Exercise pullover with a dumbbell - correct technique. Pullover with a dumbbell. Advantages and disadvantages

Novice athletes for the most part do not look very attractive: narrow shoulders, thin legs and arms, on which there is no hint of biceps, sunken chest and spine with signs of curvature.

This is a gentlemanly set of modern youth, which is corrected by coaches gyms. Beginners who realize that they have problems begin to work hard on them. They go through a course for young athletes, which consists of exercises that are the same in all gyms: pumping abs on a bench, lifting barbells and dumbbells, etc.

Meanwhile, mentors forget that they are dealing with a growing organism whose growth zones have not yet closed. This means that adolescents need to be given in addition to the compression load, which includes deadlift, squats, etc., and also one that will help influence the internal volume of the muscles. This includes the pullover exercise, performed to expand the chest. To remove the “sinking” of the chest, it is simply necessary for young people to perform it.

Shaped breasts for women are the standard of male beauty. The following is understood by chest depth: when, while inhaling, a man can place a glass of water on a platform made of pectoral muscles and hold it long enough.

To become the owner of such breasts, you need the pullover exercise, which you need to start doing on time - from 15-20 to 27 years old. When you are “late” with the pullover exercise, your breasts do not gain the desired volume.

The chest expands due to correcting posture, “tuning” breathing and isolated load on the serratus anterior muscles. Teenagers who start doing the pullover exercise before the age of 20 can achieve an increase in chest muscle volume by 3-5 centimeters, especially if they combine the exercise with breathing squats. The share of muscle growth during training accounts for up to 70%, and 30% of growth occurs due to bone growth.

The pullover exercise is the only one among the basic ones, thanks to which it is possible to load the chest muscles and the latissimus dorsum at the same time. It involves the triceps, intercostal muscles, biceps, serratus, diaphragm, partially the muscles of the shoulders and brachialis.

This is demonstrated by the muscle atlas:

Muscle work looks like this:

at the starting point, the chest and triceps muscles are stretched; the lats are involved as soon as the movement begins;
while raising your arms from behind your head, the following are activated: triceps (contract under stress) and pectoralis;
The pecs receive a stronger load when the arms reach the top point (vertical position).

The latissimus dorsi muscles are involved. From the outside, the training looks funny, but performing the exercise leads to the destruction of muscle fibers in the chest area (cells), as a result of which muscle mass grows during the recovery period.

There are several exercise options:

lying with dumbbells on your back on a bench or fitball (lower back is not supported);

lying down (including the lower part on a horizontal bench). It is called a “breathing” pullover;

with a barbell on a horizontal bench;

standing in a block machine;

on a bench with your head down.

After covering the theory, it's time to study the technique.

Exercise technique

To expand the chest, it is important to master the only correct way to exercise the pullover. The most common version of the pullover exercise is the classic one: on a bench with a dumbbell and barbell. The rest of the variations are slightly different from it.

Before moving on to training, it is important to learn to feel those involved in the work target muscles: serrated anterior and widest. To achieve this, stand straight with your arms straight (palms facing down) in front of you, pushing your chest forward. Slowly raising your arms up, stretch out like a string. Also slowly lower your arms, trying to catch the work of the muscles listed above.

The first version of the exercise: breathing pullover or with back support on a bench.

The main thing when performing this exercise is to understand that it is not the weight that is important, but stretching and forced breathing.

Take the starting position:

Take the weight with a shoulder-width grip, lie down with it on the bench (lengthwise), with your feet resting on the floor.
Lift up and hold the projectile (arms straight).
It should be located above the sternum.

Correct technique:

Slowly lower the projectile behind your head, performing a “heroic” breath at the same time.
Straighten your ribs, lower them sports equipment to parallel with the floor (or below).
Take another breath.
After holding in the lowest position for a second, return to the starting point by exhaling.
You need to focus on forced exhalation and stretching the chest.

Important: do not bend your arms at the elbows throughout the pullover.

It should look like the picture below:

To make the exercise more “breathing,” it is recommended to perform a set of squats with a barbell or dumbbell (2 or 3 sets of 10 repetitions). At first, you don’t have to take weights, but use your own weight.

