The BEST Cable Attachments For Your Garage Gym – 2024
Last updated on May 10th, 2024 at 09:10 am
For me, cable attachments are one of the items in a garage gym we likely don’t have to sacrifice due to space constraints. I can’t have the best of the best of every machine. I have to make compromises in various nick nacks here and there to accomplish some accessories for the sake of space. But cable attachments? I can 100% have the BEST of the best in terms of fit and function and own a huge assortment of pieces with a solid storage option.
So that is exactly what I have attempted to do. One trick ponies, stainless steel, old school, new school, you name it. If it works better than the rest, it belongs here.
I LOVE cable attachments. My fascination began when I first used my MAG Grips. They unlocked a new understanding of nuanced cable attachment purchases that I probably should have never explored. But here we are, years later, with more knowledge about quality cable attachments than makes much sense.
So what am I to do with all of this knowledge floating around in my head about cable attachments? Put it into an article and share it with you of course! I also share at the end of this article some ways to store your cable attachments, as well as some accessories for your cable machine and more. So read to the end, I think it’ll be worth your time.
A Little Different
This Garage Gym Basics article is going to look a little different than the rest. As I already mentioned, for me, cable attachments are an area that I don’t think we need to make sacrifices. And it is an area I personally have found great results in investing in the best.
You don’t exactly get more gains from an $800 barbell compared to a $300 barbell. But buy the right cable attachment and you can sky rocket some development. I will cover cable attachments in a few different views here, so you can make some selections regardless of how you want to tackle your purchases, where your attachment game is at, and what you hope to accomplish with a few new toys.
If you want to see the full list of cable attachments I own, check out my current gym layout.
What Makes A Good Cable Attachment?
There isn’t one definitive piece here. But to me, as per usual, it comes back to the goal. I’m not looking to blast a 1RM Seated Row. I want to build a BIG back. That same logic applies to all the rest of my attachments. I do cable work for hypertrophy purposes, so the cable attachments should be the BEST cable attachments at achieving that goal.
Ideally, I like to support small shops, American Made companies, or simply companies doing unique things. You’ll see plenty of all of that in this article.
I would much rather own 5 cable attachments that are the best at each of their intended goals, than 1 attachment that does 5 things just kind of ok. I don’t need a cable attachment that also functions as a landmine handle, and a deadlift jack, and brews me a cup of coffee. It should SMASH my lats, or upper back, or biceps. I have no problems with a few attachments that do multiple things, but they better do them equally well.
What Should I Buy?
I’m going to split the cable attachments into body parts, and then sorting them by a Guaranteed Solid Choice (something I’ve used, that I think gets the job done super well), The Picky Attachment Owners Guide (something probably a little more unique, maybe a one trick pony, probably pricier), and then the Plan C Option (something potentially way out in left field).
Best Cable Attachments For Biceps
Guaranteed Solid Choice
American Barbell Rotating V Bar… I’ve written a few things here about this cable attachment, and I still REALLY enjoy it. Good angles, good knurling, heavy, solid, smooth rotation. Everything you’d want in a good attachment. I get tendonitis if I do too much straight bar curl work, so I tend to stay away from the dedicated curl bars.
American Barbell makes the same cable attachment but with some unique changes. First, it is American made. Second, it is made of aluminum. Third, it has rubber handles. I like the American Made and aluminum, but I’m not a huge fan of the rubber grips. So this one is a toss up on which to go with.
The Picky Attachment Owners Choice
The SupraCurl Bar from Troy VTX is certainly one of the more unique biceps options. The handles rotate with use to accommodate a healthier wrist and elbow, but still lock you in for dedicated biceps work. This thing is FANTASTIC. The only downside, is that it can be hard to purchase. Take a quick Google Search and hope for the best.
The handles are lightly knurled, the entire thing is metal, and it just feels very natural to use. By far my go-to biceps cable attachment.
Plan C Option
Have an ez curl bar? Use an ankle cuff around the middle, add a carabiner, and you now have a “DIY” cable curl bar.
