front press to failure and then immediately take the cables over your head to the back press starting position, and now back press as many reps as possible. Of course, if you have two cable sets, you can back press first and then immediately switch to a lighter set for the front press. 

Both the back and front press can be done one arm at a time. From the basic starting positions, one hand can stay where it is while the other presses, and you can do a whole set with one arm, or you can alternate arms with each rep. Single or alternate arm front and back presses can also be done from the normal finish position-while one arm is locked out straight at shoulder level, the other arm bends and straightens. 

The big three should be at the core of any cable routine. They can be plugged into upper body training in countless ways, used by themselves or with weights. One routine that I return to frequently is some variation of each of the cable big three done in conjunction with the squat, dead lift, calf raise and abdominal work. This covers just about everything, and I urge you to give it a try. "