It turns out that the “breather” is loaded first, then, without resting, the pullover is performed. The productivity of training is increased due to the “expanding” effect. If dizziness occurs due to low fitness of the cardiovascular system, the exercise should be stopped.

Second option: lower back without support.

Initial position:

Take a dumbbell weighing no more than 10 kilograms, place the apparatus on a bench, and lie perpendicular to it.
It looks like a bridge, one support of which is the legs standing on the floor at an angle of less than 90 degrees, and the other is the shoulders.
After this, place a dumbbell on your chest, lock it in a tight lock and place it above your chest on straight arms.
The pelvis is lower than the shoulders, so all the load will go to the latissimus muscles.

Technique:

From IP, move the projectile behind your head on bent elbows.
Lower the projectile as far as possible in an arc and at the same time take a deep breath.
Having felt that the lats have stretched to their maximum, immediately begin the reverse movement along the same trajectory to the IP, exhaling with effort.

Important: The hips are motionless when lifting and lowering the weight. To enhance stretching of the pectoral muscles. When placing the projectile behind your head, lower your pelvis down.

If all the rules are followed, you will get something similar to the picture below:

The main mistakes made by athletes

When performing the pullover exercise, the following mistakes are made:

take heavy weights, forgetting that this is not the main thing in a pullover. The weight of the burden ranges from 10 kg to (maximum) 16;
hyperextension in the lower position. You cannot touch the floor with the projectile and you do not need to bring it very low behind your head;
a bridge with a “breathing” pullover is unacceptable, since it is fraught with lower back injuries; failure to comply with breathing techniques. To avoid dizziness, do not hold your breath; incorrect placement of the feet and hips. To avoid injury and reduce the productivity of the pullover, do not lift your hips from the bench, as it is forbidden to lift your feet off the floor.

The number of repetitions is 10-15, and the number of approaches is 2-3. We must not forget about preliminary fatigue, i.e. performing squats and leg presses in a machine, which increase the effect of chest expansion.

For those who doubt the productivity of the exercise, historical background:

During the period called the “golden age” for bodybuilders, there was a fundamental connection, which consisted of three things that they never forgot: pullovers, squats and milk. At the time, it was believed that the bench press flattened the chest because it was constantly under pressure. Pullover exercises that stimulate growth give a completely different type. muscle fibers and increasing the depth of the chest and upper muscles. Below is a photo report of Schwarzenegger doing this exercise.

This should convince those who doubt the usefulness and productivity of the training. If this is not enough, there are also compelling arguments: studies conducted in which a person performing a pullover was connected to a “smart” device revealed which muscles are affected by the pullover exercise. You can get acquainted with the information received below, where it is presented graphically.

It is clear from the figure that the pectoral muscle is most active during the pullover, as it “absorbs” the load more actively than others. The share of the broadest accounts for 10% of its figure. In addition, it was found that during the lifting phase (concentric) muscle activity is higher than during the eccentric one. It seems that after this, no one had any doubts. The pullover exercise is useful and productive for chest development.

Video: Pullover with dumbbell

Good day to all. I think many people know that a man’s body develops until the age of 25, after which the slow aging process begins. So, before that turning point every person can fight a little with their genetics and improve their physical fitness. We are talking about expanding the chest. In this article we will talk about a rather underrated exercise among many fans of iron sports, namely the dumbbell pullover while lying on a bench. This is exactly the exercise with which every athlete can expand his chest and make his upper torso more massive, not at the expense of muscle mass, and due to expansion thoracic.

Nowadays, if you look at all the newcomers who come to the gym, and in general, at ordinary guys on the street. Most of them have a standard set of disadvantages in their physique: narrow shoulders, sunken chests, as well as problems with the spine for obvious reasons (a sedentary lifestyle, the Internet, games, and so on). If you want to end this, improve your health, become strong, you need to go and join gyms without delay. You need to start taking care of yourself today, because all girls, no matter what they say, like athletic and pumped up guys. Whatever one may say, this is a fact that you cannot argue with. IN gym There are a lot of exercises that will help a person fight his genetics and, against all odds, become big and strong. This is exactly the exercise we will talk about today.

I think every decent gym has a trainer, a kind of mentor, who should help beginners: correctly create training programs, study exercise techniques, give advice that will help protect you from injuries in the future. If the trainer is competent and does his job conscientiously, you can achieve good results in a fairly short time, if we compare a person who uses the services of a professional trainer and a person who trains without a mentor.

