Dumbbell Pullovers are a dying breed of exercises used by the great bodybuilders of the Golden Era.
The Pullover is a unique exercises that works two opposite muscles groups at the same time.
Pullovers train both the back and chest in one motion.
Not only that, the pullover trains the arms and shoulders, as they are needed to support the weight. My upper triceps always get lit up when doing pullovers.
But that just scratches the surface of the benefits pullovers provide.
The Benefits of Dumbbell Pullovers
Pullovers are a relatively obscure workout. I never see people doing pullovers.
I wish I would have done them sooner, because they are now one of my favorite exercises due to their many benefits.
Train the Entire Upper Body
Like I said before, pullovers train the body from the waist up.
The chest, back arms and abs all get trained with pullovers. The nature of the pullover makes it the perfect exercise for building a V-Taper.
Strengthen the Shoulder Girdle
The shoulder girdle stabilizes the shoulder joint. The shoulder joint is complex needs to be trained properly to become strong and less vulnerable to injury.
Dumbbell and barbell pullovers can provide this training.
Improves Posture
Pullovers train the upper back muscles that help retract the shoulder blades.
Strong lats and rhomboids pull the shoulders blades back and down into their intended position.
Pullovers can help correct rounded shoulders and hunchbacks caused by modern life.
Expand the Rib Cage
Pullovers can actually increase your chest size. The pullover motion expands the ribs making the bone structure larger over time.
In the sort term, airflow will improve significantly during and immediately after performing pullovers.
How to Perform Dumbbell Pullovers
There are two main variations of pullovers, dumbbell pullovers and barbell pullovers.
There are also, straight-arm, bent-arm, and single-arm pullover variations. But they are out of scope for this post.
In this post I will show you how to execute the dumbbell pullover.
Dumbbell Pullover Motion
Bottom Position 
Middle Position 
Top Position
Start laying with your back on the bench, and your body perpendicular to the bench.
I set the dumbbell on the bench before I lay across the bench. Then I lean over and grab the weight, the lift it into the starting position.
Arms should be fully extended, but not quite locked out. The weight should be directly above your collar bone and upper chest.
*Use a light weight to begin with. This is a challenging exercise. and if you do it wrong you could shred your shoulder ligaments. (very bad).
Stay smart and stay safe. Start slow and increase the weight and range of motion over time.
The top of you shoulder blades should be inline with the edge of the bench that’s closest to your head.
Shoulders should be flat against the bench and in full contact.
Plant your feet wide and sink your hips to stretch your torso. you should feel a stretch in your abs.
Tilt your head back and look back like you’re hanging from your feet upside down. Make sure your hips stay low.
Flex your lats to keep shoulders down against the bench and as close to the hips as possible.
Keep your lats tight and slowly lower the weight as far back as you can.
Try to keep your elbows only slightly bent. Near the bottom of the motion, you can bend the elbows to increase tricep engagement.
Hold the bottom position for one second, then engage the back and chest muscle to raise the arms back to the starting position.
Before starting each rep, take a big breath of air. This will naturally expand the chest and reach your pecs toward the ceiling. This will engage the chest muscles to the fullest extent possible.
Perform 4 sets of 12 smooth reps. This will sculpt your upper body in ways unlike you’ve ever seen before. You’ll be very happy with the new results.
Jordan, do the pullovers expand the ribcage thus give the illusion of a small waist or it really do makes the waist smaller?
P.S. My waist bone’s a little bit wide, so a small and narrow waist kinda didn’t look good for me.
Pullovers expand the ribcage giving the illusion of a smaller waist/hips.
Do you take a deep breath at the bottom position or at the top position? In other words, is the start of the rep at the top or at the bottom?
My guess is the rep starts at the bottom, BUT the setup starts at the top due to the difficulty of the exercize. In other words:
1. Setup as described to get arms to teh bottom.
2. Deep breath to start, pause for 1 second here.
3. Then raise to the top to complete the first rep.
The rep starts at the top when your arms are straight with the dumbbell over your chest
I take a big breathe and fill my lungs with air, then lower the weight toward the floor and exhale when lifting the weight back up.
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