Best Cable Attachments For Triceps
Guaranteed Solid Choice
I am really enjoying the KAZ Handles from Prime Fitness. They work well for Biceps work too, but I think they are better triceps handles. They can be used in a few different fashions. My favorite currently is to hook one carabiner from each into a single pulley, and use them like a triceps rope with handles. The cone shape fits perfectly in the hand, and the stopper at the end keeps your hand in place. The long strap allows you to get a FULL contraction in the triceps. If you haven’t felt this before, get ready. NASTY!
The Picky Attachment Owners Choice
The Troy VTX Butterfly fits the bill in this category, as it absolutely nails the triceps. Downsides are that it ONLY does triceps work, and it can’t accommodate all forms of triceps work. And again, this is hard to find. But if you can snag one, you won’t be disappointed.
The other is the Larry Scott Triceps Bar from TK Star. If you spend enough time digging into the depths of quality equipment, you’ll likely come across TK Star and their fondness for very specific angles, cuts, grooves, and finishes.
Larry Scott certainly knew how to build some legendary arms, and this attachment has claims from many to be the single best triceps cable attachment on the planet. I own one and it is a regular favorite in my rotation.
TK also makes a few other triceps attachments worth checking out, ones that are on my future list. So it would be worth delving into his world. TK is a one man shop, so be prepared to work directly with him and wait your turn for your delivery.
Plan C Option
The American Barbell Rotating V Bar gets the pick here. One of my favorite combos is pushdowns, pressdowns, overhead pressdowns, and reverse grip pressdowns. I can do all four of these, in a drop set fashion, with this one cable attachment. Brutal, effective, awesome. And since you already bought it for biceps, you don’t need to even buy another attachment!
Best Cable Attachments For Forearms
Guaranteed Solid Choice
A Wrist Roller isn’t new to most, but attaching it to a cable stack might be. By far my favorite forearm builder. I reached out to my dude at Mutant Metals to see if he could make a stainless steel badass one like my Hatfield Handles. We did it! Almost 2 inch diameter handle, stainless, with his awesome knurling, and a strap ran down the middle. This is NASTY! If you want one, just contact him and tell him you want what Joe is having!
The Picky Attachment Owners Choice
Arm Assassin is one of the best known secrets in the Arm Wrestling world. Think YOU have popeye forearms? Meet a dude who does arm wrestling as a job. You can snag a bunch of their stuff and hook it up to a cable machine and say bye bye to ever shaking someones hand again without crippling them.
Plan C Option
Get real crazy with something like the Ironmind Twist Yo Wrist. I have one and use it to mix up my forearm training. It is unique and different, and fun. I do wish it was metal, instead of plastic. The knurling is just kind of “ok”. But this is a very unique option. I can’t think of another way to really train that same movement of your hands/wrists.
Best Cable Attachments For Shoulders
Guaranteed Solid Choice
Grab yourself a strap from Spud, or something very similar. Solid use for facepulls, can double for triceps and biceps work as well. This is my wife’s go to for face pulls, and it’s a solid choice.
I got mine originally with their cable pulley system, and it has held up for several years. This is the only thing from Spud I have bought and kept over the years. Not knocking Spud, just saying that this is solid, and the rest of their stuff is kind of gimmicky.
I really like the Prime KAZ Handles for lateral and rear delt raises as well. These are my wife’s favorite handles for these movements. The cone shape and light knurling seems to be just right.
The Picky Attachment Owners Choice
The Prime Spreader Bar is the best Face Pull dedicated cable attachment on the market. Using similar handles as the MAG grips and their Prime ROT-8 handles, with the ability to move in 360 degrees on a pivot, you get the ability to perform a very similar movement to a strap, but with much better handles, which means better activation, more reps, etc.
I’ll add that the Spreader Bar doesn’t get much use outside of this though. Some people enjoy it for triceps work, I do not. Some people enjoy it for seated rows, I do not. So you likely need to go into this with the idea that you might get one exercise from this handle and that is IT.