It’s sad, but as experience shows, most of the trainers I’ve met in gyms are either incompetent, or simply don’t do their job or are slack, providing standard training programs to absolutely everyone, despite the fact that each person is individual and requires a special approach to training. depending on the goals. It is better to avoid such trainers. It is in such situations that Internet resources are very helpful, helping beginners and even experienced athletes figure out something new, learn how to do this or that exercise correctly, and so on. So that's why I'm saying all this. While providing standard programs, many people forget about enough important exercises that need to be included in your plan. Of course, the pullover is one of these exercises.

This exercise is very effective when it comes to expanding the thoracic region. It should be used specifically by a growing organism, whose body has not yet had time to fully form. Of course, a pullover with dumbbells gives excellent results for a growing body. As for athletes whose age has already passed 25 years, it also makes sense for them to practice this exercise. The well-known Rich Piana very often uses pullover in his training. In his training videos, he advises doing pullovers immediately after bench presses. Also, for better effect, you can try combining it with barbell squats.

Unfortunately, sunken chest is a problem not only for beginner athletes, but also for fairly experienced athletes. It is very rare in the gym to find a pumped-up athlete who combines several components of an ideally developed physique. You understand what I'm talking about now. Since I'm an old school fan, I think many will agree with me. If we compare the times of Arnold and present time, then now the standards in bodybuilding have changed a little and this is not very encouraging. If we take the old school as an example, these are huge hands, voluminous rib cage(such that on top part you could put a glass of water on your chest), big muscles breasts, narrow waist, broad shoulders and so on. In my opinion, this is the very ideal that every bodybuilding athlete should strive for. But this is my personal point of view and nothing more. Now, almost every bodybuilder who is engaged in professional bodybuilding can see huge bellies and disproportionate shapes. In general, everyone has their own idea of the ideal. So there's one more thing I wanted to say. If you're a fellow "Old School" fan and like a full bust, narrow waist, the Dumbbell Lying Pullover will help you move in that direction to get the look you want.

I started talking about something. Let's finally look at the pullover and analyze in detail the technique of this wonderful exercise. As many people know, basic exercises- These are multi-joint exercises that involve a large number of muscle groups. Despite the fact that the pullover only uses one joint, this exercise is basic and involves TWO large muscles at once, namely: the chest and the lats. When I first started working out in the gym, I was always confused about what this exercise was aimed at, but it turns out that it involves two muscles at once. But still, the most significant advantage of a pullover is not the development of several muscles, but the expansion of the chest.

On average, if a young man regularly performs not only a pullover, but also other exercises associated with forced hyperventilation, stretching and other methods of expanding the chest, the volume of the chest increases by 3-5 centimeters. A similar effect can be achieved by young people aged 15 to 25 years. A person can achieve the best effect if his age is from 15 to 20 years. After the growth phase closes, that is, after 25 years, the effect of the work done will be insignificant. Therefore, I recommend everyone to include this exercise, even if you are over 25.

I think that after all of the above, you have a reasonable question about what causes breast expansion. In this case, due to the execution special exercises like a pullover, that is, due to physical stretching of the bones. When you perform squats with deep breaths, pullovers, raider rows, various presses, your chest literally expands from the inside, resulting in a stretching effect on the growth zone, that is, on the cartilage tissue. There are also some adjustments and corrections to posture, which also affects the stretching.

Let's return to our exercise. In addition to the chest and back, the biceps, triceps, and deltoids take an active part in the movements. In the picture below you can take a closer look at the areas that are included in the work (see picture below):

I used to be skeptical about the pullover, since it looks like a rather ridiculous exercise. However, now I really regret that I did not include it in my training earlier. In general, there are several varieties of performing this exercise and now we will list them:

Pullover lying on a bench with a dumbbell. In this case, the upper back is on the bench, and the entire lower part is suspended.
Pullover lying along the entire bench. The bench is in a horizontal position. In this version, we will use a barbell (or a dumbbell) as working equipment.
Pullover lying on a bench, head to the block machine (we use the handle on the block in the form of a rope. It is also usually used to work out the triceps while standing at the block).
Pullover in a standing block machine.
Pullover lying down with a barbell on incline bench(tilt head down).

