Pullover - exercise for the chest with a dumbbell and a barbell while lying down

In bodybuilding, an exercise called the “pullover” is used, which helps expand the chest by increasing muscle area, as well as strengthen the back muscles. However, it cannot be completely attributed to strength physical activity. Depending on the technique of execution, the pullover belongs to several groups of exercises. Pullover is not always included in training programs: some athletes consider it dangerous. In their opinion, incorrect execution technique can cause overload of the abdominal muscles, which will lead to loss of control over the weight used.

On a note! Translated from English, “pullover” means “pull up.” The athlete lies with his back on the surface with a weight in his hands, moves it back and down, and then pulls it over his head.

What muscles are involved?

So, a completely reasonable question arises: what muscles work when performing the pullover exercise? The muscles of the chest and back are pumped simultaneously. Also, when performing the exercise, the long triceps bundle works. The load is not distributed evenly: it depends on the angle of the bench and the range of movement.

This universal exercise can be done on the day of training the pectoral or back muscles, when working the muscles of the legs, and can also be combined with “presses”.

On a note! It is important to note that the pullover is a basic exercise. Bodybuilding beginners know only 3 of them: deadlift, bench press and squats with weights. In fact, there are much more basic exercises, and the pullover is included in this expanded list.

Types of pullover

There are two types of pullover for the pectoral muscles and back:

strength - trains muscles and is performed on bent arms;
breathing – designed to expand the chest in volume, performed with straight arms.

In accordance with the technique of performing the pullover exercise, in both cases the movements are carried out using the shoulder joints. If you place the main load on your elbows, the required result will not be obtained, and even vice versa, such a mistake can result in injury.

On a note! The pullover exercise is suitable for both women and men. The difference lies in the different weight loads.

Pullover with a dumbbell lying with your entire back on a flat bench

This version of the pullover belongs to the respiratory group. Efficiency does not depend on increasing the load, but on good stretching of the pectoral muscles and proper breathing.

It is advisable for beginners to use the services of professional trainers to master the technique. In the future, the exercise will be performed “automatically.”

The correct technique for performing the pullover exercise with a dumbbell to stretch the pectoral muscles with photo:

Lie on the bench with your entire back, placing your head on the edge. In this case, to perform the pullover exercise, a similar starting position is taken as in the French bench press. Feet are on the floor, their task is to maintain balance.
Take a dumbbell in your hands, holding it with straight arms above your chest.
Inhale and slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head, while keeping your arms straight. They need to be lowered just below the level of the bench.
As you exhale, return to the starting position.

The effectiveness of the exercise directly depends on the correct technique. It is not recommended to use a dumbbell that is too heavy. To effectively stretch the pectoral muscles, it is enough to use a weighting material weighing up to 25 kg.

On a note! To strengthen your muscles and make them sculpted, you can perform this exercise with your arms bent.

How and how many times to do it

During training, many athletes have repeatedly encountered muscle strains or other injuries due to ignorance of the correct technique. Next, we’ll look at how long you need to do the pullover exercise during training (sets and repetitions) and the correct technique.

Correct technique

First of all, be smart about how much weight you can lift during your workout. With the correct dumbbell weight, you should feel the contraction of your back muscles during exercise. If the weight is not chosen correctly, contractions will occur in the area of the pectoral muscles.

As for the position, it is better to lie across or along the bench, depending on what is more comfortable for you. The pose helps train the back muscles by stretching them. To enhance the effect, you should lift your pelvis up when the dumbbell comes into view. And when you lower it behind your head, lower your pelvis down.

Now let's look at the position of the hands. Pullover with half-bent arms is a strength exercise that is aimed at strengthening and defining muscles. A pullover with straight arms helps to enlarge the chest.

As for the partial amplitude, there is a rule - do not raise the equipment to eye level. The entire load goes into the deltoids and chest from your back. You need to feel the tension in your back muscles at all times.

Important! If you move during the exercise, not only the muscles of the back, arms and chest will be involved in the work, but also “extraneous ones”.

Number of approaches and repetitions

Since the pullover can be done with a barbell or dumbbell, let's consider how many approaches and repetitions you need to do on each of them.

A pullover with a barbell or dumbbell differs only in the presence of certain equipment. As for approaches and repetitions, everything is the same:

approaches: 2-3 times.
repetitions: 10-15 times per set.