For lateral raises and rear delts, the Trak Handles are FANTASTIC. The free movement of the handles is just excellent and allows you to SQUEEZE hard and really get a nasty contraction into the shoulders with no wrist strain at all.
They are infinitely better than your standard D-Handle or any other option out there.
Plan C Option
Grab two cannon ball grips, a length of chain and some carabiners, and do face pulls with that. Interesting change of pace for the hands, grip, etc. Similar concept to the Spreader Bar, much cheaper, and potentially more versatile.
For laterals and rear delts, use some ankle cuffs. Yes, ankle cuffs. Honestly, this might be even better than any other cable attachment out there for this purpose. Try it!
If you have a functional trainer, the cannon ball grips are FANTASTIC for rear delt work using both arms at the same time.
Best Cable Attachments For Back
Guaranteed Solid Choice
The MAG grips are the kings of back development. Used in a TON of high end commercial and garage gyms, I’ve yet to see more than a couple of comments of people that weren’t instantly blown away using them. Supinated for lat development, pronated for upper back development, close grip or wide for dedicated pulldowns, medium grips for low rows, medium rows, seated rows, pulldowns, and t-bar work.
Do NOT fall for the knock offs. Get the real thing. The only thing even close is the Prime 4n1 and 3n1 handles. Make sure to check out my Comprehensive Guide on the MAGs for all the details.
The Picky Attachment Owners Choice
I’d just get more MAGs. Start off with the Mediums, add the close supinated and wide/wedium to have more options.
If you happen to have a dual cable option, something like a functional trainer, take a look at the Prime ROT-8 handles. These are PHENOMENAL for iso-lateral work. Think MAGs but with each hand moving on its own.
Plan C Option
American Barbell makes a solid seated row handle. It has a slight angle so it can be used as pronated or supinated. I’d take the MAGs any day, but this is a good non-MAG back attachment.
It is also MUCH better than using the close grip MAGs for seated rows. I do not enjoy those at all. But this works well. Again, not my go to, but my wife likes the closer grip for seated rows and tends to lean towards this before the MAGs on seated rows.
Best Cable Attachments For Chest
Guaranteed Solid Choice
Use literally any D-Handle you have. Crossovers are one where the handle isn’t going to make a HUGE difference. I think you can pick some good attachments here, but you’ll get bye just fine with a clean pair of handles.
The Picky Attachment Owners Choice
The Trak Handles are my go to handles for crossovers. The free movement in all directions gives you incredible control with no wrist issues.
I’ve been asked before about the Sport vs the Pro. I have not used the Pro, but have heard from others that they preferred the Sport. The Sport are cheaper, so that is a plus as well. There MIGHT be some benefits to the Pro attachments in terms of additional uses like curl variations. But my go to here is going to be crossovers and shoulder work, which these DOMINATE in.
Plan C Option
I’ve used a single Body Solid D-Handle which gets the job done. These are VERY light weight but solid, the multiple D-Rings give you a bunch of options to get the right amount of stretch, starting position, etc. for your workouts. Nothing too flashy, and the price point is perfect.
Best Cable Attachments For Legs
Not a common one for cable work, but definitely something that gets sprinkled in occasionally.
Guaranteed Solid Choice
I use two ankle cuffs for a handful of different uses. Low cable work for adduction, abduction, etc. These get used a LOT by wife as they are brutal on the hips. Glute gains anyone?
And my favorite, seated low cable leg curls. With a single low cable you’ll need a chain or strap of some kind to rig it up. With a dual cable like my FT2, I can hook up each leg independently.
But you are going to sit on the bench facing it in the incline position (prone) and curl your ankles back. Get ready for DOMS cause this one is BAD!
Considering my current ankle cuffs from APT are no longer in production, if I was looking to add some to my gym, I’m looking at Pioneer Fit. (save 5% Code: GGC)
The Picky Attachment Owners Choice
Spud makes an attachment they call the HamStinger, which is pretty sweet for attacking the hamstrings. I haven’t used it, but I’ve seen others get a lot of use and knowing Spud, it is built to live up to a hundred heavy powerlifters going to town for awhile.
