Exercise pullover: benefits, technique, what muscles work

An exercise that will work three muscle groups at once. How to do a pullover correctly

February 15, 2022, 18:05 MSC

There are a few simple but important rules.

How and why to do the pullover exercise? What muscles are loaded?

Fitness trainers answer.

In the middle of the XX century, the exercise had great popularity, but in the 90’s lost it, because Dr. Joseph Horrigan, an expert in sports medicine, considered the exercise too traumatic and even wrote a scientific article about it. In fact, you can avoid injury by following simple rules: work with a weight your muscles are ready for, and follow proper technique.

World Class gym supervisor and master trainer

Pullover is an isolated exercise for working out the upper back, while pectoral muscles and triceps are slightly loaded. You need a horizontal bench and one dumbbell of the required weight.

The exercise is more aimed at stretching than at the growth of muscle mass, so there is no point in striving to perform pullover with maximum weight. If your goal is to pump up, it is better to do the pullover in a complex with other exercises aimed at working the muscles you need. The exercise will help develop flexibility and increase the range of motion in the chest and shoulders. And this will definitely be useful when performing other similar movements in your training program. It will also help to correct your posture a bit.

Execution Technique:

supervisor and master trainer of the World Class gym.

Pullover can be performed in several variants: lying on the floor or on a bench, standing in a block machine with a handle, sitting in a separate machine for this exercise.

We will tell you about the traditional pullover with a dumbbell.

Lie down on the bench, the back is pressed, the shoulder blades are not removed from the bench, the feet are tightly on the floor.
Take a dumbbell in your hands, bend them at the elbows and raise them above your head.
Take a breath and slowly lower your arms behind your head.
The arms are brought below the bench, as far as the back muscles allow. The movement stops at the point of maximum stretching of the broadest muscles, then begin the reverse movement, the arms are again raised above the head.
During the approach the arms are slightly bent at the elbow. Full extension of the arms in the lower position strongly involves the triceps, removing a significant part of the load from the broad muscles. If it is inconvenient to hold a dumbbell with both hands, you can replace it with a barbell pancake.

Olga: This technique involves the pectoral muscles. If it is necessary to load the broad muscles more strongly, and the development of the chest is not a priority, it is recommended to perform the exercise on an inclined bench.

How to choose the right weight?

Here everything is quite simple. From the beginning, take the minimum weight and perform a few repetitions with it. If there is no discomfort in the muscles, gradually increase the weight until you find the optimal one. The weight can be called suitable if it allows you to do three sets of 10-12 repetitions, but at the same time you feel tension in the muscles.

The exercise is suitable for everyone, regardless of fitness level. It is recommended to do it at the end of a chest or back workout, but not as the main exercise.