TECHNIQUES FOR PERFORMING THE “PULLOVER” EXERCISE

The technology is practically no different from each other, with the exception of the option for upper block which we have considered. Here we will look at the most popular types of this exercise, namely lying along a bench and a pullover without support for the lower back. These are the two options that are the most popular types pullover I personally have never met a person who would perform this puddle exercise on a bench, tilted down. Therefore, today we will analyze the technique of the two most popular variations.

As we have already discussed, if you are learning the technique on your own, you first need to take light weights and try to perform the exercise, feeling the target muscle groups. After working out and honing the technique, you can take heavier weights. Although in the case of a pullover, this exercise is usually not performed with heavy weights even in working approaches. In general, let's go.

CLASSIC PULLOVER

First variation: pullover with a dumbbell perpendicularly lying on a bench (without lower back support). First, let's look at the first and most common option, when the athlete lies down on the bench top part backs, and lower section remains suspended.

CORRECT TECHNIQUE: As mentioned earlier, to begin with you should take not heavy weight, approximately 8-10 kilograms. Place a dumbbell at the side of the bench and lie down on a horizontal bench so that your legs are vertical in relation to the bench. You will have two points of support, these are your legs and your upper back, namely your shoulders. Take inner part dumbbells with both hands, making a LOCK (the handle of the dumbbell should be clasped with the thumb and index fingers of both hands) and straighten your arms (elbows slightly bent). Hold the dumbbell straight up in front of you - this will be your starting point.

When the IS is busy, we proceed directly to the exercise. When you pull the dumbbell down behind your head, thereby stretching the target muscles and chest, to make this movement more effective, you should take a deep breath throughout the entire time you lower the dumbbell down.

By inhaling deeply, a person helps to expand the bones, thereby the muscles that are on the surface are flattened and stretched better.

Try to concentrate as much as possible on the target muscles. That is, you must feel your body. When you reach the maximum stretch in the latissimus dorsi muscles, return to the starting position while exhaling.

If you want to stretch the pectoral muscles more, you need to lower the pelvic part down a little.

Frequent mistakes that athletes make when performing pullovers with dumbbells:

The first and most important thing I would like to talk about now is very deep lowering of the dumbbell. Sometimes I even notice that some people lower their arms so far that the dumbbell touches the floor. This cannot be done. Firstly, a breaking load is created on shoulder joints. Secondly, when you go down too deep, you uncontrollably lift your lower body up, because stretching and the purely anatomical characteristics of the joints will not allow you to lower your arms lower than 10 degrees downwards, and this is due to the expansion of the chest and the curvature of the spine.
One of the common mistakes that most athletes make is not correct selection dumbbell weights. Many people overestimate themselves and their strengths. Remember, in this exercise, and in general, in all exercises, the weight is not as important as correct technique.
The third mistake that I would like to note is lifting the legs when lowering the dumbbell down. Only the upper body should work. When you raise your hips, the load that is directed to the target muscles shifts, making the exercise much easier to perform.
Like all basic exercises, the pullover should be performed slowly, without jerking or at an accelerated pace. Not only do accelerated movements not allow you to properly work out muscle groups, in our case, the back and chest, but they can also lead to injuries.
You cannot fully straighten your arms at the elbows. They should always be kept slightly bent in order to fully control the movement and prevent injury to the shoulder joint.

In general, the pullover is an excellent exercise that will help you increase chest volume, work out your chest and lats well. It's worth adding to your . We've sorted out this exercise. Go ahead.

PULLOVER ALONG THE BENCH (BREATHING EXERCISE)

Next up is a lesser-known exercise, which is performed much less frequently than the first option, but it is very necessary to consider it if, of course, you want to have a beautiful torso. Actually we are talking about breathing pullover. The exercise is performed lying along the entire bench. That is, in the first version you had to keep your lower back suspended, in this version, you simply lie down on a horizontal bench and perform approximately identical movements that we examined in the standard variation.