This is the only attachment in this entire guide I haven’t handled. I’ve been very close to pulling the trigger a number of times, and just haven’t. I’ve also considered the Rogue Ankle Cuff option.
Plan C Option
Do literally anything else. Legs and cables probably aren’t the money makers anyway.
Top 5 Cable Attachments For A Full Body Split
If I’m starting from scratch and just want to grab a handful of attachments to do everything, this is probably a good route to go. This will get you everything from legs to back, to arms to chest. Legit, this is a fantastic selection of 5 cable attachments to do just about everything.
#1 – MAG Medium Supinate
The MAG Medium Supinate is very likely the attachment that sparked my interest in finding “the best” attachments available. Solid for pulldowns and seated rows, it HAMMERS the lats, and is just a fantastic attachment. You COULD take the Prime Fitness 4-N-1 here as it would give you multiple options with one attachment, that all work very well. I like the MAG better as a single attachment, but the Prime gives a lot of options with only a little compromise in performance.
#2 – American Barbell V-Bar
Great for curls (normal and reverse grip), great for triceps work (push downs, extensions, overhead extensions, palms-down extensions, etc.). You could use this for face pulls and a bunch of other stuff if you wanted to. This attachment is one of my most used by both myself and my wife.
#3 – Spud Strap
Something simple and yet often overlooked, it’ll let you hit triceps work that the V-Bar won’t, additional curl work as well, face pulls, straight arm pulldowns, and probably a bunch more. AND it’ll actually do all of those pretty damn well.
#4 – Ankle Straps
These will let you hit shoulders and legs, amongst various other things like glutes and hips and more. Very versatile.
#5 – MAG Medium Pronate
I like the MAG Medium Pronate for pulldowns and for T-Bar Rows. I hook up a ProLoc 2 Collar to a bar, two carabiners, and then this badboy. It also hits the upper back more than the supinate, so a nice twist for those looking for some variety.
This gives us several options for back, biceps, and triceps, as well as lets us hit rear delts and forearms. That is a pretty stacked list and would probably fit on a modest Wall Control set up.
Other Cable Attachments
There are certainly other cable attachments to consider. Ab work, neck work, even calf work! But again, this is the Gray Matter Lifting list… I don’t do direct ab work so I’m not going to try and put out an opinion here. I do neck work with an Iron Neck harness, but I do it with bands.
Keep in mind that there are other basic attachments that can certainly fill the gaps mentioned above. A triceps rope, a set of D-Handles, an ez-curl handle, and you can hit basically everything. If you want something super basic, the REP Fitness packages offer a lot of bang for the buck. I’d also take a look at the Body Solid Aluminum and Body Solid Rubber Grip packages. These aren’t exactly the BEST in each category, but you’ll have one of everything so to speak and be light years ahead of the amazon special products.
Worthy Mentions
Black Iron Strength makes some of the most exquisitely manufactured pieces on the planet. Honestly the only reason I don’t own anything from them, is because they almost exclusively make items that are a little more “standard”. I have no want/need for regular stirrup handles, another low row handle, or lat bar. If I was, I’d be looking here.
LPG Muscle makes a bunch of interesting pieces. And if you like FAT cable attachments, this is the place to be!
Tsunami Bar attachments are wild. I own the Level 3 Lat Bar, which I snagged used, and it is pretty cool. Not cool enough for me to necessarily recommend them above anything else, but cool enough to be mentioned. The hard part with these is that there are a TON of options. I mean, there are 3 Lat Bars!
TK Star was mentioned above, and I’ll mention him again. He has been making some of the best equipment longer than a lot of us have been alive. If I had a huge budget, I’d own one of everything from him. He has some super unique attachments and his entire focus is on small angle changes.
Black Widow Training Gear makes a long line of unique attachments as well, so does Spud Inc, EliteFTS, and many others. You can spend a LONG time going down a crazy rabbit hole. I’ve done this. I tried to save you the time with my notes above, but feel free to dig in.
