A Keenan flap is a single-arm cable exercise performed with a cuff strapped around the upper arm instead of a handle held in the hand. Because the cable pulls on the upper arm, the elbow does very little work and the movement happens almost entirely at the shoulder.
The name is generally attributed to lifting-content creator Keenan Malloy, whose demonstrations circulated the movement. That attribution comes from community sources rather than any authoritative write-up, so treat it as the usual story rather than a documented fact.
There are two versions, and they are not interchangeable. They differ by the plane the upper arm travels in:
| Version | Upper arm path | Shoulder action | Plane | Brolic entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sagittal | Starts in front of the torso, travels down and back | Extension | Sagittal | Cuffed Single-Arm Lat Pullover (Cable) |
| Frontal | Starts out to the side, travels down toward the ribs | Adduction | Frontal (also called coronal) | Cuffed Single-Arm Lat Adduction (Cable) |
Both use a cuff, so the cuff does not tell you which one you are doing. Neither does where the cable machine sits in a photograph. Watch the upper arm’s path relative to the torso — that is the only thing that separates them. OpenStax describes these movement terms if you want the underlying definitions. In practice most people’s reps follow a slightly oblique path rather than a perfect plane, which is fine; the point is to pick one intended path and repeat it.
Muscles worked
The latissimus dorsi is the primary target in both versions, because the lats contribute to shoulder extension and shoulder adduction — that is why the same muscle can be trained through two different arm paths.
- Sagittal (extension): lats, teres major, posterior deltoid, and the long head of the triceps as a shoulder extensor.
- Frontal (adduction): lats, teres major, and the sternal fibres of the pectoralis major, which also adduct the shoulder.
Those are the muscles that produce the joint actions, per standard anatomy references. They are not a measurement of what happened in your set — grip, torso position, range and load all shift the emphasis, and feeling one area strongly does not mean the others did nothing.
Fit the cuff before you think about load
Use an arm cuff made for loaded cable work — a padded strap with a D-ring, not an ankle strap pressed into service. Fit it around the upper arm just above the elbow, snug enough that it does not slide when the cable is tight.
Keep the hardware off the bony point of the elbow. If the cuff pinches, creeps down the arm, or produces numbness or tingling in the hand, stop and refit it. That is a setup problem, not something to push through.
Because the cuff sits on the upper arm rather than in your hand, the lever is much shorter than a handle-based exercise. Expect to use a noticeably lighter stack setting than you would for a pulldown, and start lighter than you think. The numbers are not comparable across the two exercises and never will be.
The sagittal version: cuffed lat pullover
Start here: pulley set above head height, cuff on the upper arm, standing or half-kneeling and facing the stack, far enough back that the arm can reach forward without the stack bottoming out.
Reach the upper arm forward and up so the cable is taut at the start. Keep a relaxed elbow bend of roughly 90–120° and hold that angle throughout. The exact angle matters much less than keeping it constant — the cuff is doing the loading, so a changing elbow just makes reps hard to compare.
Bring the upper arm down and back toward your side, then let it return under control to the same forward reach. You do not need to drive the arm behind your body to finish a rep. Pick an endpoint you can describe and repeat.
Watch for the torso taking over as the set gets hard: a growing backward lean, a lifting chest, or a forward reach that quietly shrinks will all make the same stack setting feel easier without the shoulder doing more work.
The frontal version: cuffed lat adduction
Start here: pulley set at or slightly above shoulder height, standing side-on to the stack with the working arm nearest to it, torso upright, feet planted. A bench can support the torso if you prefer.
Raise the working arm out to the side so the cable is taut, with the same relaxed 90–120° elbow bend held constant. Bring the upper arm down toward the side of your ribs, then return under control without letting the stack yank the arm back up.
The common failure here is the movement drifting forward into a pulldown. If the elbow starts travelling in front of the torso rather than down beside it, you have changed exercises. A front-view recording comparing your first rep to your last is the quickest way to check.
What the cuff actually changes
The cuff moves the point where resistance is applied from your hand to your upper arm. That takes the elbow flexors and grip largely out of the movement, which is the practical reason people use it — grip and biceps stop being the thing that ends the set.
What it does not do is prove that only the lats are working, or that either version builds more muscle than a conventional pulldown. Shoulder extension and adduction both involve several muscles regardless of the attachment. A strong stretch sensation, a ranking video, or a single activation measurement is not a comparison of long-term growth.
Choose one of these because the setup fits a purpose in your program and you can repeat it. In a busy gym, occupying an adjustable cable station and a cuff for two-sided work is a real cost; a simpler pulldown may be the better practical call, and that is a tradeoff worth recording rather than a verdict on either exercise.
Logging
Both versions record external load and reps per side. Keep the two sides as separate numbers rather than adding them together, and note the pulley setting and cuff position alongside the load — a different station with the same stack label is a different exercise condition, not automatic progress. The free workout log has room for those setup notes, and the weekly-set tally covers how the sets add up across the week.
Common questions
Is “sagittal” another word for cuffed? No. Sagittal names the plane the arm moves in. The cuff is an attachment, and the frontal version uses one too.
Which one should I do? Neither is established as better. Pick the one whose setup you can repeat at your gym; if you want both, log them separately.
Is this the same as a single-arm lat pulldown? No. A handle-based pulldown involves deliberate elbow bending and loads the hand. These load the upper arm with a held elbow angle. Keep separate records.
Is the sagittal version the same as a cross-body lat pull-around? No. The pull-around uses a diagonal reach across the body and a hand-held attachment. Different path, different attachment, different record.
Does my arm have to be exactly perpendicular to my torso? No. The plane describes an intended direction, not a joint position you must force. Use a controlled range you can repeat.
What do I search for in Brolic? Cuffed Single-Arm Lat Pullover for the sagittal version and Cuffed Single-Arm Lat Adduction for the frontal one. Both carry Keenan flap aliases, so searching “keenan” will find them.
Sources and method
- OpenStax: types of body movements — plane and joint-action terminology.
- OpenStax: muscles of the pectoral girdle and upper limbs — the muscles producing shoulder extension and adduction. General anatomy, not a trial of this exercise.
- Jacob Zemer: Keenan flaps, sagittal plane — instructional reference for the front-to-back variation.
- Jacob Zemer: Keenan flaps, frontal plane — instructional reference for the side-to-ribs variation.
- Brolic catalog version 2026-09-08.1 — exact entry names, aliases and per-side logging.
No comparative hypertrophy claim is made for either version. Muscle attributions describe joint actions, not measured activation in your set.