CORRECT TECHNIQUE: Prepare a bench for the exercise. Make sure it is firmly on the floor and does not wobble. Take a suitable dumbbell weight and sit on a bench with the dumbbell resting on your knee. Lie down on a horizontal bench, grasp the dumbbell in the inner part so that your index and thumb hands touched the same fingers of the other hand, forming a lock. Throw your legs onto the bench, placing your feet firmly on it. You can also use a barbell as a projectile; in this case, you need to hold the bar so that your hands are shoulder-width apart. Raise a dumbbell or barbell at arm's length in front of you. It will be yours STARTING POSITION .

In principle, the technique is practically no different from the original. When lowering slowly, take a deep, deep breath throughout the entire range of movement, after which, having reached the bottom point, slowly, as you exhale, raise your arms to the starting position. That's basically it. This exercise is also very good to combine with or do it after breathing squats using forced hyperventilation, or after a bench press, you can also perform a breathing pullover. This is basically all I would like to say about this exercise.

CONCLUSIONS

As usual, we draw conclusions from all of the above. First, this exercise expands your chest; in young people, up to 25-20 years old, this process can be much faster and with the right approach, the result will not be long in coming. Also, for older people, a pullover is also necessary, be that as it may, it affects the lengthening of the chest bones, but it works great on the chest and back. Anyway, this is the base, and it needs to be done. In general, this exercise was discussed in detail in this article and I think that after reading you should not have any questions, but if you have any, do not hesitate to ask them at

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Today the article will be devoted to an exercise from the distant years of the last century. Pullover is an exercise that, despite its apparent simplicity, uses a huge number of muscles.

Pullover - an exercise from the golden era of bodybuilding

With the help of a pullover, you will improve the functional flexibility of your muscles, you will be able to expand your chest, correct your posture and work out the relief of your upper body.

Pullover: anatomy exercises

What muscles work during a pullover? The main work is done by the large and widest muscles. In addition, the triceps, rectus abdominis, serratus anterior, deltoid and small back muscles are loaded.

There are two types of this exercise in the training. One is for muscle hypertrophy, the second is respiratory, to increase the volume of the chest.

However, don’t flatter yourself too much. You won’t be able to pump up huge volumes of upper body muscles with pullovers alone, despite the large number of working muscle groups. The nature of the movement involves the use of small weights.

The effect of the exercise for the most part lies in the development of muscle flexibility, improving their functional motor skills, which of course will have a positive effect in the main heavy movements and the desired weight gain should be expected from them.

But the advantage of pullovers is that the load vector runs along the body (from bottom to top) - there are few such exercises, which means it is possible to fill the gaps in muscle adaptation. In any case, you will gain some mass and work out the relief of the muscles of the upper body, because... the load is not entirely trivial.

The fundamental difference in the two types of pullovers is that the muscle training pullover is performed with the arms bent at the elbows. Breathing pullover is an exercise with almost straight arms (they are only slightly bent at the elbows to avoid negative stress on the joint).

Despite the fact that chest expansion itself is a controversial issue, it is worth turning to the experience of athletes of the last century.

Looking at Frankie Zane, who performed pullovers from an early age, we can say that it really works. His signature difference is wide chest and developed serratus anterior muscles, which are clearly visible in the vacuum belly pose. Arnold Schwarzenegger also did not neglect pullovers, and he knows what he is doing. You can trust a man with such epic breasts.

You shouldn’t give up the idea of expanding your chest no matter what age you are. Despite the fact that over the years the flexibility of joints and muscles decreases, you can visually expand the chest by correcting your posture and increasing the muscle volume of the chest.

Breathing pullover is a non-strength exercise. The main goal is to stretch the muscles and breathe deeply. Light weight dumbbells - about 6-10 kg - are suitable as a projectile. This is primarily justified by reducing the risk of shoulder injuries. In this exercise, you should not fanatically progress the load. The breathing pullover is performed at the end of a workout or after heavy squats. Therefore, your main task is to stretch your muscles well, and not to chase weights.

Lie down on a horizontal bench. Place your legs up - this will remove the bridge and reduce excessive stretching of the peritoneum. Hold the projectile above your chest A LITTLE arms bent at the elbows. Begin to slowly lower it behind your head in a wide arc and at the same time fill your chest with air. Imagine as if the air is expanding everything inside, and your chest is swelling more and more, until it finally fills the entire volume of the gym in which you are training (Arnold used a similar visualization during his training).

