When you first received your cable machine, the cables probably came in a tight coil for easier packing during transit. This is completely normal, but it can leave small grooves and ridges in the cable that make it feel clunky when training.

This is why we recommend stretching your cables out overnight after your machine has been built. Don't worry if you've already had your cable machine for some time; you can do this step at any point in its lifecycle to straighten out any rough spots that have occurred.

How to stretch out your cables:

1. 1Attach a D-handle to each cable and set the adjustable trolley near the top of the frame
2. 2Select a moderate weight on the stack, as much as you can comfortably pull, and extend the cable as far as you can
3. 3Loop the D-handle over another part of the machine, like a spotter arm or J-hook if you have an all-in-one rack
4. 4Repeat on the other side and leave the cables overnight to stretch out under the tension

When you release the cables the following day, they should feel noticeably smoother and more responsive.

The weight stack of your cable machine runs along a set of guide rods which ensure the stack moves in its designated movement pattern. These are the long metal rods that run vertically through either side of the weight stack.

When you first install your cable machine, it's highly recommended to apply a thin layer of silicone-based oil to these rods and coat them evenly to ensure that the weights aren't meeting any resistance as they travel. The weights should glide, not grind.

You can pick up a bottle of silicone oil from Amazon, B&Q or any other hardware retailer, and we suggest giving your guide rods a fresh coating every few months to keep the cables running as smoothly as possible.

Gym cables are designed to withstand a lot of resistance. Our cables are tougher than a lot of the options on the market and are rated to a huge 1000kg of straight-line weight. That said, they're not designed to be trained with from the ball end.

The ball end: the carabiner end of the cable where attachments like handles and bars clip on.

For some exercises though it can feel more comfortable to train directly on the ball end. We're talking about reverse flyes, single-arm tricep pushdowns and overhead extensions.

We get it: most of us in the office train regularly and know that it's much easier to grip the ball end than it is with a regular D-handle when performing reverse flyes, but in the industry these exercises are known as cable killers for how they put strain on parts of the cable that were never meant to bear it.

So for the longevity of your cables, start using a wrist cuff, ankle strap or even a D-handle to perform these movements. Your cable machine will thank you for it over the long run, and you'll thank yourself when you don't need to mess around with replacing cables and rethreading the whole system.

Lastly, most cable machines have a number of different holes that you can bolt the cables into during the build. Our machines typically have five different options stacked on top of each other, and which of these you bolt the cable into determines how tight the tension is.

Generally we recommend that people bolt their cable into the middle hole for a balanced, normal amount of tension, but if you find that your cables don't feel the way you want them to, then you can bolt them into a different hole to adjust the tension. Use one of the lower holes to reduce tension and one of the top holes to increase it.

Threading your cables correctly so that they don't catch on any parts of the frame avoids issues popping up in the future of them running poorly.

Some cable machines come with little guides that are either built-in or bolted onto the machine which help maintain a stable cable path. If you're noticing issues with your machine, it's worth double checking that it's all threaded correctly and not catching on anything.