The BEST Storage For Cable Attachments
This one is easy. Wall Control is the best storage option for a home gym for the vast majority of items, and it is absolutely the BEST option for cable attachment storage. I’ve been using Wall Control in my gym for over 5 years. It is strong, looks great, and is endlessly adjustable. So every time you buy a new cable attachment you can reorganize your set-up. Lucky for you, I have a Comprehensive Guide on Wall Control that includes my reviews, my friends reviews, installation notes, my recommendations on what to buy, and more.
Other Cable Machine Accessories
Not quite cable attachments, but kind of. There are a few items I reach for regularly when using my cable machine.
Gym Pin
My Inspire FT2 has plate stacks, which means it has a limited amount of weight that can be loaded. Occasionally I need MORE weight than the plates allow. This is where my Gym Pin comes in handy. Simply slide it into the stack, and you can toss on a couple more plates. For my FT2 I’ve loaded an additional 2x45s PER SIDE for things like leg extensions. VERY helpful. (10% off w/ Code: GRAYMATTERLIFTING)
Performance Pins
A fun little add-on to help you do Drop Sets. These are American Made and again work with a plate stack cable machine. They aren’t perfect, but they are cool and relatively cheap. Grab a pair of Performance Pins. (Use code GGC to save 10%)
Cable Connectors
With something like a functional trainer, you might run into a situation where you want to connect the two cables together. This allows you to use BOTH stacks together, for one exercise. Or in the case of my FT2, allows me to use the dual cable low and high pulleys with my favorite cable attachments.
I bought a pair of connectors from my guy David Dennis over at Gorilla Strength. If you want these, just poke him and tell him you want what Gray Matter Lifting has.
You can snag something like a Darko Shorty Bar or Gym Pin Holey Bar and connect them as well. OR my guy Kyle at Kaizen DIY created this piece.
The BEST Carabiners For Your Cable Attachments
I’m looking to explore this topic even further soon. But for right now, there are a couple of options I’ve used and recommend.
Black Diamond Oval Keylock Carabiner
These are the nicest carabiners I have used. They open easy (not easy enough to not do the job). They are meant for climbing, so they are ready for heavy loads and banging around. Since they are made to go outdoors, they are ready for the harsh environments of the garage. And they don’t have the teeth on the carabiners that get caught on cables/fabric. These are a joy to use. Check them out here.
Spinning Carabiner
Sometimes you want a little more freedom in your carabiner. I use these a lot when doing landmine work, but they help with some cable attachment set-ups as well. I’d probably buy either some of these, or a set of these to get this done (the ones I bought aren’t for sale anymore).
Cable Attachment Shackles
Depending on your cable attachments and storage solution, you might need to explore some shackles. These are a common solution, and these which I own, swivel.
Small Carabiner
There is a carabiner I’m hunting down that comes with the Beyond Power Voltra I. If I find it, I’ll add the details here.
Wrap-Up
So this is my personal opinions on cable attachments I’ve used, read about, seen in action, you name it. This is heavily influenced of course by my own programming needs, my 6ft 250lb frame, including my wife and daughter in the mix, and my garage gym in general.
So make sure to take your own personal needs, experiences, gym, programming, and body into consideration.
I don’t consider this a comprehensive list of EVERY good attachment out there, but more the best attachments for the job. I’d love to own about 7000 more cable attachments, but I only have so much money, so much time, and so much storage space. So I stick to what I believe works effectively for me in my space.
Did I miss anything? I love learning about new attachments. Feel free to drop me a line on anything.
Oh, and I reserve the right to change my opinion!
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Joe Gray
My name is Joe Gray - aka Gray Matter Lifting - and I've been lifting at home since 2013. In that time I've built a badass gym, deadlifted over 600lbs, helped grow r/Homegym to over 1 Million subscribers, created the Garage Gym Competition and written a ton of posts here on this site. I love the Garage Gym Community... If you do too, I hope you stick around.