Find out more about crossfit, plank, wumbling, as well as exercises on fitballs, parallel bars, and flexibility

Pullover with a dumbbell lying on a bench with only the upper back

In this case, it will be possible to properly stretch the spine and pectoral muscles. In this case, it is especially important to adhere to the correct execution technique. Otherwise there is a risk of injury. For convenience, it is worth using the services of a partner who can always give or pick up a dumbbell if necessary. It is desirable that he himself has the required skills and knowledge so that he can point out mistakes and suggest how to do it correctly.

How to do the pullover chest exercise correctly while lying on a bench with your upper back? The technique is as follows:

Lie with your shoulders on the bench, bending your knees and placing your feet on the floor.
Take a dumbbell in your hands and place it in front of your chest.
Slowly lower it behind your head, as in the previous version. Since your back is not completely on the bench, your body will feel like it is being pulled down behind your head. As a result, the back muscles will stretch as much as possible.
Also slowly raise your arms, returning to the starting position.

It is important to perform the exercise smoothly, without making sudden movements, so as not to get injured.

Varieties of exercise

The technique of performing a pullover can be changed depending on the goals pursued. This allows you not only to work out individual muscle groups, but also to exclude the affected joint or muscle group from movement.

Pullover with a dumbbell on a fitball or bench helps to better stretch muscle fibers. Because of this, it is often used to complete chest workouts.

When performing this, you can slightly shift the hip area below the horizontal. But you should not make too fast movements, due to the pressure created in the lumbar region.

The breathing pullover is often used by doctors to rehabilitate their patients.

Regular repetitions help restore chest function, making it much easier for a person to endure severe chest injuries.

Can be used by beginners to gain initial performance skills and prepare for the bench.

Pullover with dumbbells standing on a block is aimed at developing the latissimus dorsi muscles. Its main feature is the absence of traction at the top point of execution.

The load, returning to its original position, loses its potential energy, which helps the athlete relax a little.

This exercise can also be included in the program of people with a back injury, since there is no vertical load when performing it.

The exercise can be performed on the floor. However, there are some inconveniences here. The projectile cannot be lowered to the desired point, preventing the fibers from fully stretching.

And legs that are in the same plane as the spine can cause a loss of stability.

Pullover with dumbbell lying down on an incline bench

This version of the exercise can only be mastered by experienced athletes, since doing it is much more difficult than on a flat surface. In this case, the tension in the pectoral and latissimus dorsi muscles is strongly felt. In addition to the fact that it is much more difficult to perform the exercise when bending the body down, the risk of increasing blood pressure increases. Therefore, people suffering from hypertension are not recommended to do a pullover in this way. Sometimes capillaries can burst due to excess load.

In fact, the technique of performing the pullover exercise while lying on an incline bench is not too different from the previous options:

Lie down on an incline bench. In this case, the head is below the level of the legs.
Take a dumbbell in your hands and place it in front of your chest.
Slowly lower your hands behind your head, and then return to the starting position.

As you inhale, the arms lower, and as you exhale, they rise.

Given the specifics of the exercise, it is not recommended to use a dumbbell that is too heavy.

Pullover exercise for girls with barbell and dumbbells

Hello dear readers. Alexander Bely is with you. I suddenly thought about it and remembered that it had been a long time since we had a training session with you, dear girls. But that's not so bad. You should already know thoroughly how to pump up your butt, tighten your legs, lose and gain weight. But we didn’t work on the chest or back! That's why I decided to do a little strength training with you today. Because the pullover exercise for girls is, in principle, a strength exercise, although, depending on how you do it, it can also be breathing. But in any case, it perfectly stretches the chest, and the muscles of this group, and not only that.

For or against

I know for sure - more than once I have heard from you some doubts about whether or not it is worth doing strength exercises at all, with dumbbells, with a barbell. I will answer: it’s not worth it in only one case – if your task is solely to lose weight. But, in my opinion, it rarely happens that weight loss occurs without tightening somewhere, “rounding” somewhere, adding something.

And this is where dumbbells, barbells, and strength training are needed, because only with their help can you transform fat tissue into muscle. And if you are afraid of gaining a masculine figure - empty! Nature and estrogen will not allow this. So let’s warm up for now, and I’ll tell you what muscles the pullover uses, how, and why you should include this exercise in your workouts.