The movement should be very slow. You can do the pullover with your eyes closed to make it easier to focus on stretching the muscles and chest. You should lower your arms until they are parallel to the floor or slightly lower. In any case, the depth of lowering should remain comfortable, at the same time you should feel a powerful stretch.

Breathing pullover technique

At the bottom point, take a short break. The lungs should simply burst from excess air. Then begin raising your arms to the starting position while exhaling all the air. Imagine that your chest has been pierced with a needle like a balloon, and the air is slowly coming out of it. The upward movement should be just as slow. Remember that here IMPORTANT how you breathe, not how much weight you pull.

When performing pullovers, do not arch your back and neck. Curvature in cervical spine under load (albeit a small one) with a one-time accidental jerk, a nerve can be pinched - but you don’t want it. Therefore, technology is extremely important here.

Don't try to keep the weight as low as possible. Athletes of long ago performed this exercise while lying on the floor and achieved remarkable results. Naturally, the amplitude there turns out to be limited - but more is not necessary.

Perform around 15 repetitions, concentrating on stretching and breathing. Determine a convenient option for yourself - a light barbell with a straight or curved bar, dumbbells or a weight plate, the main thing is a comfortable feeling in your elbows and hands when performing.

If you are serious about expanding your chest, perform breathing pullovers every day. Pullover is not a strength exercise and will not tire you out.

Pullover exercise for the pectoral and latissimus muscles

In terms of hypertrophy, the pullover has the maximum effect on the pectoralis major muscle. Bret Contreras conducted a study using an electromyograph during which it became clear that pullovers load the pectoral muscles by about 85%, and the broadest get only about 15% of the load.

In the stretched position, at the lowest point the pectoral muscle is perfectly stimulated, and when bringing the arms to their original position, the latissimus muscles are stretched. However, throughout the entire amplitude, muscle tension remains in both the pectoral and lat areas.

It is important to feel exactly the target muscles, because... pullovers work a lot of muscles. It is impossible to achieve hypertrophy of the desired muscles by performing the exercise mechanically. It is important to be able to consciously contract only the necessary muscle groups, unloading the auxiliary ones to the maximum.

Execution technique

There are no clear instructions on the position of the torso when performing a pullover: lying on a bench or perpendicular to it. You must determine the option that works best for you. Let's look at the technique of performing a pullover, when the torso is perpendicular to the bench and rests on it with the shoulder blades.

Take a dumbbell of the required weight and sit on a horizontal bench. With the apparatus on one knee, slowly roll your back along the edge of the bench until your shoulder blades reach stable position on the horizontal. Carefully return the dumbbell to the starting position. Hold the apparatus by passing the dumbbell handle between your thumbs.

Bend your elbows slightly and begin to lift the dumbbell behind your head. In this case, the pelvis should fall slightly down. The body forms an arc when viewed from the side. Raising the dumbbell up also raises the pelvis. It turns out that at the bottom point you achieve stretching of the pecs and lats, and at the top point they contract.

Perform the movement smoothly, without jerking. Do not try to lower the projectile as low as possible - keeping your hands parallel to the floor is enough. Inhale as you stretch, exhale as you bring the dumbbell up.

Pullover exercise: video

Watch the video that shows the technique of doing a pullover to develop the muscles of the chest and back.

Nuances

To shift the focus to your lats, try performing a pullover while lying on horizontal bench hanging his head slightly. The projectile should be lowered to a depth at which your lats are stretched to the maximum, and raised to the level of the forehead.

This will maintain maximum tension than if you return the bar to chest level. The video below clearly shows how to do this. In addition, doing pullovers this way is great for using the serratus anterior muscle.

The pullover is a great exercise to help develop your pectoral and lat muscles. Despite the fact that the advent of modern exercise equipment is little by little displacing the usual exercises with free weights “from the past,” the pullover remains relevant in most gyms.

What is an exercise called a pullover?

The pullover helps to expand the athlete's chest well. In this case, all muscle groups that are located around the body are involved. This exercise puts a targeted load on the chest and torso muscles.

Essentially, the chest is a frame whose function is to support the muscles of the athlete's upper body. There are two ways to perform this exercise. The first method is a pullover with a barbell, and the second is a pullover with dumbbells.

