Josh

Hi all,

I understand that pullover is an exercise for chest muscle. I believe that this exercise aims to stretch the chest muscle upward, in similar way to DB flyes which stretches chest muscle sideways. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

If the above is correct, then I am in trouble because everytime I do pullover I never feel anything with with my chest muscle, instead I feel tense (contractions) on my shoulder blade (below neck) and rear deltoid. The way I do pullover is by in lying position sideways to a bench, with my shoulder blade on an edge of the bench, my head without support, my upper back on the bench with the rest of the body without support (only supported by my legs). I hold a DB with both palms facing each other and upward, hold it with straight arms above my chest, then slowly lower the DB across my face keeping both arms as straight as possible (usually I will end up bending the arms though). I cannot pull the DB very far above my head (probably the max is at the same level as the head or bench), and at that time I will feel my shoulder blade and read delt already pulled, but nothing on my chest.

So question, what am I doing wrong? How come pullover seems to be ineffective for my chest? How should I do this exercise so it can correctly affect my chest?

-- Josh

Prince

Pull-overs are generally used for back (lats).

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ALBOB

You're not doing anything wrong. The reason you're not feeling it in your chest is because what you heard about the exercise is wrong. Yes, it does offer some stimulation to the chest but it only does so indirectly. The pullover is a back exercise, you should be feeling it in your Lats. Keep your butt as low to the floor as possible, keep your arms straight through the entire range of motion and really pull with your lats on the way up. Kind of like with your chest and the pre-exhaust routine I mentioned, the pullover is a good isolation movement to do before you switch to rows or pulldowns.

Rules? You mean we have RULES for that???

Josh

Thanks for the clarification, so pullover is primarily for lats, not for pecs! No wonder I've been so frustrated with it.

Further questions:

1. I've seen people doing pullover while lying on the bench (the whole back till buttock on the bench, just like doing bench press) and also while lying across the bench (only shoulder blades and upper lats on the bench). What is the different effect on any muscle between these 2 positions?

2. What's the difference between doing pulloever with 1 DB, 2 DBs (one for each palm), and EZ barbell?

3. What's the difference between doing pullover with straight arms for the entire movement vs bent arms on elbows (various degrees)?

Thanks your for help. -- Josh

mick01

1. Keeping your butt low allows for a greater rom. Some flat benches are pretty low. You will also get some stimulation from in the abs this way. The first time your abs may get sore as well as your lats.

2. Not much difference. Use what you like.

3. You can handle a much greater weight with the arms bent. IMO it the best way to go. Again you get the added benefit of working the tris in the bent arm fashion.

Good Luck, Train Hard
Mick

To refuse to learn anything that could prove beneficial to yourself is a working definition of stupid!

High-intensity training is going all-out, not almost all out. It is taking one set to one's absolute limit, not almost to the limit. It is using whatever equipment’s available. It is not the words of two or three men, but a commitment to work as hard as possible while in the gym without socializing, resting excessively between sets, or falling prey to the 'this isn't going to work so I'll copy the star' attitude"

picasso

Bent arm,EZbar,low weights,higher reps....feel the STRETCH.
For me this is the way to go.
Follow with wide grip chins.......
If I'm supersetting I like to follow this with shrugs.
In my younger days we did alot of 20 rep squats followed
20 rep bent arm pullovers for a vicious superset.

Scotty the Body

Well, your grip might be a bit wrong, your palms need to be facing up not each other and you need to be using a dB so your hands are close together, using a BB will hit the lats more then the pecs.
It also sounds like you need to have more of your shoulders on the bench and even the back of your neck.
Here's a pic of how to do them.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...BPullover.html

Personaly I'm not a big fan of pullovers, I think there are better exercises for the chest than them.

Cool

Josh

Ow wait! This is where the confusion comes in. Prince and Albob said that pullover is primarily a lat exercise, but Scott now suggests that it is indeed for pecs, like my original understanding (which Prince and Albob said was mistaken). Interestingly, the samples both taken from www.exrx.com, Prince and Albob refer to barbell pullover which targets lat dorsi, while Scott refers to dumbbell pullover which targets pec major. From this then actually doing pullover with db and bb are actually different, each targets different muscles!

BB pullover -> lats
DB pullover -> chest

Is this correct? -- Josh

Scotty the Body

Yes, and thats why I don't like doing them.
Go with flies, presses, cable crossovers, dips but don't bother with the pullovers IMAO.

Cool