Dumbbell Pullovers – The Forgotten Upper Chest Exercise.pdf

Dumbbell Dumbbell Pullovers Pull overs – The Forgotten Upper Upper Chest Exercise by G A R R Y D A V I D S ON ON  on J U N E 1 4 , 2 0 1 3

In the old o ld classic era of o f body build building ing,, before befo re steroids were around, the ‘squats and milk’ milk’ routine was the number one method for getting skinny hardgainers jacked. What most people forget for get though, is it was always the ‘squats, pullove ‘squats,  pullovers rsand and milk’ milk’ routine – squats for the testosterone boost boo st and whole-body whole-body mus muscle cle growth growth,, and pullovers for that wide wide and thick   barrel-chest,  barrel-c hest, and  great  great back dev elopmen elopment. t.

Th e dum bbell pull over was a staple for classic classic oldld-tim tim ers

Bodybuilding Body building greats like Arnold, Arno ld, Dorian Yates, Yat es, Ronnie Coleman and Frank Frank Zane, swore that the dumbbell dumbbell pullover played a huge role in their upper body develo developmen pment. t. Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates complimented the exercise for developing sweeping wide lats; Arnold, and his mentor, mentor, Reg Park, considered pullov pullovers ers to be a powerful chest exercise, exe rcise, while while Frank Zane Zane attributed pullovers to develo developin ping g his infamous infamous serratus muscles. Like many many other body build builders ers of his time, time, Arnold A rnold performed pullovers through throughout out his  body building caree career, r, because he believ ed the exercise exer cise was responsible for fo r expanding his his ribcage. T hough nobody nobody knows for sure whether whether pullovers can really expand your yo ur rib-cage, one thing we do do know,  know, is that that it really is an excellent exercise exe rcise for the upper chest.  Arnold  Arno ld had such thick upper chest development, dev elopment, that he could balance a glass glass of water on his upper pecs. He used to credit his glass-balancing ability to the dumbbell pullover. Though it’d  be massively conv convenien enientt for me to be able to balance a cup of tea on my pecs, there are other reasons why why y ou might might want thick upper chest dev elopment.

 Why  Wh y Would You You Want A Thick Upper Chest? Ch est?

Nowadays there’s too much focus on the flat bench press, which ov erdevelops the mid and lower pecs. As a result, the flat bench press can end up making you look like you have ‘man  boobs’, even if you don’t. And for guys who dohave man boobs, the flat bench press can man  boobs look worse by making them stick out more.

Th ere’s a huge difference between perfect even chest developmen t (like Larry Scott ’s above) an d too m uch m id/lower chest development.

 A nice, thick upper chest can really giv e your chest that stone-slab-like appearance, where the surface of y our pecs is like a vertical cliff-face rather than a sloping set of man boobs. A  thick upper c hest with a pec separation line that extends all the way up to the sternum, is a true mark of masculinity andreal  chest development.  Also, if you have man boobs, a thick upper chest can really help to improv e your appearance,  both by pulling the breast-fat up, and by ev ening out the slope made by y our man boobs. The trouble however, is isolating those upper chest fibers is no easy feat. Most people think  the incline bench press is the only solution. However the trouble with incline presses, is the greater the incline, the more stress is placed on the anterior deltoid muscles of the shoulders. I discussed in a previous article, how the incline dumbbell  press helps to solv e this problem. I mentioned in that article how the incline dumbbell press was Steve Reeve’s little secret to perfect square-pec development. Stev e Reeves however, was also known to do pullovers, and pullovers are another tool you can use to develop that upper chest.

 Why Are Pullovers Such A Good Exercise For The Upper Chest? To really grow a muscle to its maximum potential, you have to attack it from multiple different angles. Your chest muscles control the movement of y our upper arm at the shoulder joint. Any movement where your upper arm is moving in toward the front of your  body , will in some way, involv e the pectoralis major muscle of the chest.

Most people make the mistake of thinking that the only way to work the chest is to push something away from you, as you do in the bench press, or in a bear-hugging motion, as you  would when doing dumbbell flys. This type of movement is called ‘horizontal adduction’ of  the upper arms. But this is only one of many different movements your chest muscles are responsible for. If you limit yourself to only this one type of movement, yo ur chest will only  develop so much.

Th e pullover works your chest from a whole different plan e com pared t o th e bench press.

Here are some of the other shoulder movements your chest is responsible for: Upper arm flexion, like when you are picking up a child Upper arm ex tension, when putting the child back down Upper arm adduction – when flapping the arms downward by the sides Upper arm medial rotation, like when arm-wrestling (yeh, I alway s thought arm-wrestling  was all in the arms, but the main muscle involved is really the chest). Dumbbell pullovers invo lve using upper arm extension. By doing this exercise, y ou work the upper chest from a whole different plane than if you were to do the incline dumbbell press (horizontal adduction). You stimulate different muscle fibers in a whole different way, that can spur on new muscle growth in the upper chest that you’ve never experienced before.

More Chest Than Lats Though there are those bodybuilders who do pullov ers to dev elop their lats, EMG studies have clearly shown that the pullover stimulates the pectoralis major of the chest more than the latissimus dorsi of the back.

My Experience With Dumbbell Pullovers I started doing dumbbell pullovers without really understanding what they were for. I just did

them because I heard that the classics like Reg P ark and Steve Reeves used to do this exercise religiously. It had to be for a reason, so I thought I’d give it a go. The one thing I thought pullovers would do was expand my rib c age. Though my upper body  never quite ballooned into a barrel-chest like Arnold’s, I was surprised when just a few weeks into the exercise, I looked in the mirror and noticed my upper chest had somehow thickened up! I was totally shocked because I wasn’t doing any incline work at the time. Needless to say, dumbbell pullovers are now a regular part of my routine.