What muscles?

In principle, a pullover, in some respects, can be considered an isolating exercise for the pectoral muscle group. But, in fact, you can do it in such a way that it will be extremely useful for your back. By the way, this is what we will do. But the main thing is still the chest.

Agree, valuable quality! In addition to the chest, the pullover also has a beneficial effect on the triceps, which, by the way, is also quite often a problem area for women’s arms, and also stretches the latissimus muscles, and you will feel it, thereby strengthening your back as a whole. The press also plays an important role here. I hope you're interested. But in order for the entire effect I promised to really be achieved, each of the variants of this exercise must, of course, have the correct execution technique.

Technique for performing with a dumbbell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOVe9qvpHpw So, the pullover can be performed standing on a machine or lying on a bench, with a barbell or dumbbells, and, as I said, the exercise can be breathing or strength. Let's start with a power version, lying on a bench, with dumbbells. Since we agreed that we would simultaneously use not only the chest, but also the triceps, back, and abs, we will have to lie down on the bench across, if, of course, this can be called “lying down.” In general, only the shoulder girdle should be on the bench, the head should hang slightly, the stomach, hips, naturally, below the shoulders.

Therefore, you need to rest your feet more comfortably, bending them at the knees and spreading them apart. Considering that a pullover greatly stretches the muscles, the first approach should be done with minimal weight, thereby conducting a “session” of stretching. And the working weight, by the way, should not be particularly large either, because only one joint is involved in the exercise, the shoulder. More precisely, two, of course, but you understand what I mean.

So, we settled down. The most convenient and correct way is to take a dumbbell by clasping the inner surface of one of its extensions with both hands. Now raise your arms strictly above you, bend your elbows slightly, and make sure that the bend angle remains this way throughout the entire execution. Inhale and lower your hands behind your head. The lowest point is your arms parallel to the floor, the maximum is a little lower, but it’s better not to. One of the main rules is to maintain amplitude. It is the desire to increase it that is one of the main mistakes that leads to shoulder injuries.

Stay at the bottom point for literally a second, so you will just feel the stretching of the latissimus dorsi muscles, and begin to return to the starting position, while exhaling no earlier than passing your hands “halfway”, that is, closer to the top point. During the execution, try not to arch into a bridge, lifting your hips up - in this way you redistribute the load from the chest, back, to the legs and abs, which means, in fact, the pullover loses all meaning. And constantly keep your muscles tense - this way you load them, and not the spine.

With a barbell

The power version with a barbell, as a rule, is adopted when the working weight has reached such a limit that the weight and, accordingly, the size of the dumbbell simply interfere with the correct execution of the exercise.
You can, of course, do it with two dumbbells. In this case, make sure that your palms are permanently turned towards each other. There are several options with a barbell. Firstly, with a straight bar or Z-shaped, and secondly, on a straight or inclined bench. On an incline bench, the option is somewhat harder, since you have to lie down on it with your head down, but the amplitude will be greater - at the lower point parallel to the body, at the top - perpendicular to the floor. But regarding the neck, you can safely use the Z-shaped one - with it, perhaps, you will be even more comfortable.

The grip of the barbell, of course, can be varied, but in the original it is average, that is, somewhere shoulder-width apart.

Next, perform the same as with a dumbbell. But an additional difficulty here is that you need to monitor your coordination, that is, control your movements and ensure that the bar does not tilt too much. poluver-shtanga2 As a rule, this type of pullover, with a barbell or dumbbell, is carried out after performing basic, basic chest exercises, for example, after a bench press.

Yes, and the option with a barbell, after all, I would recommend more to men: it, of course, also works the chest and upper pectoral muscles, but, at the same time, it makes the chest wider. So keep that in mind.

Breathable pullover

The breathing version of the pullover, of course, also has an effect on both the “skeleton” and the muscles. However, here the result is achieved largely by expanding the chest by filling the lungs with air. This means that breathing plays one of the main roles in its implementation. Here we will lie down on the bench horizontally. The head also hangs slightly, and the legs stand on the bench, bent at the knees. About weight. Here you should start with no more than 2 kg, and the limit is 14 kg, but this is more likely for the stronger sex.