Pullover - stretching exercise

This exercise allows you to thoroughly stretch your pectoral muscles. It differs from other chest exercises in that there is a fairly large range of motion, which allows you to best influence the muscle fascia.

First you need to do a short warm-up, then perform 15 repetitions. As with many exercises, you should take a deep breath before lifting the weight.

After completing the pullover, you will feel how much all areas of the pectoral muscles begin to “pour”. This allows you to deliver more nutrients through the blood to the muscles being trained.

The barbell pullover is one of the most effective exercises, involving both the pectoral and latissimus muscles.

A pullover with a barbell is performed on a straight bench. To start the exercise, you need to lie down on it holding a barbell in front of you. You also need to hold it correctly. The bar should be placed on your hands, the grip should be toward you, and the distance between your hands should be approximately 40 centimeters. During the exercise itself, you should bend your elbows.

When you inhale, you need to lift the barbell and then move it in a circle with a semicircle trajectory.
Now you can’t stop, but you need to continue until the barbell is located behind your head. If the exercise is performed correctly, the palms will be directed upward and the arms will be parallel to each other.

As you exhale, you need to return to the starting position, and then repeat the exercises as many times as originally planned.

This exercise should be performed at the end of the chest session. As with many exercises, the number of approaches is taken equal to three, and repetitions usually go up to fifteen times.

Athletes often make the same mistakes that could have been avoided if done correctly. For example, when performing an exercise, athletes raise their hips and thereby significantly reduce the load on the chest. Needless to say, in this case all the work will be nullified.

If the feet are torn off the floor, this can even lead to various spinal injuries. In this case, you need to ensure that your feet rest well on the floor.

In addition, many practitioners perform the pullover not smoothly, but in jerks, which is incorrect. Also, as noted earlier, the hands should always be in the same position, namely with bent elbows.

To perform a pullover with a barbell, you need to position yourself exactly perpendicular to the bench, and your shoulders should be firmly fixed. In this case, the pelvis will be lowered as much as possible, closer to the floor and the chest will stretch more. In addition, it should be remembered that a pullover is not strength exercise and here there is no need to chase excess weight.

Also, to perform a pullover with a barbell, you first need to take a small weight, for example, 10 kilograms.

Like the barbell pullover, the dumbbell pullover should be performed at the end of any chest workout. And if you don’t have time to visit the gym, you can add this exercise after the complex to pump up the pectoral muscles at home.

Dumbbell pullovers must be performed while lying on a bench. This exercise stretches the muscles of the back, abs and torso well.

To start doing exercises with dumbbells, you should lie across the bench and place your upper back on it. In this case, the head and neck should hang over the bench itself, and the legs should rest very well on the floor. Dumbbells should be held with your arms almost straight at the elbows. To do this, your palms should be pressed against the dumbbell so that they rest against the inside of the upper disc of the dumbbell.

After this, you need to take a deep breath and smoothly release the dumbbells behind your head, this should be done as low as possible. When performing such a pullover with dumbbells, you need to feel your arms and chest muscles. For a stronger effect, you can lower yourself directly to the floor.

Now you should hold your breath and smoothly lift the weight, returning to the starting point. In this case, you should exhale at the end of the path.

After a short pause, you can proceed to the next repetition. The elbows should not be bent, as this will put more strain on the triceps. Correct breathing will ensure the effectiveness of the exercises. It is strictly forbidden to exhale at the very beginning of lifting the dumbbell. There are contraindications for people with heart disease, so it is not recommended for them to do the pullover.

Since quite a lot of weight can be used to perform dumbbell pullovers, minimum safety precautions must be used. For the first time, you can invite a partner for backup. You should not take too much weight.

Some athletes use variations of the pullover.

For example, if you are doing a pullover with a barbell, you can take either a regular or an EZ barbell. If you are performing a dumbbell pullover, you can take two dumbbells and carefully ensure that the palms of your hands are facing each other.

Pullover on the simulator

There is a special type of pullover - this is a pullover in a simulator. He's developing well lateral muscles, and also stretches the chest well. If classes take place in a simulator, then the athlete receives exactly the target load on the desired muscles.

How to correctly perform the pullover exercise on the simulator?

