Pullover technique

The pullover is an excellent exercise to make your wings pop out. In other words, it places a lot of emphasis on the external parts of the latissimus dorsi, the biggest muscle of the back. When this muscle is over developed, it hangs out under either side of the arms and gives the impression of having wings, especially when coupled with a narrow waist and large shoulders. This shape is most sought after among professional or advanced weight-lifters. Here is the technique for performing the pullover and getting the most out of it.

Expands the chest

There are many ways to perform the pullover. One of the advantages of this exercise is that is stretches the thoracic cage and gives you a larger chest at the fundamental level. Even if you could pile on muscles on your chest easily, you can only carry as much muscle as there is space. But if your chest is larger and wider, then there is more space to pile on the meat. If you are a teenager and are still growing up, then doing the pullover at this time in your life may help you expand your chest irrespective of the amount of muscle you are trying to pack on.

Make the most of the stretch

To benefit from this aspect of the pullover, you need maximum stretch. Lean back across a flat bench and throw your arms back. Your shoulders will be supported by the bench under it. On one side of the bench, your legs bent at the knees are supporting you. At the other side of the bench, you grasp a dumbbell or plates on the flat side to make it comfortable. Your head should also be hanging over the bench. Pull the weight, dumbbell or plate, over your face towards your sternum. In doing so, try using your back muscles to pull your arms. Keep them slightly bent at all times and do not straighten them too much or bend them too much otherwise you will recruit your triceps and place less emphasis on the back muscles. Also, when you bend your arms, you shorten the distance between the muscle and the weight, making the load lighter for the muscle.

Make sure you get a full stretch during this exercise. Don’t move your lower body too much otherwise you will be using it as a lever to make the exercise easier. Because the pullover also works the chest in the way explained above and also recruits the pectoral muscles towards the second half of the exercise when the weight is over the head and the arms are bringing it closer to the chest, many people do this exercise during their chest routine. It all depends what you use this exercise for and where you place the emphasis when doing it.

Variations to the pullover

Other variations of the exercise involves doing it whilst lying flat along a bench with just the head and the arms hanging over the top of the bench. In this way, you are not able to use your lower body to cheat. You can also simply hold discs in your hands or use a barbell as weight, especially if you are doing the pullover whilst lying along the bench. Yet other people use an incline or decline bench to shift the emphasis slightly on different parts of the muscles.

Try out this fantastic exercise like no other and see what it does for you.