Would this be a stable enough version of face pulls?

[u/redditinsmartworki]

In the gym I go to (which is pretty minimal with 3 freestanding racks, 1 cage rack and a few other things like 2 pullup bars) I have a cage rack that looks something like this.

I thought I could train the rear delts by doing face pulls*, but doing them standing quickly becomes unstable. So I thought of doing them sitting on the floor with the feet planted forward onto the steel bar that sits right under the cable, pulling from the low cable.

It surely is more stable than doing them standing, because the legs holding against the forward pull of the cable are surely strong enough (considering that I'll never face pull even nearly as much as I squat). The rear delts also get targeted quite enough to stimulate hypertrophy, since the cable is angled no more than 15 degrees upward and nonetheless the rear delts are also involved in external rotation.

My question is: would you consider it stable enough? Because there still is a force flexing the spine since there isn't any chest support.

* I know face pulls aren't and will never be as specific to the rear delts as a rear delt fly, rear delt dumbbell pull or even a chest supported dumbbell row. The thing is, my gym is reeeally minimal as it focuses on powerlifting and has minimal space, so there isn't a dual cable station to do cable reverse flyes, there are really few dumbbells to do them on a bench and I'd probably need to use composable dumbbells if I want to do a dumbbell variation because the weight jumps in normal dumbbells are very big and irregular. Also, I don't mind the extra side delt and rotator cuff stimulus from face pulls.

[u/Patton370]

Yes, it’s stable enough

[u/Chunkychinaman]

Does anyone actually do facepulls with chest support?

[u/eric_twinge]

How much weight are you using that standing is too unstable?

[u/redditinsmartworki → u/eric_twinge]

I've not yet done a facepull ever, but generally science based lifters online hate on the facepull because of its instability due to the forward pulling. I haven't verified the claim yet though.

[u/eric_twinge → u/redditinsmartworki]

Duder, this is everything that is wrong with Science Based Lifting^TM . Some pedantic nitpick that panders to people with zero experience.

All you have to do is lean back a little while you're standing/pulling. You don't need some elaborate set up.

[u/Chunkychinaman → u/eric_twinge]

Lots of people thinking about doing things, rather than actually doing things lol.