To start the exercise, you need to press tightly to the seat itself in the simulator. Then you should firmly grab the bar, which is located above your head.

Now you need to monitor your breathing. As you exhale, pull the bar down until it crosses chest level. Pause for a second and inhale again, then you need to smoothly lift the bar.

This exercise can also lead to discomfort in the joints, so you need to monitor the progress of the workout and perform the exercises without any discomfort.

As for the amplitude of movement, it should not be maximum.

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The pullover exercise has become one of the most popular in bodybuilding and fitness. What makes this exercise so popular?

A large chest is what always distinguishes a real athlete from the gray crowd. There are not many exercises that can not only increase the volume of the chest muscles, but also increase the volume of the chest itself.

In addition to the fact that the pullover exercise is ideal for pumping up the pectoral muscles, it also forces the latissimus dorsi muscles to act, and the triceps as stabilizer muscles.

Execution technique

This exercise is performed (in classic version) lying across on a bench. In this performance, you include the chest muscles and triceps in the work, and to a lesser extent the latissimus muscles.

In order to engage your back more strongly, perform the same exercise head down on an incline bench. The nuance of the pullover exercise technique is that you need to squat and keep your shoulder blades on the bench.

Most often, the pullover exercise is performed with dumbbells held with both hands.

A little anatomy

From a biomechanical point of view, this exercise goes like this:

Triceps and chest stretched

The latissimus muscles are activated first

The arms are raised, while the triceps and chest are tensed, these muscles contract

The position of the arms above the chest, in which the impact on the chest ends and the lats begin to work.

You should be very careful about your technique of this movement . What mistakes are most common and what injuries they can lead to are discussed below.

Let's consider the most common implementation option, which is considered the most effective:

Starting position: take a dumbbell (for the first time no more than 10 kilograms), put it on a bench. We lie down perpendicular to the bench. There should be some kind of bridge.

Your first point of support will be your legs, which are at an angle of almost 90 degrees, and your shoulders and shoulder blades will be the second support. We take a dumbbell and place it on the chest.

We grab it firmly with both hands so that our palms are under the top of the dumbbell, and we fully straighten our arms above our chest. Shoulder girdle should be higher than the pelvis, thanks to this, most of the load will go to the lats.

Start the exercise by moving the dumbbell back behind your head. In this case, the elbows should be slightly bent, and the projectile should be lowered as low as possible. It is important to inhale at the same time as this movement.

As soon as you realize that you have reached the greatest tension in the lats, immediately lift the dumbbell along the same amplitude. Exhale while doing this.

It is very important to fix the hips, since raising and lowering the hips during execution is very common mistake which may cause serious injury.

If you want to increase the stretch of the pectoral muscles, then while you place the dumbbell behind your head, you need to lower your pelvis down a little. In this case, there is no need to overdo it and move the pelvis with a large amplitude.

In addition to the advantages that have been described, a pullover can also increase lung volume, thereby increasing external volumes. Breathing pullovers are used for this.

The purpose of the breathing pullover is to stretch and force breathing. In this exercise, you should start with a light weight, literally 5-7 kilograms.

Remember: the purpose of the breathing pullover is not to increase the load, and using heavy weights will lead to injury and a significant decrease in efficiency.

Starting position: lie down on the bench lengthwise, and not as in the previous exercise. Straighten your arms with weights over your upper chest.

Fix your arms at your elbows; this position should not be changed during the exercise. Slowly lower the weight behind your head and inhale air at the same time.

It is important to take not just one breath, but to fill your chest with air throughout the entire movement.. Lower your arms to a position that is just below parallel to the floor.

Forget about lower points, they will not lead to anything good! Once you reach the bottom, take another breath of air.

After this, pause and return your hands to the starting position, at the same time it is very important to exhale. You need to do at least fifteen such repetitions.

You can try different body positions. For example, you can hang your head off the bench, this will allow you to have a stronger impact on your chest.

If you feel pain in your elbows, it is better to keep them slightly bent, but this must be done in moderation, otherwise the effectiveness of the exercise will be lost. The second option for getting rid of pain in the elbow joints is to work with less weight.

Breathing pullovers are best done after an exercise that places a lot of stress on the respiratory system, such as squats, leg presses, or deadlifts.

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