After all, “bodybuilding mathematics” calculates in such a way that if you want to try to lift 14 kg in a breathing pullover, then lying down you will press at least 135 kg. That's it. So we take lighter dumbbells and lay down. The main difference is that here we will perform the pullover not with bent arms, but with straight ones. Now, I hope, you understand where this weight limit comes from - injury is dangerous. By the way, it is with straight arms that the chest stretch is maximum during this exercise.

Doesn't it remind you of any technology? Personally, I was very reminded of our stretching workout - just like at the bottom point, take an extra breath and so on.

Basically, that's all. Be sure to watch your breathing, do everything smoothly, without the slightest jerks or other sudden movements. The published photos will more clearly tell you both the work of the muscles and the correct execution of the pullover. Never forget about warming up, and in strength training, also about stretching.

Source: https://sportivs.com

Pullover on a block trainer

Another way to perform the pullover exercise is to use a pulley machine. The upper block of sports equipment forces you to exercise in a standing position. By performing a pullover on a block exercise machine, you can make the muscles of your back and chest sculpted and give them an attractive shape. Before you begin the pullover, you need to set up the machine. To do this, its handle is installed at head level.

The technique for performing the exercise is as follows:

Take the starting position: turn to face the equipment, take the handle using a straight grip.
Step back a little. The back is straight.
Taking a deep breath, pull the handle down. Your hands should reach your upper thighs.
As you exhale, return your hands to the starting position.

Common mistakes

Experienced athletes give useful advice to beginners regarding the correct execution of the pullover exercise for girls and boys, pointing out typical mistakes:

sudden movements - the exercise must be performed smoothly, since jerking often leads to injury and makes the exercise less effective;
large range of motion - if you move your arms with a dumbbell behind your head too much, the likelihood of injury increases;
improper breathing - if you breathe incorrectly or hold your breath while performing an exercise, dizziness and deterioration in well-being may occur;
high speed of movement - this factor also contributes to a decrease in performance;
hip raises - if you lift your hips and move your legs when performing a pullover exercise, the load will shift from the chest, which will lead to a decrease in efficiency;
arching your back - as with other mistakes, leads to loss of efficiency and also creates a risk of back injury;
rocking the body - increases the load on the shoulder joint, leading to damage to its cartilage tissue;
using a dumbbell that is too heavy - this mistake most often occurs among beginners, when, due to inexperience, they are not able to immediately determine the weight of the apparatus that is suitable for themselves; its excessive weight can lead to injuries.

On a note! If a beginner is not sure of the correct selection of dumbbell weight, it is recommended to first do the exercise with an empty barbell. This will help ensure the safety of the abs and shoulder girdle, as well as understand your own capabilities.

Drawing a conclusion from all of the above, it is worth noting that a pullover is a useful exercise that helps develop the muscles of the back and chest. The technology for its implementation is quite simple: to practice, you do not need a special simulator. Armed with a dumbbell, you can train even at home.

On a note! Some girls prefer to do a pullover on a fitball.

Correct technique

It is the correct technique for performing this exercise that needs to be given due attention, which will not only ensure its effectiveness, but will also prevent unwanted stress on the back and shoulder joints. The classic pullover is performed while lying on your back on a horizontal bench. You can use dumbbells or a light barbell as weights. You should start this exercise with a load of 2-3 kilograms, gradually moving to larger weights.

Step-by-step exercise:

You need to lie across on a bench, press your back against it, bend your knees, spreading them wider, resting them on the floor.
The dumbbell is taken so that its handle is in the hole that forms the thumb and remaining fingers.
In the starting position, the dumbbells are clamped, the arms are extended and are located directly above the chest.
Take a deep breath, after which the dumbbell is pulled back gently and without jerking, moving it behind the head. The arms should be slightly bent and the muscles stretched.
Fix the dumbbell in the lower position for two seconds, after which you inhale, and as you exhale, begin to return your arms to the starting position.

Experts in rocking chairs recommend combining it with squats with a barbell or dumbbells to increase the effectiveness of this exercise. For girls who perform pullovers with minimal weights, such training can also be done on a fitball. This can be done with one heavy or two light dumbbells. In the latter case, the load is taken in each hand with a neutral grip.