How Do You Do Pullovers? This exercise puts y our arms in a bit of a weak position, so be sure to start out with a light  weight, and gradually increase the resistance as your body adapts ov er time. Many of the classic old-timers used to super-set dumbbell pullovers with squats. This was from the belief that deep-breathing during pullovers would help to expand the rib-cage, and there are few ex ercises that’ll get you to breathe deeper than squats will. With supersets, you do one set of squats, followed immediately by a set of pullovers, then your second set of  squats followed by y our second set of pullovers and so on. Personally, I don’t do this because it’s too tough. I can’t hack it. Squats are tough enough as they are, and the only way I can survive them is by stretching, walking and sitting down  between sets. What I DO do however, is do my pullovers immediately after my final set of  squats.

1. Lie on a bench with your head hanging over the 2. 3.

end. Grasp the dumbbell from the side or from behind. Hold with hands under the inner plate of the dumbbell. Position the dumbbell over your chest with elbows slightly bent.

4. Slowly lower the dumbbell over and beyond your head until your upper arms are in-line with your

 What if you don’t have a bench?  Y ou can also do this exercise by lying on the floor, using a barbell.

Summary  Dumbbell pullovers were one of the most widely used ex ercises in the classic era of   body building before steroids came on the scene. Because of the way it stimulates multiple muscle groups – your chest, upper back, triceps and serratus anterior muscles, this was considered by many as the single most important exerc ise for the upper body . The latest studies show that the pullover is an excellent ex ercise for the chest, and I have

found it to work the upper chest particularly well. Just a few weeks on this exerc ise, and  you’ll see your upper chest thickening, giving yo ur chest that powerful stone-slab-like appearance. So, why not get started right now? Do a few sets and let us know how you get on by posting a comment below.

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{ 10 com m ents… read them below or add one } Fitz Houston

1

June 19, 2013 at 11 :34 am

Great info – can’t wait to apply it after y ears of try ing. Thanks! Fitz REPLY 

 venkat

June 21 , 2013 at 1 :06 pm

2

Garry, there is an imbalance between my left and right pec. my left pec seems bigger than my right pec. How do i ev en out the imbalance ? REPLY 

Garry Davidson

June 22, 201 3 at 1 2:42 pm

Hi Venkat

3

It depends on how big the difference is. Some times it can be genetic, other times it’s  because of a training defect – a postural/positional problem, or using too much effort  with one side of your body. If it’s the latter, then you need to correct the defect in your training.  Also, if you are concerned more about sy mmetry than overall size, then stop training the bigger side, and only train the smaller side using a dumbbell. Do this for as long as it takes for the smaller pec to catch up. REPLY 

damien

June 24, 2013 at 1 0:02 pm

4

Damien hey Garry I brought your how to loose man boobs love it on my way to work and I’m 13 hours into a fast thanks for everything I’ve lost near 5 kg in 4 weeks and getting pretty muscley and doing well pretty sure boobs are slowly going down but got a lot of loose skin to. REPLY 

Garry Davidson

June 25, 2013 at 1 1:01 pm

5

 Awesome! T hat’s great to hear Damien. Don’t worry about the loose skin, it’ll tighten itself up soon REPLY 

damien

June 24, 201 3 at 1 0:47 pm

6

Damien Also Garry what do you thInk? I swapped cereal for y oghurt is that a good move or not I no its dairy and I’m worried about it raising insulin? What do u think I should do I figured it was better than milk and cereal also any snack tips I can Have sometimes I’ve been eating rice cakes? Sometimes I need something other than nuts and fruit to fill me a bit more, also what do u think about cuppa soup don’t get a lot o f time to eat at work but need something. REPLY 

Garry Davidson

June 26, 2013 at 5:29 pm

7

Swapping cereal for yogurt is an excellent way to go! Y ogurt can be both good and bad. On one hand it can c ontain a lot of carbs (especially those flavor-enhanced commercial  varieties), while on the other, it can contain healthful probiotics (i.e. the traditionally  fermented stuff). Regarding snacks, it’s hard at first when you’re going low-carb (no cakes, biscuits, croissants, potato chips, or choco late), but with a little creativ ity, you can find lots of different high fat/high protein alternatives. Aside from fruit, nuts’n seeds, here are a few examples: almond butter, eggs,  jerky , canned salmon or tuna, sardines, smoked salmon and cold shrimp.

Soup is fine, as long as it’s meat/veg based, and not chock-full of carbs and artificial ingredients. Remember the 80/20 principle. Y ou don’t have to be obsessive with your diet by eliminating all carbs completely. It’s ok to enjoy the occasional treat REPLY 

Tony 

8

October 1 5, 201 3 at 7 :25 pm

Gret post. It’s hard to beat the classics. REPLY 

Cmil

9

October 1 8, 201 3 at 6 :49 am

this excerc ises makes my sternum crack and pop.. And also hits my triceps a lot! A ny  remedies? REPLY 

Garry Davidson

October 20, 2 013 at 8:44 am

10

 Y our sternum will strengthen over time. I used to get some very c oncerning cracking, popping and even pain in my ster num when I was doing dips, but now I ex perience no such thing, even when doing very heavily weighted dips. If the cracking and popping is particularly severe, you might consider lowering the weight a little, and increasing the weight gradually ov er time. The exercise does hit your triceps, which isn’t such a bad thing. A common mistake that people make with this exercise, is they bend their arms as they lower the weight, and straighten their arms as they raise the weight. This will increase the involv ement of the triceps. Y ou can reduce (though not completely eliminate) the involv ement of the triceps by making sure your elbows stay fixed at the same angle (slightly bent) throughout the movement.